A GM recruiter emailed me about a lead controls engineering job. I told her I was interested in the position. She told me to apply for the position on GM's website, and I did.

When I applied, I noticed the job title changed to Plant Controls Engineer. I asked the recruiter if this was still a lead controls job, and she said yes. For some unknown reason, another recruiter took over the position. She called me and asked a series of questions that took about 20-30 minutes.

The most shocking moment came when she informed me it was not a lead controls position. She said it was at one point, but GM decided they wanted the position to go to somebody that was already working at GM.

I decided to still consider the position since she said that the position would probably pay between a very high salary range. I ended up getting a web-based interview (similar to Skype) with the lead controls engineer on first shift and the hiring manager. The interview was okay. All the questions were in the STAR format and lasted an hour.

They told me within a week or two I should know if I got one of the positions (second or third shift) because they had a lot of other people to interview. The second week I did hear back that I got an offer. I was a bit surprised at the low salary GM was offering. It was not the salary I was expecting because the recruiter told me a much higher salary range.

I gave them a limit on my expected salary, and GM went way below that with the base salary. I went to negotiate, and it was a no-go with GM only offering a sign-on bonus. Everybody is right: be ready to negotiate because they try to get you for cheap.

Behavioral questions