J'ai postulé via la recommandation d'un employé. J'ai passé un entretien chez KLA (Milpitas, CA) en mars 2017
Entretien
First stage: Skype interview with a small presentation about my projects and background
Second stage: In-person interview at their Milpitas, CA location consisting of a 30-45min presentation on my PhD research followed by a series of five ~1 hr long one-on-one interviews
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Overall, my interview experience was negative and I walked out of the interview at the end of the day intending to decline an offer, if they gave me one.
The research presentation went fine, aside from technical difficulties getting their presentation system to work at the beginning. However, the one-on-one interviews felt like a giant waste of time and coming out I had no idea how I would fit in there. Conversely, based on the interactions, I have no idea how they could possibly know if I was a good fit.
The first interviewer rambled on incoherently about various projects and teams he was working on. Several of the other interviewers treated our interaction as a quiz where they asked me a long series of (essentially) yes or no questions relating to my skills, background, and experience. They didn't allow it to become a discussion where I could share more about my experiences and skills. One interviewer actually had some reasonable and interesting technical questions, but when we actually started having a discussion we ran out of time. The very last interviewer somehow seemed more tired and more uninterested than I was.
To top this off, the company didn't reimburse me for my taxi costs (although they claim to have sent the check). It's only $30... but if you're going to say you do something, at least follow through.
Questions d'entretien [1]
Question 1
What do you know about unconstrained optimization?
it was easy and friendly and it took like 1 hour. we talked about the job and my background. also we discussed future opportunities. what would be next role, and we also talked about my chances of getting accepted.
J'ai postulé via un recruteur. Le processus a pris 2 semaines. J'ai passé un entretien chez KLA (Milpitas, CA) en juin 2024
Entretien
Easy, I expected more technical questions having read some of the reviews for research scientist interview process at KLA, but I had almost no technical questions asked besides questions about my PhD research, the very small details like electrical characteristics of the equipment, etc.
Questions d'entretien [1]
Question 1
Tell me about your PhD work, then questions were derived from the specific elements of what I mentioned.
J'ai postulé en ligne. J'ai passé un entretien chez KLA (Ann Arbor, MI) en nov. 2023
Entretien
The interview process was surprising and unpleasant. I was prepared for a technical interview with some HR-style questions (personality/STAR). I joined a Zoom call with two employees (a team lead and their superior). At the start of the interview I was informed "These 30 minutes are for you, tell us anything you think we should know about you as a candidate for this job." I began by talking about myself and my background, as well as my PhD research. After about 10 minutes I stopped to ask if they had any questions about my research or background, or wanted to follow-up on anything. They repeated "these 30 minutes are for you to tell us about yourself." There was no clarifications, no questions. After another 10 minutes of talking about my research and skills (technical and leadership) I again asked if they had questions. Again they repeated that this time was for me. After about 27 minutes of me talking without any questions or follow-up from them, they stopped me and asked "Is there a difference between science and engineering?" I gave my best answer, then they concluded the interview and said I would hear from them either way in the next two weeks. I never heard from them. About two months later the candidate portal showed that I had been rejected. It was a terrible experience. If I knew they wanted me to talk for 30 minutes straight I would've have prepared slides.
Questions d'entretien [2]
Question 1
Q: These 30 minutes are for you, tell us anything you think we should know about you as a candidate for this job.