Makita Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was long and demanding, but it brings a sense of peace afterward because the company is of excellent quality, offering various benefits to employees. The interview is difficult, but it's due to the company's size.

The interview kicked off with a 30-45 minute call with a third-party recruiter, mostly covering skills and past experiences. Next up was a 3+ hour in-person meeting with the hiring manager. This part dove deep into what the hiring manager expects from the role and the person filling it. Questions were pretty straightforward, mainly probing my management style. The recruiter tried her best to prepare me, but there seemed to be a disconnect between her understanding and the hiring manager's actual needs, based on what they were looking for in the interview versus what I was told beforehand. This might explain why, after 3.5 months, the job is still open and they're actively searching, given how urgently the hiring manager seemed to be asking about the position's importance.

Applied online for a role. Had a good informal chat for an hour with a manager who seemed keen to interview me, suggesting an alternative role. Formal interview was good, but they were interested in me for another role, so invited me for a meeting with remaining managers. This seemed like a formality. During this interview, I learned they had advertised internally and would wait for the outcome. I wasn't kept updated without chasing, despite their initial keenness. It would have been polite to update a candidate they had sparked interest in. Around a month later, after chasing, they finally responded they had gone in a different direction. I felt I had been used to benchmark an internal candidate. It would have been polite to keep a candidate updated proactively, having spent around three hours of my time for interviews.

The interview process took a while, about two months from application to decision. I had an initial in-person interview with the Associate Manager, followed by a second round with two other people, the Lead Developer and Marketing Director. I didn't get the offer, and the salary was lower than expected. It turned out to be good because I found a better job soon after. Interestingly, they're hiring for the same role again two months later, suggesting high turnover.