I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Panasonic (Lake Forest, CA) in Dec 2012
Interview
HR called me for a systems enginer position. I was asked to write system requirements for an incremental capability to their In-flight entertainment system with a 1 day turnaround. They were satisfied with my document so I had 2 more interviews with 2 different groups that were interested in my skills. Both hiring managers were of Chinese origin, one with very good English, the second was very hard to understand.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
No difficult questions mostly about past experiences and content of the resume. Once they are satisfied with your answers HR will move quickly with the interview process.
In general I felt the both interviewers are not very experienced as the the interview was without structure and their technical level was mediocre.
One of the groups hiring managers had very hard to understand English (heavy Chinese accent) and I had to ask him to repeat all questions.
Salary wise do not expect a high salary, however, since it is the Irvine CA region it could be that what they offer is what the market pays there. Salary for similar position in the SF Bay area is about 35K more annually.
I applied online. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Panasonic (Tokyo) in May 2025
Interview
I was interviewed by a engineer in their early 20, the atmosphere was professional and steady. I believe there was only fixed set of questions so not a lot of improvision.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Panasonic (Lake Forest, CA) in Oct 2019
Interview
2 rounds of phone interviews: one with HR and the other with hiring manager
2 rounds of written tests: one is to answer the quiz questions and the other to draft a completed requirements
1 round of on-site interview: Meet with all team members
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Panasonic (Lake Forest, CA)
Interview
I never got to the interview process. It took 4 months for HR to close the loop with me which is unacceptable. Numerous attempts to contact multiple recruiters went unanswered. I also asked somebody on the inside to forward my resume to the hiring manager to no avail. I still did not receive confirmation one way or the other.