I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Starkey (Eden Prairie, MN) in Jun 2013
Interview
This was the most awkward experience I have ever had in my entire life, it is also very very time consuming. It started as a 1hour long technical phone screen, it was the best one I have ever had, the interviewer did a very good job. Next I had to do a 200 question personality test. Its the type of test that you can tell means absolutely nothing expect to the person that wrote it.
A few days later I had a on site meeting with the hiring manger. This guy was the worst interviewer I have met. He was asking standard personality questions (seriously I just did a 200-point personality test). He finally ask me to name a skill I am good at, I said problem solving. He then asked "Define a recipe to teach someone problem solving". After explaining that it is more a task you learn by doing, he gave some response that if I "really" knew it I would be able to write it on a piece of paper and hand it to someone to learn.
A few days later I had to come back for another day-long onsite interview with 5 different groups of people. There were 2 panels that ask "technical" questions. One asked to whiteboard a model of an elevator, the other a soda machine. After trying to get more requirements then that they eventually just told me to start. I drew a MVC diagram of how I would integrate the software with the machine. In the case of the soda machine they asked how do you get the money back. I said there would be an API call in the model, which they responded "but where is the integer that would return?" Finally I realized they were asking for a complete virtual machine and not actual software integration, similar problem with the elevator. (Note: their company does machine integration.) These were the types of requirements I was trying to get up front.
Also during the panel interviews it was very hard to communicate. I have done many white-boarding in my professional experience, for a few months it was almost daily. However since they did not have defined requirements or agenda each were asking completely random questions back-to-back often contradicting each other. A few of them were actually quite rude expecting I didn't know the answer in the tone of their voice. (In regards to thinking I only had design experience and not actual enterprise architecture experience, or that I have worked with Agile methodologies.)
There was also a lunch meeting with 2 folks from a different team, they were actually fun to get a long with and I enjoyed that one. I also met with the software Director, he was self-admittedly not a technical guy but I think I would enjoy working for him. Finally I met with the manager again and he asked some more questions he pulled from the internet a few minutes beforehand. He also stated that he asked a previous company about me and that they gave me a bad referral, which is actually illegal in Minnesota without my permission and even then they are only suppose to state that I worked there and nothing more.
So after a two weeks they responded that I was not a good fit and want to redirect me to a different department and start the process all over. I said no thanks and took a contracting job at the previous employer which supposedly gave the bad referral.
Contacted by recruiter said there was a job description that fit my skills. The skill set wasn't even close, but recruiter wanted a resume anyways. Phone conversation what just about Starkey and possible roles.