Congratulations on landing a job interview with Intel! We are ecstatic about this opportunity for you and can’t wait to help you crush the interview. So, what’s next? Well, next we want to get you prepped and ready for the interview. In doing that, we’ve compiled some tips and tricks to prepare you. Let’s get started!
How to Prepare for an Intel Interview
Intel utilizes a mix of behavioral and technical interview processes to determine which candidates to hire. If you are selected for an interview, an intel recruiter or HR representative will be your first point of contact. You can expect this first call to be pretty informal and more of a logistics call to get you set up for the interview process.
The Intel Interview Process
The Intel interviewing process consists of three rounds: an initial phone screen, a technical interview, and a behavioral interview round. The initial phone screen is conducted by a recruiter or HR representative to discuss the basic offer details and ensure there are no major red flags to report. Once you pass this stage, you’ll be moved on to the technical interview round, which can vary significantly depending on the position you are applying for. If the technical interview goes well, the last round will include a behavioral interview with a recruiter or HR representative. Let's dive into each of these rounds.
Intel Initial Phone Screen
The initial phone screen will take place with a recruiter or HR representative at the company. This is the part of the process where the recruiting team will give you high-level details about the position, talk to you about your previous experience and provide some general expectations for the role they are filling. In this round, the recruiter or HR representative may also ask about your current and expected compensation demands to make sure your expectations are within the range for the role they are filling. Assuming everything goes well on this call, you can expect an invitation to move forward to the technical interview round.
Intel Technical Interview
Given Intel’s core competencies as a highly technological organization, the technical interview is going to involve multiple questions about your deep technical expertise. For example, the company is going to focus on what types of coding languages you know and want you to show that you can develop interesting products using those languages. You can expect them to ask questions such as what formulas you might use to accomplish a certain task or what formulas you might code to swap with an existing formula but still be able to accomplish the same task. These interviews can vary wildly depending on the role you are being interviewed to fill, but in general you should be prepared to speak to any technical competencies you have listed on your resume or the company application in detail.
Intel Behavioral Final Round Interview
During the behavioral interview round, Intel is evaluating you based on a variety of different scenarios. During this interview round, you will be expected to give your “elevator pitch,” which is simply a fancy way of saying, tell me about yourself. Take this opportunity to highlight the unique traits you bring to the role while also eloquently articulating why you are the most qualified candidate for the role. In addition to a tell me about yourself question, you can expect a variety of situational questions as well. For this part of the interview, the Intel website lays out the STAR interview method as a powerful framework to develop your answers. Importantly, when the company asks these scenario questions, they are trying to predict your behaviors or responses to different situations that you will likely encounter on the job. Utilizing the STAR interview framework will help you structure concrete examples of successes that showcase your capabilities as a candidate and allow you to articulate these stories in a clear and concise manner.
Intel Interview Tips
When conducting interviews, Intel is a highly technical company. As such, they want technically savvy people, but don’t forget about the importance of the behavioral interview and making sure you are a cultural fit. To ensure you are prepared we recommend taking these three steps:
- Don’t forget the behaviorals - technicals are important, but company culture is still essential and if you don’t fit the mold of the organization, you’re likely not going to get the offer
- Understand what Intel does - don’t get so stuck in the weeds of prepping for the interview that you forget to understand where the business is at, what it’s currently focused on, and where it’s going. The simplest question they can ask is “What do we do?” Be prepared to speak intelligently on the company and the role of the BU within the company’s strategy. The most credible way to speak to these things is through things you learn in networking conversations.
- Tailor your technical and behavioral questions to Intel’s business - Though having the “right” answer is good, having a “relevant” answer is better. Intel is a very specialized company, so make sure when you are answering questions, you are connecting your experience and skills to how you’ll deploy them within the Intel context.
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Example Intel Interview Questions
Here are some Intel interview questions you may see during the process:
- Tell me about a time when you generated a creative idea to solve a problem or improve a work method
- Tell me about a time when you had to gather data and diagnose the causes of a problem before taking action
- Describe a situation in which you independently improved upon the quality of your processes, products or services and how you identified the need for this improvement
- How have you handled sensitive information in the past and what strategies did you employ to maintain confidentiality
- Describe a time when you anticipated problems and developed contingency plans to deal with those problems
- What is a data type and how many data types are there
- What statement would you use to replace a multiple if-else statement to still reach the same endpoint
Conclusion
Intel is a highly technical organization. As such, they are looking for technically competent individuals that fit the cultural mold of their organization. When interviewing with Intel, expect a lot of highly technical questions as well behavioral questions about how you have leveraged data to support positive team dynamics in the past. As always, we wish you the best of luck in your search and hope that you found this article helpful.