The entire interview was very lengthy and lack a clear direction. I first applied for the job in May and never heard anything back until after a month. Eventually I was called in for an interview which lasted about an hour+. I thought things went really well and I received positive feedback. However, after several more weeks I never heard anything back. Eventually I talked to the HR representative who was very helpful and explained to me that the position was on hold but I was still being considered as a strong candidate. Another month or so went by during this unclear time and I reached out to HR again and landed a second interview. My second interview consisted of 3 people including HR and lasted about 2 hours. Afterward, I still never heard anything for like 1-2 weeks. I was constantly checking in with HR about once per week in which they kept saying I was being considered. Eventually, I determined that it wasn't going anywhere and I asked for some clarification on the process and my candidacy. I kept getting really ambiguous responses which I couldn't tell if it was positive or negative feedback. Finally, in November I got clarification that they have decided I wasn't the right fit. It's almost 2011 about 7 months from the time I hired and the position is still open and they are still accepting applications.

I applied to the position on their website. It was a very long process taking me several hours. Essentially the online application is your first interview because they ask a ton of questions about your experience and various work related situations. After answering questions for several hours, I began to think it was so much content, that there was no way someone would read it all. Because of that, I answered some questions a little too carelessly. It came back to haunt me a little bit. I tried following up by calling HR and trying to get the name of the hiring manager so I could send him a cover letter, but got the usual response "We received hundreds of applications and we'll contact you if we're interested." Fortunately, they were interested in me and I got a call from the HR woman a few weeks later asking me to do a Skype interview with her and the hiring manager. I interviewed with them for about an hour over Skype. They were all very standard engineering and work situation questions. No big surprises except that they had the massive document I had typed online and had several questions for me from that document. I spent some time explaining some of my answers and clarifying things. During the interview I got a lot of questions about my ability to work in a group setting. I felt like I must have come off as being a person either doesn't work well with others or a person that is too much of a hot shot to bother working with others. I didn't feel like it was true, but it's a difficult balance showing your strengths while not looking too cocky. A few weeks later I got a call from the HR woman and they wanted me to come interview with them in Portland. It was an all day ordeal. I spent an hour at the head of a large table fielding questions from about 8-10 managers. I then had another hour at the same table with 5 or 6 engineers grilling me with questions. Most of the questions dealt with some kind of manufacturing or product testing situations. Admittedly, I had little experience in those areas and I said as much. All of the product design engineers were in their 20's and 30's. It sort of surprised me that there weren't any grumpy old engineers. I went out to lunch with the engineers and we had a chance to hang out without all the formalities. I then got to go on a tour of the plant. That was really cool. They make almost everything right there. I was really impressed. After the tour, I sat down with the HR woman and the hiring manager for another 45 minutes or so, mostly asking them questions and thanking them for having me out. I was told I would hear back from them in a few days about their decision. It turned out to be a bit longer because they took longer than expected to decide. I didn't get the job. It's too bad because it seemed like a position that I would have really liked and the environment was great. If I had another chance, I would do it again.