I applied for the position of Quantitative Survey Research Intern in mid-August (within the first couple days after the job was posted), and was written back within a week asking to set up a phone interview for the position. I replied with a couple of times and set up an appointment with an initial job recruiter. When my recruiter missed our appointment time (not calling me at any point during the day we agreed upon), and after sending her several emails asking what had gone wrong, I emailed Opower's general contact address and received a personal apology from someone higher up in the hiring staff. They ended up sending me a tote-bag as an token of remorse and guaranteed that my interview would be re-scheduled.
Sometime in the next week, I spoke with the woman who was originally supposed to screen me and I answered several general questions relating to my research experience, what I knew about the company, why I wanted to work there, and why I would be a good fit for the position. After passing this initial interview, I was told that I would be provided with a "homework assignment" and that I would be given several days to complete it.
After some more time had passed, I was sent the assignment, which consisted of three separate parts. Essentially, the homework assignment related to Opower hypothetically testing some new measure of collecting data from their clients consisting of reminder to turn down individuals' thermostats and an accompanying survey designed to measure its effectiveness. My job was to 1.) Come up with a series of questions to ask the development team related to their research goals and making sure that I knew what it was they really wanted to assess, 2.) Redesigning the survey (which was intentionally poorly constructed) in order to improve the quality of the data retrieved and to make sure the right questions were being asked to correctly answer what the research team wanted to know, and 3.) To provide Opower with an outline of the sorts of analyses that I would plan to run in order to understand what the data was telling me. I had four days to complete the assignment, and genuinely enjoyed the challenge of the task that was given to me.
After turning it in, I heard soon after that I had passed the homework assignment phase and that I would be having another phone interview with the individual that I would conceivably work for if I were hired for the position. This interview involved more specific questioning of my research experiences and more about the day-to-day workings of the position itself. I was asked specifically about my experiences with specific kinds of analyses and survey research (have I done qualitative data analysis before, have I conducted phone surveys before, etc). I was told that if I passed this interview phase that there would be a final, FINAL interview session that would involve talking with a number of individuals in Opower to whom I would report or with whom I would work. This would only take place with the final two candidates for the position, but unfortunately I did not make this cut. Part of this likely had to do with the fact that I was no where near Opower's headquarters at the time (thus not being able to do the interviews in person) and was not planning to move to the DC area unless hired for the position.
I naturally would really have liked to work with this company, but it didn't end up working out for whatever reason. It did surprise me that there would be such a rigorous hiring process for an internship that would only last three months with no definite guarantee of future employment with the company. Still, apart from the initial confusion over missing my first interview, the only real complaint that I have relates to the length of the hiring process here. I was interviewing with Opower for over a month, had two separate phone interviews and a homework assignment, and STILL didn't make it to the final round of interviews. It was definitely the most intense interviewing process I've ever been through, but it was definitely good as an experience to let me know what might be ahead in other interviews for equally prestigious or hard-working companies.
Hope this helps.
