Glassdoor users rated their interview experience at Ciena as 100% positive with a difficulty rating score of 2 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty). Candidates interviewing for Systems Engineer and rated their interviews as the hardest, whereas interviews for Systems Engineer and roles were rated as the easiest.
The hiring process at Ciena takes an average of 62 days when considering 1 user submitted interviews across all job titles. Candidates applying for Systems Engineer had the quickest hiring process (on average 62 days), whereas Systems Engineer roles had the slowest hiring process (on average 62 days).
I applied and was reached out to by a recruiter about a week later. The call went great, and the recruiter basically explained the role and benefits and said she would send out next steps the next day. I never heard back from her for weeks, and then over a month later got an automated rejection email. Super disappointing and felt disrespectful of my time.
I applied online. I interviewed at Ciena in Feb 2026
Interview
Applied online after seeing posting on LinkedIn. HR contacted me within few days requesting interview with hiring manager. Interview was done by Sr Director mostly following STAR style with lots of behavioral type questions and some technical as well. Answered all the questions confidently and with subsequent examples and saw that they were well received, even though he was lost with answers to tech questions(not in his knowledge domain). He also highlighted that he need resource to be hired quickly. From that point was no communication whatsoever with automated rejection email in 4 weeks.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe how would you handle emergency customer case?