A recruiter contacted me initially to submit my name and resume. I wasn't impressed with the recruiter at all, but the position was very appealing. Next, a phone interview was set up which went well. Interviewed with VP of MFG and VP of HR. They had a definate set of questions and went right down their list. Phone interviews are always tough to gauge but a few days later the recruiter called back and said they wanted to bring me on site.
I had to make all travel arrangements and pay on my own credit card. What did surprise me was that the VP of HR wanted me to take the shuttle from airport to hotel and then he would pick me up the next morning for the interview. Since I was traveling from out of state, I wanted to rent a car so I could have time to see the area. He was ok with that but I just found it strange. Also, when talking with the VP of HR he was very nice but another item that I found strange was that he stressed how "informal" their dress was and that I could/should wear casual clothing. For a management position interview wear casual clothing??? I did talk to the recruiter about this and both agreed that a suit was best to wear. And I was very glad that I did wear the suit because the office attire was much more than "casual".
The interview was a full day of meeting people, which were all very nice but half of them were not even aware of my interview. Hence, they had not seen my resume and were not prepared with questions for me. So, I had the good or bad luck to talk about myself and my experience without the pressure of standardized questions.
Overall the interview experience was a good one. Everyone was very nice and easy going. It did take the company 4 weeks to reimburse me so my credit card payment was almost late, I received the check the day it was due. The company interview people for 4 weeks and made a decision to extend an offer to a local candidate 6 weeks after my phone inteview.