WD-40 Company Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process felt a bit impersonal at times, but the team was really open and welcoming. I liked how transparent, open, and people-first they were. It was nice to see a group that communicates clearly and focuses on making a supportive and inclusive place.

The interview process included a phone screen, an assignment, and multiple interviews with a peer, the hiring manager, and the CEO. While the interviews were pleasant and the assignment wasn't too difficult, the company's campus is nice. However, after getting an offer, my attempt to negotiate salary and discuss promotion paths led to the recruiter and hiring manager rescinding the offer. The hiring manager, a female attorney, told me, “let this be a lesson for you.” This experience taught me to stand firm on my worth and that a company revoking an offer for negotiation attempts is not a place I'd want to work anyway. Interestingly, a month later, I received another offer with a $20k higher salary, $100k in stock, a $40k sign-on bonus, and a clear promotion path.

The interview process started with a phone call from a recruiter. Then, there was an in-person meeting with an HR Generalist and someone from the "Tribe." This was followed by a "challenge presentation" to the Innovation Team, and it all concluded with a discussion with a Senior VP. I really wanted to give WD-40 a good review, but honestly, I can't. WD-40 is full of amazing, driven people and is set up for future success. However, after my final interview, the communication about my application just stopped completely, which was way below expectations. I spent days getting ready for the presentation and meeting with team members and executives. The early stages were fast, smooth, and clear – a great and enjoyable experience. But then things went downhill. I get that they chose someone else, and that's fine; I'm glad they found the best fit. But to just stop all contact and leave a candidate hanging without any feedback is unprofessional. You'd think a company like WD-40 would follow up with feedback and a proper thank you. But if they pass on you, they seem to forget you exist. After waiting over 45 days past my final interview with the Senior VP and struggling to get anyone involved to talk to me, I got a really insincere voicemail from the recruiter and a generic, copy-pasted email from HR saying they went with someone else. It was a really bad way to end the hiring process with WD-40. Because of this, I can't say it was a good experience overall. I hope WD-40 and their hiring team recognize these flaws in their process and do better for future candidates.

I applied through Linked in on a Monday, had a call and phone interview, about 20 mins, from a recruitment agency two days later. The next week I spoke again to the recruitment agency on the Tuesday, secured an interview with the company for the next day. That was 90 mins and after the first hour I met three of the people that would be working with the person who eventually accepted the role. And I received feedback the next day. All up it was a quick process for me, less than two weeks, but the interview was very long and the questions weren't great. Also, weirdly, they kept saying repeatedly in the interview and also from what they promote on their company websites, that they wanted to hire someone that fit really well with their company and that they would hire more based on that than experience necessarily. However that was not the case in practice as the feedback I received was that they liked me, but they chose to go with someone with more exact experience, as they didn't want to wait for me to learn the software they use.