I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Mackwell (Birmingham, England) in Jun 2014
Interview
2 telephone interview and they asked me about which year am I in, what is my career plan and some basic skills. Then manager interviewed me about my future career plan again.
I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Mackwell (Aldridge, England) in Sep 2016
Interview
Initial phone interview, this went really well, I got really good vibes about the company from this.
Then a face to face interview with 2 people from R&D.
On arriving me first impressions were not so good, because I actually thought the R&D office was a sales office or call centre and it felt very formal, not a very "creative" R&D like environment. I can imagine there being a big "them and us culture" here.
The face to face was ok until the 2nd interviewer entered to room, at this point the tone changed and the first guy went very quiet. I was not given any information about the role at the interview and the questions asked did not seem appropriate for the role I thought I was interviewing for. At one point the interviewer subtly intimated that I was a liar, he also made a couple of passive derogatory comments about his other staff, at this point I only really stayed because i'd travelled a fair distance to be there.
The questions asked were only really answerable in pure theory and I get the impression they value theory over experience. Which may perhaps explain the interviewers early comment about people "blowing things up" in the lab.
The day after the interview I was informed they didn't think my technical skills were up to it, something that I don't think was even tested. What they meant was "maths skills", which I openly admit are poor despite a 126-132 IQ.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Two bulbs in series, which one is brightest? 10W and 100W (this was the only "technical" question).