If you get asked a question during an interview like "How many traffic lights are there in the US?", does it look bad to take notes while trying to solve it?

like
Posting as :
works at
You are currently posting as works at

No, taking notes is actually part of the right response.

like

I would simply get up and leave that is such a BS question lol

like

^99% of interviewees would just say they would Google it.

It won’t elicit an interesting and thoughtful answer, because the question itself is neither.

There are better questions that can be asked that will provide more insight into how someone problem solves.

like

“I passed more than 4 on the way in here so I’m going to have to go with more than 4?”

funnylike

No

like

Should be taking notes to structure your approach/logic

like

What position are you interviewing for? A traffic light safety inspector? In any case I’d pull out my phone and google

What do we have:
*car
*pedestrian
*public (I.e. tram)

Each crossing have at least 4.
Feel free to continue

They may give you some numbers, and some of them might not be important. Mainly, through the case you might need to make numerical assumptions and write those down.

For that question I'd say assume just continental US. Then I'd estimate land mass of some sort for the US, and write that down. Then I'd say there's categories of Urban, Suburban, and Rural with certain stop lights per square mile and a certain % of coverage over all US (e.g. 5% urban at x stoplights/sq mile, 20% suburban at y stoplights/sq mile, and 75% rural at z stoplights/sq mile). These numbers we'd chat about and adjust and I'd write down to then calculate the final estimate.

*google*

Related Posts

like

Are interview case studies difficult? Is it done live or is it take-home? What should I expect in terms of content/questions, duration, difficulty?

like

Quick question.
I was a contractor for a big company and they just let me know that my last day is December 30th. I got this position thanks to a recruiting company that has been great and gives me benefits.
Should I:
- Continue working with the recruiting company, hoping that they will find another position for me? (as they told me they will, and when they applied me I started working with my current company within 2 weeks)
- Work with the recruiter + apply for jobs on my own?

like

Im currently interviewing for PWCs climate & sustainability services ESG Consulting solutions team as a senior associate, does anyone have any insight on the practice? I know it’s growing a lot

like

Is Google open to remote? Interviewed within the healthcare research department, waiting to hear back from recruiter on next steps.

like

Recieved a call from infosys on interview for tomorrow .but they haven't scheduled the time. is it possibly canceled?

Hey does anyone know how to best prep for the Accenture Industry X Anaylsty

Showcase
Scenario
and Strenght Based Interviews.

Thank you

like

Hi, can you tell me how many rounds takes place in for automation testing round. I have got a link for an online test and what is the difficulty level should we expect from this test v

like

Just got out of one of my final round interviews. It’s been over 8 weeks of prep. Got a little nervous and may have messed up on the case, PEI went okay. Have the other later this week. Trying to focus on that but difficult knowing how this performance would impact the outcome. Has this happened to anyone and they ended up getting offers? Searching for success stories or tips.

like

How many days Deloitte India takes to release offer letter. I tried to contact HR she said that they are trying to get approvals and it is in progress. It's been a week that i have uploaded my docs.

like

Hello fishes,

I'm done with tech 1, tech 2 and hr round with wipro. It's been days after finishing HR round and there is no update, the consultancy says that I will get link to upload documents everyday but never received any

How many days will it take for Wipro to get back?

like

Hello guys,

I got an offer from epam but confused whether it’s epam systems or anywhere.
As I have been given fixed salary and remote work. But on offer it states EPAM systems.
Could someone please let me know who has joined epam anywhere recently if on offer it’s mentioned as anywhere?
On my interview invites as well it was mentioned anywhere.

like

Hi everyone! I have an interview with Morgan Stanley next week in their private WM division. Any advice? Anything I should know going in?

like

Hello friends,
I wanted to share that I am in my first job as ui/ux expert and I am the only ux/ui person in the team. I am expected to take care of entire research and design of the product. It becomes very overwhelming as the product that I am working on is in a early phase and I am expected to think about ui as well as ux and also design entire app on my own.There is no user interview or user testing happening as my project manager thinks it can be done after product is launched. Please help!

like

Anybody got their TB test done at Delhi, Max Medicenter Lajpat Nagar? What all documents did you get after completing the test?

I’m shooting for the moon and applying to jobs I am mentally ready for and can qualify for but my resume is very short sweet and to the point because I’ve worked at the same place for 6 year and climbed the ladder & wanting something new. How do I explain that to my future employer?

like

I have an initial recruiter phone interview with Square Thursday. Is it it just a phone call or is it a video call and they didn’t specify. If it’s a video call what’s the dress code like? I’m coming from consulting so all my interviews were in suits. Any tips to get past the recruiter phone screen?

like

Can someone tell how to prepare for interviews?
What type of questions will be ask regarding projects?
Please share your experience.
Thanks in advance.

PS - I'm SAP SD Consultant with 3 years of experience.

Interviewing at Strategy& for manager level (Deal Value Creation) - heard there will be M&A focused cases. Anyone ever been through this process and have any advice on prep?

Question about remote job negotiations

I'm currently interviewing for a remote role for a company based in NY.

The thing is I'm based in a different city (southern U.S.)

My question is:

When it comes time to talk compensation, should I base the market rate for the role on my city of residence or NY?

Would it make sense to ask them directly how they determine comp for NY-bases vs. other city-based employees?

Anyone have experience with this?

like

More Posts

Hey! For one of my project, I had to build macro to do data cleansing in excel. However template might change one day to another. Anybody knows good resources I can use to make this a sustainable ...

Current IE here. What are some Time Motion Study Softwares that are out there and you use in your jobs?

like

Chicago 🐠: a friend is moving from CA to IL and is planning to rent a place somewhere in north burbs(Northbrook/Deerfield/Vernon Hills). He’s looking for 3+bd/2+ba townhomes/SFHs which will allow small dogs. Any advice on finding a broker? It seems Zillow or other portals are not very helpful at this moment. Any pointers are highly appreciated. TIA.

like

I am an unmarried working man in his 30s with a southern mother. In other words I'm flying home for Christmas and my mother just called to tell me that she just happened to accidentally run into the sweetest girl from her church that she just knows I'll get along with and accidentally invited her to our house for dinner the night that I get home. Deadass the woman will not rest until I am tied down. Pray for me!

likefunny

How do you take skills from restaurants, retail industry and transfer them elsewhere? Helpful advice appreciated!!

like

How many locations does Tiger Analytics have?

like

Hi everyone! I’ve been working as a product manager in an internal consulting department at Kaiser Permanente a on software product that maps and automates clinical workflows. Although my title is a consultant, my role entails the usual responsibilities of a PM (prioritizing builds and features, identifying business requirements, mapping user journeys and stakeholder management). Does anyone have any advice on ways to break into tech or suggestions of companies to look into?

like

Hey looking to shift to healthcare consulting from pharma/academia and wanted to see if anyone had any advice

like

How is the work life balance for Data science role in CFR at Amex?

like

Any kind soul willing to let me bum off their becker 🤓 mines expired and Wiley is well... not good

like

Anyone recommend their firm for fed tax? Looking to stay in PA in a top 20 to continue working remotely.

like

Hi, i will be joining a startup soon to work as a product manager. What are some good books/materials/courses I can read in the meantime to prepare myself better for the job?

like

How much should an Orthopedic Tech specializing in casting make?

like

What is the use of earning badges in Level up? Is there any advantage to this?

like

I want to take this moment to wish everyone a happy new year. Still on holiday vacation.

like

Just thinking about this section from historian Robert Paxton’s essay “The Five Stages of Fascism” over and over.

Post Photo
like

Like if voting for Trump, Helpful if voting for Biden. Let’s see.

helpfullikefunny

Pivoting away from Sales: I’ve been in sales positions for 15 years, and I’m just exhausted by the role (disputing commissions, arguing about deals, all of it). I have a degree in marketing, but I am having a hard time landing interviews since I’ve never had a strictly marketing only role. Can anyone provide any advice, or has anyone successfully moved away from sales?

like

Don’t mind me here as an international student just sitting here with my bucket of popcorn watching you all bicker about student loan forgiveness

Post Photo
funnylike

Additional Posts in Consulting

Currently at Big 4. Have offers for a PL/Principal at MBB and for a VP role at a Fortune 20 company. The VP role is more interesting and comp a bit better but I’m told would accelerate faster at MBB. The initial plan was to end up at MBB. What’s the best for future flexibility?

like

What is a great way to make mentors during r WFH period? I’m a new college hire and would like to network and form mentorships in the age of zoom/webex

like

My younger brother has the opportunity to do Software Engineering at FAANG and consulting at MBB as a fresh grad. I told him to do SWE, but I’m afraid I’m giving him biased advise cause I’m jaded in this industry. If you were me, what would you advise him?

likehelpful

Best books on leadership and sales skills?

like

Can anyone provide a referral to Accenture?

like

Heard frm a friend at pwc that in consulting they have per diems. Is it for all practitioners and practice? Seems tight on budget.

like

How much money is in your checking account? Me first: a lowly $3k.

like

China southern business class. Anyone have experience?

like

Any good book recommendations for new Managers in consulting ?

like

How does your firm measure utilization? I work for a small boutique that defines it as utilization = number of billable hours/2,080 and full bonus payout occurs at 80% plus.

like

EY and Guidehouse federal fish, how does using PTO factor into your utilization score? Does it count against you like at Deloitte or do those hours get removed from the denominator before calculation?

like

New to consulting. Mgr told me to put together a work plan for a proj. What does she mean? Key activities and timelines or is there more to it? Any recs on how to put together a good work plan deck?

like

I have been tagged for this project that doesn’t start until June 10th. My utilization is going to drop significantly but at the same time the deployment team cannot present me elsewhere. Ugh!

like

Any book recommendations for the summer vacation season? What's your favorite book over the last year?

like

Anyone care to share experiences of flying out of Stewart Airport in upstate NY? I'll be getting there from Manhattan.

like

Hotel rooms are so dry, it's driving me crazy

like

Travel reimbursement…what’s the rule of thumb for when a client is considered out of town? Mileage, distance etc?

And, what’s required to be covered? Been out of the traditional consulting model for a few years now…

like

Heard BCG laid off quite a few people this summer. Is this true?

like

Layoffs at Walmart corporate 😬😬

likefunny

Why Lester, why!

like

New to Fishbowl?

Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
That was just a preview…
Sign Up to see all discussions
  • Discover what it’s like to work at companies from real professionals
  • Get candid advice from people in your field in a safe space
  • Chat and network with other professionals in your field
Sign up in seconds to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.

Already a user?
Login here

Share

Embed this post

Copy and paste embed code on your site

Preview

Download the
Fishbowl app

See what’s happening in your industry
from the palm of your hand.

A phone with Fishbowl app

Scan your QR code to download
Fishbowl app on your mobile

Download app

Sign up for free to view this conversation on Fishbowl

By continuing you agree to Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Already have an account? Log in

Sign up for free to continue using Fishbowl

By continuing you agree to Terms of Use(New) and Privacy Policy(New)
Messaging rates may apply

Already have an account? Log in

For account settings, visit Fishbowl on Desktop Browser or

General

Legal