Sila Nanotechnologies Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process had a screening call (30 min), then the hiring manager (45 min), followed by peers (2 program managers, 1 hour). After that, there were senior peers (2 senior leaders in Program Management, 1 hour). I didn't get to the next stage. I emailed a week after the 4th interview for an update but got no response. I called later that week, still no response. I ended up messaging one of the interviewers on LinkedIn, but that also didn't get a reply. It felt really disrespectful to not get any communication back after I invested over 3 hours, plus prep time and rescheduling. If they can't handle basic interview communication, I'm not sure how they operate internally.

the interview process started with a 30 min phone screen with the hiring manager. after s/he spoke, another call for 45 minutes with the SAME hiring manager took place. after this 2nd phone conversation (in which s/he basically asked the same questions as the first 30 min conversation), i was scheduled for a 4-6 hour presentation/video interview with several employees. all of this was fairly easy for me. and the reason i chose to interview at sila was that there was a lot of chatter on linkedin about how they embrace diversity and want to promote women in leadership positions. in fact, there was so much talk about this that it felt too good to be true. all but one person i spoke to was a white male and the other person was a white female. no asians, no indians, nothing other than a sea of white

The whole interview process took 7 weeks, and after my final interview, I never heard back, even after reaching out to the recruiter a couple of weeks later. It's really disrespectful and doesn't make the company look good. Sending a rejection email takes no time at all. My interviews were spread across six different dates. I get that virtual interviews are flexible, but having them spread out so much is draining. It felt like I was constantly preparing for interviews for weeks straight. Nobody enjoys a 5-hour onsite interview, but having so many short sessions is also tough. I'm not a fan of presentation interviews, even though they're becoming more common. I don't think they show if a candidate can actually do the job, and it ends up with the company getting free work.

Had an initial phone screen, then an on-site interview with 3 staff. The recruiter was very responsive and communicated well. Everyone I met was extremely friendly, and I got a tour of a very impressive R&D facility. I really appreciated that. The interview questions were mostly standard and didn't really probe professional character very deeply. The company doesn't provide post-interview feedback, which is a topic of much debate. I think it's unfair for a job seeker to spend half a day at a company without getting feedback on the decision, but I respect their right to do so. Cool company with lots of potential if you can make it work for you.