Applied in 2011 for a corporate trainee position via the QG website. I was contacted via e-mail the next day to provide university transcripts, which I promptly submitted.
They then scheduled 2 x 40 minute long telephone interviews (each two-three weeks apart) which were very similar in tone and style. Questions were fairly basic ("name a time that you went above and beyond" or "what do you feel was your biggest mistake?") and appeared to focus on personality rather than experience or knowledge of the print industry.
They left it another two-three weeks after the second telephone interview to schedule a personal interview (again, two-three weeks away) at their corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, WI. This was pretty exciting, as it included a meal with the two recruiters already spoken to on the phone, a hotel room for the night, and a factory tour the following day, along with 2 x 60 minute long one-on-one interviews with senior corporate figures.
A week before the event, due to "corporate need" they postponed the interview to over a month later, in January 2012. I was a little disappointed but let it slide. I waited until then and finally took them up on their invitation.
I met the two other candidates at the hotel and had dinner in downtown Milwaukee with the recruiters. One candidate dropped out, and the recruiters spent the night joking about the absence as well as some of the bad or inappropriate telephone interview responses from other (anonymous) candidates. They were pleasant to talk to and very frank about the (slightly worrying) state of the print industry. It was an enjoyable experience, and their tone seemed to put people at ease.
The other two candidates didn't know anything of the initial interview date scheduled over a month prior, and the recruiters deliberately made a point of mentioning that we were the only group being considered. This, combined with the absence of the fourth candidate (as well as the absence of their "last minute" replacement) sent a little alarm bell tingling, but I let it rest for the moment.
The next day had a lot of meeting and greeting with employees who were part of, or had completed the QG corporate trainee program. These were, for the most part, all college educated, middle-class white males in their 20's.
The first personal interview took a surprisingly friendly tone and began with simple "how did you get here" and "why would you like to work here" questions. The interviewer stressed the emphasis on their long-term goals, and cracked half-jokes, such as referring to the company uniforms for all employees as "cult-like" and calling the print industry "the last bastion of the middle classes." Overall it was overly-friendly, with an authoritative tone behind it, which, for me, was quite a strange line to walk in a professional interview.
The second interview was more challenging. The interviewer began with the same question ("how did you get to this point, sitting here in front of me?") but was more curt in his expression and countenance. He stressed the negative points of the program, such as the long hours (12 hour shifts) and the relocation requirements. He remained quiet and took a pause before responding, which led to some over-talking on my part.
I'd read a Winter 2011-12 press-release about the closing of 5 print factories due to the recession and QG's takeover of a competitor, and was aware of the (rather dramatic) crash of their stock price over the past few months. I asked the second interviewer about this, who explained that they were closing "just over 10" plants and reeled off a standard response that the stock price doesn't reflect the true nature of the company. I was a little skeptical but again let my worries pass.
After two hours of interviews I was treated to lunch with another couple of corporate trainees at their cafeteria, followed by a (very impressive) factory tour.
I had to wait 2 weeks before I was given a surprisingly standard rejection, in which they simply told me that they'd be moving along with other candidates. If this is true or not, I have no place to say.
The interview process was certainly an interesting one; I was drawn in by the long-standing tradition of the industry, the (impressive) benefits package, adaptability and challenge required, as well as the friendly tone that the company is constantly at pains to maintain, but all that glitters certainly is not gold.
