Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was pretty bad and disrespectful. I got an invite for a one-way video interview, which I thought was silly since they already used AI for resume screening. After doing that, I heard nothing for over a month. They eventually got back to me to move to the next step, but by then I'd already accepted another job and wasn't interested anymore because of how they treated candidates. If they treat applicants like this, I dread to think how they treat employees. Seriously avoid.

The entire process is too much. They require 2-3 interviews for roles that aren't management or technical, which seems like a red flag. It would have cost me nearly $1,000 in lost annual leave from my current job to take off the time EPRI requested for interviews. My guess is they're using California orgs as a benchmark. The only other place with an equally burdensome process was Amazon, which isn't a good sign. I was really interested in EPRI and hope they simplify their interview process. Too many people involved.

We started with an initial HR interview. Then, there were four conversations with different team members to get a good feel for the role, team dynamics, and what they expect. After that, I had interviews with the Manager and Senior HR, where they asked strategic questions to see if I aligned with company goals. A big part was a presentation on a topic I'm interested in, to check my technical skills and how well I communicate, showing my expertise in a practical, real-world way. Finally, there was a write-up where I had to show my thought process, problem-solving approach, and how I articulate things, basically a written test of critical thinking on a given topic.

The interview process had three rounds. The first round was a "one way interview" where they provided a link to a video recording site. There were four questions and the video you record for each answer can be up to one minute long. Fortunately, you can retake the videos as many times as needed. The second round was a 30 minute webex interview with the manager for the position which was pretty typical. We talked about my background, the role, company culture, that kind of thing. The third round had two parts. First was five consecutive one-on-one interviews with several people around the role - the manager, the manager of an adjacent team, the lead coworker, an HR person, and a technical executive. These ranged from casual conversation to intense technical grilling. The second part of round three was a presentation and Q&A session with those people (except the HR person) that was scheduled for 45 minutes. The presentation was on a topic of my choosing and they recommended reusing something from your previous work or education. The goal is to judge your presentation style and how you handle Q&A, not to judge the content or topic.