I applied in-person. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at VMware (Palo Alto, CA)
Interview
One interview with HR staffer to determine fit, followed by phone interview with hiring manager. Phone interview was challenging - very focused on SDLC knowledge and experience. Third interview was follow-up in person with member of development team - mostly just a conversation and follow-up questions from my internship. Really nice guy.
I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at VMware in Mar 2012
Interview
I submitted my resume though Linkedin which redirects to the VMware job site (not great). create a job agent, they update frequently. I also suggest reaching out to one of the recruiters over linked in it will place you front and center.
After initial call with the recruiter (Areas of strength, what jobs I'm looking for and salary ask) you get a call schedule with a hiring manager.
Expect 2 phone screens (at least). the phone screens are targeted to get a feel for what your strengths are and how do you work with other people. be sensitive to the fact that VMware is engineering led and there are a lot of players, so coming across as a nice person who can get people to want to collaborate is key. it also helps to ask the hiring managers what type of experience he is looking for, the job descriptions are not accurate and missing a lot of info. on-site interview loop (I had two sperate ones): get to VMware at least 30 minutes before. parking is complicated and the campus is not easy to navigate. dress up, VMware is not a jeans company (Suite ok but no tie). You will be picked up from the lobby and be sited in a conference room with people changing places every 45 minutes. make sure to get the interviewers names from the recruiter and look them up on linked in. Expect PM, PMM, Engineering and your hiring manager boss. most question will focus on how you handle work situation, convicts, PM processes and engineering relationships. make sure to have and answer and not come across as a lone ranger - VMware is group driven and engineering are strong so make them comfortable. some interviews in the on-site will be over the phone as VMware has many sites and several campus areas. expect interviews to be rescheduled several times. also, have a presentation ready (3-5 slides) PM present a lot in VMware. Do your research on the specific market and players in the space, but don't come across as "know it all", ask questions mentioning fact you researched. Also, know your agile development methodology - VMware is big on agile, bit not all groups are there so ask first.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
"Tell me a bout a time in your career where you made a mistake. what was the mistake, what where the results and what did you learn from the experience?"
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at VMware (Bengaluru) in Jun 2013
Interview
I had forwarded my resume via an employee referral.
1) Almost 2-3 weeks after sending over my resume, I received the first call. It was a telephonic screening done by a recruiter from the HR department.
2) A week after that I had a tele interview by my hiring manager who was based out of the US. She asked me generic stuff about my current profile and PM processes I follow. Because of the similarity in my current profile with their requirements, she sounded confident of my candidature.
3) A week later I had another tele interview round by my hiring manager's manager i.e. a US based Director. He seemed to be a pretty smart guy and asked me situation based questions like "what would you do if I gave you a day to prepare a status presentation for a project which you know nothing about" etc..
4) A couple of days later, I was asked to appear in another tele interview. The Bangalore based local Director(an NIT + IIM-L grad) interviewed me and asked me about my interest areas, career goals etc..
A week after all of the above, I was asked to come down to their Bangalore office since most of their US based guys had flown down here for that whole week. Here's what happened in the F2F interviews which followed:
5) Met up with the US hiring manager. She was brimming with enthusiasm and appeared to be a very smart lady. She kept on showing me samples of work that I'm expected to do(status presentations etc.). We had a detailed chat about PM processes in VMware and at my current job.
6) Met up another US based Director(of Indian origin). An IIT-KGP + IIM-A combo, he seemed to be a very sharp intellect. Asked me many tangential questions such as "why don't you aspire to be a Solution Manager instead of being a pure-play a Project Manager" etc..
7) Met up with the local Director(#4) again. This time he spoke to me for almost 30 min re: the work environment and what I should expect at VMware Bangalore.
The whole process lasted 2 months starting from forwarding my resume to receiving the offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why don't you aspire to be a Solution Manager instead of being a pure-play a Project Manager?