Application Process & Interviews at Cochlear

There were a few stages in the process of attaining the graduate position at Cochlear. First was the application/resume stage, after which came a few screenings, and then a group assessment and final interview. Each of these was pretty standard up until the group assessment where it was more business focused, and you not only had to rely on your own skills but your skills in a group. The final interview required knowledge of the particular stream that you applied for, as I applied for firmware I was asked specific information about that field.

Went through the process in 2022 - back then, it was a lengthy process with many stages, very long wait times between each stage with zero communication and then extremely short notice for an interview.

Process was transparent and we were given lots of information along the way. We had a resume submission stage, answered written questions, had group interviews, psychometric testing then individual interviews.

Going through the intern -> graduate pipeline it was fairly rigorous but fair. I hope the initial resume screening process / software is up to date.

For the internship process: Had a group interview first (with 3-4 individuals) and then had a technical interview with 2 team leads.

waiting to hear about the grad program outcomes took longer than expected, and i know some people went on to interview/get offers for other companies because of how long it took to find out

The recruitment process for the internship was shorter than average, both for the company and for other internships. I think this was because of the urgent need for this work. It was two rounds, one with the recruiter and then finally with the hiring managers.

Very competitive and lengthy! Consisted of initial screening, written response to a set of questions, group interview, psychometric testing and final interview over a period of 6 months.

Written statement, group interview, final interview, internship, another interview.

Phone screen, psychometric assessment, interview, reference checks

Resume, Psychometric Assessment, group interview, individual interview.

Very thorough and competitive

Combination of written statements, group interview, psychometric testing and individual interviews.

CV Screening, First round interview, Assessment, Second Round, Offer

1. Application 2. Answer some questions. 3. Group Interview 4. Psychometric testing 5. Individual interview Cochlear communicated well at each stage of the interview process.

I was asked questions about technical information regarding my degree, personal behavior questions like strengths, weaknesses, working together with others and so forth.

I was asked half technical questions and half behavioural questions. Some of the questions involved me explaining how I handle group projects, and how we handle conflict or a task that seems too daunting. Other questions involved us just explaining a project that we completed in the past and how we went about solving it. It's important to be clear but elaborate on specific design decisions or important thoughts you had when undergoing whatever experience you are talking about. The technical questions for me were more to do with microcontrollers, memory, ram and what a compiler/linker are since these are all important in the context of firmware.

Mostly behavioural/situational questions and a bit of technical but not too in depth.

Behavioral and technical. Primarily behavioral.

the group interview we were asked to come up with an idea to promote company growth (using the information from the previous annual report). In the technical interview I was given a few coding questions and asked about my resume.

technical and soft skills related to the hiring team

Mostly technical related to the role, my level of competency with Excel, data systems. Practicalities like my availabilities.

Generic interview questions (e.g. experience, skills, motivations, etc) as well as those relating to the company's values/mission.

Why do you want to work for Cochlear? What skills do you have that are relevant to this role? What are your strengths and weaknesses?

I don't remember

Why do I want to work in the specific area(s) I applied for? What work have I done to demonstrate my skills in this area?

Mix of behavioural questions and technical questions relevant to my role

A mixture of technical questions and behavioural questions.

- Read through the annual reports and the portfolio of products we offer. Having this knowledge is helpful to the hiring managers as it shows you're interested in the company. - Think about why you want to work for a medical device company and what motivated you to apply. Linking back this reason to a personal answer can boost your application. - Part of the group interview stage is seeing how you lead but also how you work well with others so if you do take a leadership role, make sure you're not taking up all the attention and that you're sharing the stage with other people.

Know everything that you've done up until now well. The better you can explain your thought process and decisions in past projects the more likely you can highlight your strengths.

Think of scenarios where you have shown your best traits (organisation, proactivity, enthusiasm etc) and be prepared to talk about them with the STAR method. And show that you are willing to learn!

You need to have a combo of technical + people skills I think. You really need both, don't underestimate the latter in particular. The culture here is collaborative and encouraging so I think they value that. Don't be devastated if you don't get it, I think rolls are filled because of alignment of some candidates to their respective intern projects.

Demonstrate a passion for leaning and developing your technical skills.

Answer questions directly and let your experience speak for itself. Hiring managers are very experienced and unlikely to be persuaded by anything other than having the strongest application for the role. Engineers can enter Cochlear as a graduate, for this its crucial to complete the summer internship in your penultimate year. Prospective employees from other disciplines would usually have proven experience from other roles/internships. My impression is that the quality of prior work experience is most important.

Practice as many interview questions as possible keeping in mind the aspects outlined above! Be confident and show passion.

Research the company, and prepare how to respond to discuss your technical and transferable skills through effective examples.

Be passionate about the work you do

Research the specific area(s) you want to apply for and provide examples of experience that relate to that area.

Focus on experience outside of university. Think about SMART responses to typical interview questions and use your internship / work experience to structure these.