Spoke briefly with recruiter on basic skill set and background. He then spoke to the manager and based on my responses, emailed me technical background check form to fill out. There were 8 questions. The general theme was to give some examples of complex problems that I had solved, how I dealt with dissenting opinions on a problem, and how to reduce cost or increase reliability of a process within manufacturing, process, or field application. The hiring manager approved the technical check, they then called me for a 30 minute phone interview. They then called me in for an in person interview. This involved providing a more detailed executive summary of four to six bullet points of about 3-4 sentences each detailing very specific examples of improving reliability and cost reduction. They also asked me to present a 6-8 slide presentation on a complex problem I solved. Once I got called into the facility in Hawthorne, I was given a tour by my recruiter as he gave me some final tips on what to look out for in the process. It started with giving my 20 minute presenting in front of about 8 people. These were the same people who would do a 1-1 interview with me later in the afternoon. Be prepared to answer difficult questions as to why I chose the method you did, or on how to clarify what you're presenting. Be honest and tell the truth while justifying your position and you will do fine. There was about 10 minutes for follow up after the presentation. I then was moved to another conference room where each person that was in the group presentation came in to interview me. Most of the questions involved further questions on the presentation or additional examples along the same complexity of the issue shown in the presentation. Focus was placed on problems that may have had another root cause of the problem, but then later found to be something completely different. An easy example is a leaking water faucet. The valve was to blame for being faulty, but the root cause was that it wasn't tightened on the pipe all the way. Be prepared to look at problems from multiple angles. Some of the interviews were group interviews (2 people at once) since they had busy schedules I'd assume. The last person to interview me was the hiring manager. He picked me up from the room and gave me a tour of the area where I would be working. About a week later, they called me in for another interview to meet with the President. I arrived prepared will copies of my resume, technical check, presentation, and executive summary. It was a 30 minute interview. She went over how I would tackle a problem and what my greatest achievement was in that problem. I was called about a few days later saying I earned the offer and I accepted. They also ask for your GPA in college and SAT scores. I had researched other responses on Glassdoor and it proved to be very useful. It helped me prepare for the interview.
