Applied through employee referral.

1 phone interview, 1 on-site.

The whole process, after the phone interview to offer letter, took 3 months.

Interviews at PTD Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, Oregon.

The phone interview with the Hiring Manager was basic-technical, focusing on fundamental knowledge. Questions included how SEM works, the difference between BF and DF, and Bragg's Law. The interviewee was friendly and aimed to understand your knowledge, not to trip you up. At the end of the call, a site visit to Hillsboro was suggested. Flights, hotel, and other expenses were covered for a two-day stay in Portland.

On the day of the interview, the Hiring Manager picked me up at the RA4 building. The day included 12 thirty-minute interviews, a facility tour, and a one-hour presentation of my PhD work.

The only downside was that it was exhausting, with no time to refuel or even take a breath. The upside was that the people were friendly, technical, and incredibly knowledgeable.

The most common questions were:

• Have you ever troubleshot an instrument?
• Have you worked with UHV?
• How do vacuum pumps work?

Some meaningful behavioral questions were also asked, such as, "How would you train a careless operator?"

One of the interviewees added a smart, fun question: "There are 4 pills, visually identical. Two of them are type A and the other two are type B. You will not die only if you take two doses of AB every 6 hours. What would you do?" (Hint: think about how a pill usually looks).

One week after the interview, the Hiring Manager emailed that a positive recommendation was forwarded to HR, and I needed to wait 3-6 weeks. After six weeks, HR called and read the offer details.

Last but not least, prepare yourself. Glassdoor is a great place to start.