Bad Company Interview Experience

<p>I had an interview with a company for an intern position that went semi well. The intern manager and a product engineer interviewed me and it took 2 hours total. I was completely disappointed that they did not give me an plant tour or show me around the plant. They didn't even give me a formal presentation as stated in the email. They kept wanting a person who knows BOMs and as an intern I don't think I should know how to do them right off the bat. If I do get a call from this company and they don't provide any sort of housing assistance or didn't pay for my interview costs, do you think I should take the position?</p>

<p>What would be your other options?</p>

<p>At this point, take a summer class and community service</p>

<p>I’d take the job anyway because it’s relevant work experience.</p>

<p>Even though I’m ChemE? This is more of a manufaturing engineering</p>

<p>ChemE is relevant to manufacturing engineering.</p>

<p>Any experience is better than none at all. You reasons for not liking this company seem trivial to me. If you wanted a plant tour you should have asked for it (nicely). I’m a hiring manager myself, we get busy. Interviewing interns is a pretty low priority in the grand scheme of things.</p>

<p>I’m trying to hire a new college grad right now, the only thing that really separates them (on paper) is the work experience, or lack thereof. The only ones I’m interviewing are the ones with some actual job experience, the more the better.</p>

<p>As an aside… I’m interviewing EE’s, I’m surprised that none of them have any idea how PCBA’s are built and tested. They know circuit design, some component level troubleshooting, etc. But not one of them knows how these products are built in full volume production? You can’t design good products if you don’t understand how they are made.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t expect any sort of relation assistance. Most just give you the number of an apartment finder service.</p>

<p>As far as your interview costs, they should cover all interview costs. If they do not, I would be very concerned about working there (although for an internship, it’s not much of a risk for you). If you do incur cost to interview and they do not cover it, save the receipts as you can probably deduct that from your taxes next year.</p>

<p>I’ll restate this:

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<p>I’m sure they’re looking at tons of applicants. You should be convincing them to hire you. Not the other way around.</p>

<p>Well considering I was one of two candidates interviewing for the position that seems like a “ton of applicants”.</p>

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<p>It goes both ways. Your fear is that they don’t offer you the job. Their fear is that you accept a position then after a few months (when they’ve invested in training but haven’t received the benefits), quit.</p>

<p>Getting a job is like getting a woman’s phone number. The easiest way to not get the job (or the number) is to come across as needy and interested in anything that comes along. In an interview, you want to come across as someone who has done their homework and have some interest in the company. Then make the recruiter pitch the company and try to win you over. This will put him more on the defensive and he’ll mentally accept that he’s hiring you and needs to convince you. There’s an art to it - you need to come across as confident and not cocky or self-entitled, but if you do it right it’s an incredibly effective tool.</p>