I applied online. The process took 6 months. I interviewed at Cengage (Farmington Hills, MI) in Aug 2010
Interview
Process began with a phone interview, then was put on hold pending a corporate reorganization. Weeks later, received request for on-site interview. Flew up same day for interview with 6 or 7 senior-level officials (this was a senior position). Learned during the course of the interviews (at lunch, no less!) that the position for which I was interviewing was actually one level higher, and that the person to whom I'd be reporting (in the initial construct) was leaving. After that day (and what a day!), never heard back from them.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Cengage (New York, NY) in Mar 2017
Interview
The interview process involved a preliminary but lengthy phone call with the hiring manager (nearly 1.5 hours).
This was followed by a request for a sit down interview. Prior to that interview, I was to submit a product development plan as a test of my background for the position.
(Note that I generally frown on the delivery of product ideas or proposal as part of any interview. Technically any such written material is the property of the interviewee. This kind of request is easily subject to abuse--amounting to little more than theft if the proposed ideas are used. I took a chance in engaging with this process because of special circumstances: I was returning to a company for which I once worked so I was familiar with and trusted the participants.)
After submission and sit down, I waited a period of about 3-4 weeks before receiving a formal offer.
Otherwise the interview was a straightforward process of meeting in one of the company office's and walking the interviewers (there were two) through the research process and my prior experience in the development of projects similar to that I was presenting.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How do you go about conducting market research for a project of the nature that was presented?