I interviewed for Applied Materials (Santa Clara, CA) in December 2024 for Mechanical Engineer (New Grad) position. I applied online and was contacted by HR to fill out a screening form. After that I had two round of interviews, both within 2 weeks of each other in December. First was a 30 minute "Get to know you" interview with a technical manager. It was all behavioral and based on my resume. It went really well, the interviewer was polite and very respectful. The final round had 2 one-on-one interviews with technical manager/director. These rounds also went really well and were just an extended version of the 1st round. In short, all interviews were behavioral and resume based. They didn't ask any technical or even aptitude-based questions. It was a very positive experience so far. After the interviews, I did not get any updates from HR to my follow-up emails for a month. Then I followed up a second time in January and got a reply that they were still interviewing and will have a decision in 2-3 weeks because of the "holidays kicking in". I waited another month after that and sent a follow up. I got the EXACT SAME WORD-FOR-WORD reply from HR, that even included the same "holidays kicking in" phrase. They didn't even bother to change it. Now it's been more 3 months since my final round and they haven't given me any decision and the application portal still says "Interview". I have had companies ghost me before and I know it's common. Applied on the other hand doesn't ghost you but doesn't give you a decision either. They give you false hopes and promises. It is the most unprofessional experience that I've had from a company of this level. I have heard that this is a common practice that Applied follows while hiring New Grads. They have no regard for your time and effort. The lack of communication from HR just ruins the extremely positive interview experience. People have received offer as late as MAY (from last year's hiring process) after waiting 6 MONTHS with little to no updates from HR. This is how Applied Material's HR department treats potential hires.

Gave 3 rounds of interview. First round being behavioral and the next two being behavioral and technical. Asked questions from my resume and generic questions (tell about a time when you had a challenging problem and how did you navigate). Got an offer in the portal but got rejected 2 weeks later.