ZEISS Group Manager Interview Questions
& Process

The application process was pleasant and well-planned overall. The response to the application took a little while. They should be quicker with acceptances and rejections. Otherwise, it was quite pleasant to apply, and the conversation with the team lead and HR person was very relaxed.

I applied in early April and got a recruiter call for a screening a couple weeks later. After that, I had a phone interview with the hiring manager. Both were professional with good questions and not too stressful. Then I flew to their Minneapolis HQ for a third interview. A driver picked me up. The interviews were with the hiring manager, technical support and support services managers, another RSM, and then a tour of the production floor. I didn't get an offer, but it was a professional and well-done process. Everyone had a good attitude and seemed to work well together, which is great.

The interview process had 3 rounds. The first round was a screening with the Head of a Stakeholder department to R&D, which went well with a positive response. The second round involved my future boss (another Head of department) and HR, where I had to prepare and present a use case. This also went well, and I received a positive email inviting me for an in-person interview in Aalen. The third round took place on campus, with the two previously mentioned heads and three future peers (heads of other functions). HR was surprisingly absent. This interview lasted almost 100 minutes, exceeding the planned 60 minutes. I felt this round also went well, and I got positive feedback from the panel. After that, there was a long waiting period of almost 3 months with no response. I sent two follow-up emails, and HR mentioned they would forward my query to the hiring manager. A couple of weeks later, I received a standard rejection email. The whole process was painfully slow, and the ending involved ghosting. There's no real feedback culture here, even when asked.