Daktronics Mechanical Design Student Interview

Interviewed Dec 2009 in Brookings, SD (took 2 weeks)

The first part of the interviewing process was a simple phone interview. This segment was used to collect basic information about me such as my university status, my former engineering experience (previous internships), and my schedule. My interviewer also informed me about the job I had applied for and some company logistics.

Within a week, I received a return call to set up a time for a panel interview at the corporate headquarters. The panel interview consisted of me being interviewed by five seasoned employees, one-by-one in a small room. Each interviewer worked in a different department and asked different questions aimed to expose my engineering ability based on past experiences and my responses to hypothetical situations. Some of the interviewers asked repeat questions, but mostly the questions were original.

I left this interview honestly very disappointed with myself and not expecting an offer. I was five minutes late to the interview because I couldn't find the right building (Daktronics has a wide multi-building campus), and I stuttered throughout the interview. I also found myself responding inconsistently to some of the same questions asked by different interviewers. However, about a week or two later, I received an offer. I would say that if you have a good resume, your chances of getting hired at Daktronics may be better than if you have a good interview. Because honestly, my performance at my interview was abhorrent but my resume was good.