Watlow Electric Manufacturing Interview Questions
& Process

I met them at the campus career fair, and then was invited to a campus interview. All the questions were behavioral, and I got to learn more about the company and the rotational program. I was invited to a second interview in St. Louis. We had a social event the night before the interview with many senior-level managers, senior engineers, and alumni from the rotational program. The next day was the interview, and we also got a tour of their facility. It was surprising to see the company CEO show up for the interview process, which shows how much the company cares about this program. There were 3 rounds of interviews, mostly behavioral, but they also asked in detail about my previous technical projects, so I made sure to remember all the details. It was a great overall experience; everyone seemed to know each other, and they really cared if I was having a good time throughout the whole process.

The interview process for the Coop Hardware/Embedded Systems role involved a single session with two engineers. They focused on a list of behavioral questions, and it's recommended to be well-prepared with the STAR technique, as it can be challenging otherwise. There was no communication after the interview until an offer was extended about 3-4 weeks later. It's unclear if this delay was due to considering other candidates who declined or just the standard pace of a large company. I came prepared with a portfolio of hardware projects and schematics, which they found helpful in discussing the STAR-based questions. They also asked some basic technical questions about the hardware design, like the baud rates for SPI, I2C, and UART, my trust in datasheets, my component choices, and why I opted against alternative technologies such as capacitive touch sensing over resistive touch sensing. The main objective seemed to be assessing my problem-solving methods and understanding of fundamental engineering trade-offs.

The HR recruiter reached out first to confirm my interest despite a lower salary offer. I mentioned that I often deliver significant value and wished to proceed. Then, a 2-hour phone interview was set up with the IT Director based in St. Louis. We talked about the job's challenges, the IT department, the business, the existing IT strategy (or lack thereof), and personnel. The Director was very open, which helped me to really assess the role.

First there was a phone screening, then a 1-hour interview with two people from the same department. I was interviewing for a role that would allow me to assist one of the interviewers with debugging the few PCBs that returned with a fault. My interview went well, and I answered the questions to the best of my ability with a good amount of explanation. It's been two weeks, and I am still waiting for feedback.