Smith+Nephew Interview Questions
& Process

So I first got this HireVue thing, and then like 2 weeks later, I had a virtual interview. They scheduled two interviews back to back for me, one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. They threw in some weird questions about niche acronyms and if I'd actually done systems architecture stuff in undergrad. Most of the other questions were pretty standard, just pulling from my resume. They let me know about the job offer within a week after the last interview.

First, you'll record yourself answering some questions. Then, there's a phone call with the clinical director to talk about things like what the job involves, travel, and pay. After that, a phone call with the team lead for more of a casual chat and to ask job-related questions. Finally, a Teams interview with both the director and team lead where they'll ask situational questions. There might be an offer or a final interview after that.

So I'm writing this to give future candidates a heads-up about the totally messed up hiring process for this IT Director, Business Relationship Manager role at Smith & Nephew. They really don't seem to respect people's time. The whole thing, from start to finish, took about four months. It involved 4 interview rounds with different people in the company. After each interview, there was a ridiculous 2-3 week wait for any feedback or to find out what's next. The recruiter was super hard to get hold of and didn't seem to know what was going on with the schedule. I basically had to keep chasing them just to get updates or move forward. After all that time and all those interviews, they told me I was one of the two finalists who would talk to the top business leader. But even after that meeting, I had to wait over 10 days, chasing the recruiter again, to get a 'no.' The disrespect was super clear when they posted the exact same IT Director job the day after they rejected me. It makes you wonder if they even knew what they wanted or if their process was just so bad they wasted so much of a final candidate's time, only to start over right away. So, if you're a senior person, get ready for a really slow, inefficient process that doesn't care about your time. Four months for a job they didn't even fill is just not okay. Be careful if you decide to apply.

I got an email asking if I was free for a 30-minute phone chat for a Quality Engineer role at Smith+Nephew. The interview started off a bit rough, though. The person interviewing me first said I wasn't a good fit because I don't live in Pittsburgh, which I had to explain that a lot of people commute daily from Ohio. Then they mentioned I didn't have manufacturing experience, and I had to clarify that most of my background is in manufacturing, working right on the production floor. Lastly, they decided I had too much experience for the job.