The initial interviews with the recruiter and principal Engineer were conducted professionally, and I felt encouraged by the insightful questions and discussions we had. It was evident that the team values a collaborative and knowledgeable approach to process engineering, aligning well with my own professional principles.
However, I must express some concerns regarding the last interview in the process. Unfortunately, the experience during that session left me with a sense of being treated unjustly.
I applied online. I interviewed at ASM in Jun 2026
Interview
-Applied online through LinkedIn
-First reached out by a recruiter and underwent screening process
-2nd round of interview with two Ph.D.-level process engineers; 10-15 min presentation about Ph.D. research, followed by deep technical questions
-3rd round of interview with one Ph.D.-level director; 10-15 min presentation about Ph.D. research, followed by technical questions and a general conversation about the role
-4th round of interview with VP; 10-15 min presentation about Ph.D. research, followed by technical questions and a general conversation about the role
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
-Please give a presentation about your Ph.D. research.
-Deep technical questions related to the presentation
-Please describe how you conducted electrical transport measurements.
-Please describe your experience of managing a scientific tool or instrument in the lab.
-Are you okay with occasional traveling, both domestic and international?
HR round followed by 5x technical 1:1 interviews followed by final VP interview.
Technical interviews consisted of presentation of past work followed by Q&A. Main advice would be to brush up on fundamentals of your research work as well as broader application.
The process is long and time consuming:
1. HR Screening call
2. Line "hiring" managers - they were not sure if they are interviewing for their teams or for which ones.
3. Local head
4. International head
-some HR follow-up exchanges in between.
All to learn that due to economic situation there's a hiring freeze.
All the people and interactions were nice, though the line managers were totally caught off-guard by the questions about their leadership and overall working culture.