I interviewed at Applied Materials (California, MD)
Interview
Multiple rounds of interviews. The interview went smoothly until the last round. Hiring team was cooperative but then at the end never responded with their decision and left the candidate hanging.
I applied online. The process took 5 months. I interviewed at Applied Materials (Santa Clara, CA) in Jan 2025
Interview
Applied to the "2025 University Graduate - Process Engineer" role back in October. HR got back a moth later with a screening form, asking about extent of relevant experience and communication skills. The first interview was scheduled in December with a Managing Director about two weeks later by a different recruiter. The MD did not show up, I waited for 30 mins after which the recruiter joined the call and apologized, stating that the interview would be rescheduled. This time around, another recruiter emailed me asking about my availability, following which the rescheduled interview was organized. It was mainly behavioral, the MD asked about my research, and other fit-based questions. They seemed more interested in getting their list of questions answered, and asked if I had any questions for them. One month later, in January, the final round interviews were scheduled out of the blue without asking me for my availability. One with a Senior Director, immediately followed by a Staff Engineer. The former too was interested in getting their behavioral questions answered, had no interest in my background, but told me more in-depth about what the position would entail. The final interviewer was kind of nice and chill, where it felt like I was having a genuine two-sided interaction. It was them who told me that this was a cohort hiring of NCGs who would undergo a three month rotation/training program. Fast-forward to March, I have been ghosted and have neither received an offer nor a rejection. Tried to follow-up with HR but got a generic response that they are still interviewing and need time because of holidays kicking-in (??? what holidays in February??). Tried following-up again with a different recruiter but have been ghosted ever since.
Worst interview experience as a new grad - my advice would be to go in with zero hopes and consider yourself lucky if you even hear back from them.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How do you go about troubleshooting a failing equipment?
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Applied Materials (Phoenix, AZ) in Dec 2024
Interview
Three 30 minute interviews: One with hiring manager, two with team members. All interviews on Microsoft Teams
Very easy. All of the questions were behavioral questions. There were some repeat questions between the interviewers.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me a time you had to make something happen and describe the outcome.