General Mills Data Scientist Interview Questions + Guide in 2024

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 General Mills data scientist interview questions you might encounter, ensuring you are well-equipped to join this dynamic team.

The interview process usually depends on the role and seniority; however, you can expect the following on a General Mills data scientist interview:

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

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

Sometimes, 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 invite you to the technical screening round. Technical screening for the General Mills data scientist role is usually conducted through virtual means, including video conferencing and screen sharing. Questions in this one-hour 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 can attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds will be conducted during your day at the General Mills office, varying with the role. This might involve a 90-minute case study preparation session, one-on-one interviews with HR and various team members, and your case study presentation. 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.

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

1. 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.

2. 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

Output:

Here are some quick tips on how you can prepare for your General Mills data scientist interview:

1. Know the Company Mission and Products: General Mills strongly emphasizes its mission to make food the world loves, so familiarity with its range of products and market could come in handy during situational and behavioral questions.

2. 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.

3. Brush Up on Your Technical Skills: Plan to review the basics in statistics and SQL, as well as machine learning concepts such as the ROC AUC curve, precision and recall, and logistic regression. Practicing on platforms like Interview Query can provide a great refresher.

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

According to Glassdoor, data scientists at General Mills earn between $114K to $159K per year, with an average of $134K per year.

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.

What is the company culture like at General Mills?

General Mills’s culture prioritizes innovation, collaboration, and being a force for good. The company encourages big thinking and growth together, aiming to create a place where diverse perspectives and new possibilities flourish. General Mills also significantly emphasizes employee well-being, offering a competitive Total Rewards package.

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.

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.

You can also 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!