Virtually the only way to score an interview with Conde Nast is through an employee referral. I knew someone who already worked here and sent my resume to HR. HR recieved my resume, cover letter, and letter of rec and called me for a phone interview. After I was cleared through the HR lady, she set up an in person, one on one interview with the Sales Director (who I am now the assistant for). I met with her and she conducted a standard interview (very conversational, asked a few typical interview questions). She advised me to send a thank you/follow-up letter to the HR contact that day (if I hadn't already) and cc her on the email. I had already sent a personal thank you card in the mail, but sent an additional email thank you and cc'd her, per her request. She seemed enthuastic about my first interview, resume, etc. and was especially impressed by a letter of recommendation that I provided. She told me she would like to bring me in for a second interview. She also gave me a short writing assignment to complete before my second interview (an example letter to a client pointing out their advertisement and highlighting my favorite three articles in that issue). The second interview was even more laid back from the first-- basically to confirm that I was interested in the position. She told me it was between me and one other candidate. I gave her my writing assigment. She followed up with an email saying she was impressed with my writing assignment, etc. A couple days later HR called me and made me an offer. My advice: do not worry about knowing everything about the company. I spent hours stressing about knowing all the magazines & corporate information, which was completely uneccessary. The only thing the Directors are interested in is making sure you can meet their every needs, are good at excel, pay a TON of attention to detail, and are okay with the fact that there are no opportunities of growth (while unofficially committing to about 2 years as their assistant). Other than that, it is all about clicking with your boss.
