Balluff Interview Questions
& Process

HR called me and said they would let me know when the technical interview was scheduled, but I haven't heard back from them in a month.

Direct contact focused on people without going through external recruiters. Contact is via email and phone. First interviews are via Teams and later it is in person. In the in-person interview it's more of a talk to get to know the person in terms of their personal and professional goals. There is an onboarding after being hired that is handled with each responsible area and later an intensive technical course to understand the technical aspects and internal company culture.

I applied for the job on their site in Nov-Dec 23. The whole interview process took about 3 rounds and ended up taking over 1.5 months after I got positive feedback. For me, the interview steps were: a chat with the Hiring Manager, a 1-hour coding test on Codility with one C++ problem, and then an onsite interview to check vibes and if I'm a good fit mentally. I didn't get past the mindset check because they wanted someone more experienced, a senior who could still work well in a flat org. The coding test wasn't related to their actual work.

Communication was horrendous, let me explain: I saw a job posting for Balluff that I was extremely well qualified for since I had spent four years doing the exact same job VERY successfully, calling on the exact same customers for a direct competitor. I know Balluff's technology very well, and have a huge list of key contacts at some of their largest target customers. So I LinkedIn connected with another sales engineer in a different territory and asked to have a phone conversation with her. That was AWESOME. She was awesome. I had such a great first impression of Balluff after that. She advised me to apply online and said she would reach out to her boss, who was the hiring manager for the open position, and recommend that he give me a call. After about 10 days of not hearing anything I sent her a quick LinkedIn message saying I was still interested and asked if they had already filled the position. She said "no" and her boss would be calling me. Another couple weeks went by and when he finally called I wasn't able to answer, so he left me a voice message but it sounded a bit terse. He also sent me an email to supplement his voice message that basically said I have 24 hours to call him back (despite the fact it took him nearly four weeks to call me). We spoke the next day and, to his credit, he was pleasant and professional over the phone. I felt the conversation went very well and he advised me that I would be moving on to the next part of the interview process, which was a culture index assessment and aptitude test. After our call, I received an email invitation to complete those and did so that same night. I heard nothing back for eight more days at which point I sent an email asking for confirmation that they had received the completed assessment, and I reiterated my interest in the position. I waited another week and sent another polite email requesting an update and reiterating my interest again. Two weeks after that I finally got an email from him saying they had another candidate going through the final round of interviews and, if those interviews didn't go well for that candidate, they would start up the process with me. Finding out you're the "Plan B" is never fun, but it's business. I'm sure my salary requirements were on the higher end of the curve given my experience, skills, education, etc. He promised me to let me know either way whether we would be continuing the process or not. I replied right away by email thanking him for the update. It has been over a month since that and I have not heard one word from him. I can see the position is no longer listed as an open position on the Balluff website, so I am assuming they filled it. I found the lack of communication and promises to give updates that were never kept to be extremely unprofessional. I suppose it may be a blessing in disguise because I couldn't imagine the frustration of working for a boss who just doesn't communicate. "Hey boss, I really need a hand on this large opportunity. Is there anything you can do to help?" *crickets* I wouldn't have been able to handle that very well.