Bridgestone Americas Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Dec 2009 in Akron, OH (took a day)

I learned about the position through an email forwarded to the graduate students. The position required a recent PhD graduate in mechanics or related field with experience in constitutive equations for polymers, experience using finite element method, and a finite element software. The position was in the research department of Brigestone-Firestone.

I think I was a good fit for them, they called me in two days for a phone interview. Two days after the phone interview they said that they wanted to bring me to the Technical Center for an on-site interview. They took me out for dinner the day I reached there and breakfast the next morning. The interview started with a 30 min presentation followed by 15 minutes for questions. It was followed by three 45-minute panel interviews, a tour of the labs, and an hour long 1-on-1 session with the manager of the department. It was a very busy day. There were lots of technical questions about my research and how I would solve some of the challenges in modeling a tire. They showed me a cross-section of the tire and asked mechanics related questions about individual components in a tire.

The people at Bridgestone were incredibly friendly, hospitable, and generous through out the process. They called me two weeks after the interview to let me know that I will be offered the position. I practiced the presentation before I went because the interview process started with the presentation.