I applied through college or university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Ascension (Saint Louis, MO) in Feb 2013
Interview
I first talked to a few Ascension employees at my university's career fair, one of whom was a recent graduate from my degree program and was scheduled for an interview with him the following day. The interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and covered pretty basic stuff, no trick questions or anything. Afterwards, I was told I did well enough to be given a 30 minute case study that would determine if I would go to the next step in the interview process. The case study was based on a fictional telecommunications company and was a little tricky but not too difficult by any means.
A couple days later I received an email asking me to take an Excel assessment. Ascension sent me some material to study over covering the different Excel functions that I'd be using and scheduled me to take the assessment the following week. I was given 30-40 minutes in order to take the assessment and it appeared much more difficult than I expected at first. However, after looking it over a couple times I started working on it and was able to complete most of it pretty sufficiently. I wasn't sure if I'd be invited to the next round since I didn't complete it entirely but was flown to St. Louis a couple weeks later in order to interview at their main site.
Everyone at the facility was super nice, although I don't really think the HR lady was the sharpest tool in the shed. I first had an interview with 2 people, the national manager and a guy on the contract design team. This interview was a little tougher than my initial interview and I felt there were a couple instances where my answers weren't good enough, but felt overall it went pretty well. My next interview was with a guy on the implementation team and I really felt like I nailed it. Afterwards I went out to an informal lunch with 2 women who worked as financial analysts for Ascension which was quite nice. Afterwards I talked with the manager a little bit again and let her know that I had a great time and she told me that I would hear back from them within the next couple weeks. I felt very good about my prospects and was optimistic that I would get the job.
That was the last I ever heard from them. I sent my thank you notes immediately and a couple follow up emails a few weeks later but never received a response from anybody. I consider this pretty unprofessional but this seems to be the norm nowadays for companies after interviews. Regardless it was definitely a blessing in disguise as I received a much better offer a couple months later that is more suited to my interests. If anything else the Ascension interview process provided me with good experience and I had a good time during my visit.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Name a time where you had difficulties working with a member of a team you were involved in?
I applied online. I interviewed at Ascension (Indianapolis, IN)
Interview
2-part interview, one phone and one in person with manger. They set up a time that's convenient for you for the phone interview and after asking questions about background and work experience (pretty detailed for a phone interview!), they tell you about the company and work environment. Second part of interview was not as long, surprisingly, but asked specific questions, like what your career aspirations were, why you left previous positions, and some ethics questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions relating to ethics that may or may not sink your ship. I encourage you to be as honest as possible even if you think it reflects negatively on you as this is highly valued in this company. Since they work with a lot of personal information, integrity is vital so brutal honesty and admitting you make mistakes or have made them is more important than sugar-coating or omission of details.