General Mills Data Scientist Interview Guide Overview

General Mills, a global leader in consumer foods, is dedicated to making food the world loves while driving sustainable growth. With over 155 years of history, the company continues to innovate with renowned brands like Cheerios, Pillsbury, and Häagen-Dazs, striving to be a force for good.

The Data Scientist position at General Mills, within the Consumer & Market Insights (CMI) Decision Sciences team, offers a unique opportunity to contribute strategic business analytics for better decision-making. This role involves leveraging predictive analytics, machine learning, and other advanced techniques to identify growth opportunities and drive business performance.

Utilize this guide from Interview Query to prepare for your interview by understanding the various rounds and types of questions you might encounter, ensuring you are well-equipped to join this dynamic team.

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining General Mills as a data scientist. Whether you were contacted by a General Mills recruiter or have taken the initiative yourself, carefully review the job description and tailor your CV according to the prerequisites.

Tailoring your CV may include identifying specific keywords that the hiring manager might use to filter resumes and crafting a targeted cover letter. Furthermore, don’t forget to highlight relevant skills and mention your work experiences.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from General Mills Talent Acquisition Team will make contact and verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be a part of the screening process.

In some cases, the General Mills data scientist hiring manager stays present during the screening round to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also indulge in surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

The whole recruiter call should take about 30 minutes.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will present you with an invitation for the technical screening round. Technical screening for the General Mills data scientist role usually is conducted through virtual means, including video conferencing and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around General Mills’s data systems, statistics knowledge, SQL queries, and machine learning fundamentals.

Onsite Interview Rounds

Following a second recruiter call outlining the next stage, you’ll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds, varying with the role, will be conducted during your day at the General Mills office. This might involve a 90-minute case study preparation session, one-on-one interviews with HR and various team members, and a presentation of your case study. Your technical prowess, including programming and statistical modeling capabilities, will be evaluated throughout these interviews.

If you were assigned take-home exercises, a presentation round may also be part of the onsite interview for the data scientist role at General Mills.

Quick Tips For General Mills Data Scientist Interviews

• Know the Company Mission and Products: General Mills places a strong emphasis on its mission to make food the world loves, so familiarity with their range of products and their market could come in handy during situational and behavioral questions.
• Be Ready with Your Projects: You should be prepared to discuss your past data science projects in depth, as previous project work is heavily scrutinized in General Mills interviews. Have a couple of diverse projects ready to talk about.
• Brush Up on Your Technical Skills: Plan to review basics in statistics and SQL, as well as machine learning concepts, such as ROC AUC curve, precision and recall, and logistic regression. Practicing on platforms like Interview Query can provide a great refresher.

Typically, interviews at General Mills vary by role and team, but commonly Data Scientist interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

• What is the relationship between PCA and K-means clustering?
  Explain how Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering can be used together in data analysis. Describe the benefits and potential drawbacks of combining these techniques.

• Write a query to get the current salary for each employee. Let’s say we have a table representing a company payroll schema.

Due to an ETL error, the employees table, instead of updating the salaries every year when doing compensation adjustments, did an insert instead. The head of HR still needs the current salary of each employee.

Write a query to get the current salary for each employee.

Note: Assume no duplicate combination of first and last names (I.E. No two John Smiths). Assume the INSERT operation works with ID autoincrement.

Example:

Input:

employees table

| Column | Type | | --- | --- | | id | VARCHAR | | first_name | VARCHAR | | last_name | VARCHAR | | salary | INTEGER | | department_id | INTEGER |

Output:

| Column | Types | | --- | --- | | first_name | VARCHAR | | last_name | VARCHAR | | salary | INTEGER |

What is the average salary for a Data Scientist at General Mills?

Q: What does the interview process for a Data Scientist position at General Mills entail?

The interview process at General Mills typically involves three main rounds: a technical round, a managerial round, and an HR round. The technical round assesses your knowledge in statistics, SQL, and your past data science projects. The managerial round focuses on problem-solving approaches and can include industry-specific questions. The HR round evaluates your cultural fit within the company.

Q: What type of interview questions can I expect for the Data Scientist role at General Mills?

You can expect a mix of technical and behavioral questions. Technical questions might include topics like ROC AUC curves, logistic regression, precision and recall metrics, and deep dives into your projects. Behavioral questions may ask you to describe difficult work situations or how you demonstrated good listening skills in a professional setting.

Q: How should I prepare for a General Mills Data Scientist interview?

To prepare, thoroughly review your resume and be ready to discuss your past projects in detail. Brush up on your statistics, SQL, and machine learning concepts. Practice answering behavioral questions that reflect company values. Utilize Interview Query to practice common interview questions and refine your problem-solving techniques.

Q: What qualities and skills is General Mills looking for in a Data Scientist?

General Mills looks for candidates with strong technical skills in data science, machine learning, and analytics. They value individuals with experience in applying these skills to drive business results, and who can communicate their findings effectively to stakeholders at all levels. Collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity are highly valued traits.

Q: What is the company culture like at General Mills?

General Mills has a culture that prioritizes innovation, collaboration, and being a force for good. The company encourages big thinking and growing together, aiming to create a place where diverse perspectives and new possibilities flourish. General Mills also places a significant emphasis on employee well-being, offering a competitive Total Rewards package.

Conclusion

The interview process at General Mills for the Data Scientist position offers invaluable insights into the company's organized and thorough approach to candidate evaluation. While some experiences varied between interviewers, the process is well-structured, including rounds that focus on technical aptitude, project experience, and cultural fit within the company. The company places significant emphasis on understanding complex business problems, deploying scalable machine learning models, and translating analytics into actionable business strategies.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main General Mills Interview Guide, where we've covered many interview questions that could be asked. We’ve also created interview guides for other roles, such as software engineer and data analyst, where you can learn more about General Mills’ interview process for different positions.

At Interview Query, we empower you to unlock your interview prowess with a comprehensive toolkit, equipping you with the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to conquer every General Mills data scientist interview question and challenge.

You can check out all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!