First I received an email from the leading HR person asking to schedule a phone interview. I later spoke with her for about 15 minutes discussing my resume and other basic things. Thanks to an earlier Glassdoor posting :) it was clear what type of personality I needed to convey, so I presented myself as an excessively confident, compensation-focused person. This was very well received. Throughout the interview, I made progressively cockier statements (nothing inappropriate, just things like "of course I want a meritocracy, since I'm awesome" paraphrased, of course).
There was one more phone interview with the VP of Sales. Same deal as the first interview. The onsite interview was a bit shocking. The place reminded me of the movie Boiler Room. I was immediately turned off by the negative, almost sick ambience of the place. One of the traders I met with clearly had no interest in me or his job, and was very straightforward about how most people there were miserable. I don't think was to weed out undesirable candidates--this person was genuinely unhappy. I met with the VP of Sales, CEO, and a trader. They don't seem to know anything about semiconductor equipment (my one night of preparation seemed to give me more knowledge than they had, and furthermore, even the VP of Sales seemed unable to understand basic financial concepts. Everyone there seemed like a total salesman, with the exception of the CEO who seems to be milking the situation like Gordon Gecko, with no long term plans for the place.
No one there was rude or unprofessional, it just seemed like they were very, very stressed out and unhappy, and I was seeing them at their worst. Also,
