Stryker is an American producer of medical devices based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Stryker products are sold in over 100 countries and the company has over 45,000 employees – it’s a large company that designs and manufactures important medical devices such as artificial joints, medical hardware, and medical equipment.
The company has ranked as one of the top places to work for decades. Stryker provides employees with many benefits that include:
Health, life, and dental insurance
401k retirement matching
The highest average salary in the industry
Employee stock purchase program (ESPP)
Tuition reimbursement for continuing education
The benefits that Stryker provides combined with the interesting work that they do makes the hiring process at Stryker very competitive. The hiring process will include a personality test, one or more phone interviews, and one or more face-to-face interviews.
What Is the Hiring Process at Stryker?
Stryker often has an intense process with some applicants reporting 8 interviews before receiving an offer from Stryker. The hiring process itself is short, though. Applicants report it taking from 2 weeks to a month from initial application to offer. All of this does vary depending on the job, but Stryker has a reputation for conducting more interviews before making an offer than most companies.
Online Application
The hiring process at Stryker starts when an applicant creates a profile on Stryker’s job portal. Applicants will upload their resume, CV, and cover letter to the job portal and answer some legal questions (consent to drug test, background check, etc.).
It’s important to note that Stryker does not accept resumes from anywhere other than their official job portal. Do not email HR your resume.
HR Phone Interview
If HR likes your resume, then they will give you a call to set up an interview. The first interview with HR is mostly behavioral questions, questions about the applicant’s work experience, and why they want to work at Stryker. It should only take about 15 minutes.
Gallup’s CliftonStrengths Assessment
Stryker has a very unique psychological test – they sometimes contract a third party company, Gallup, to conduct the psychological test over the phone. This adds an extra dimension to the test and will give Stryker a better idea about your psychological profile.
It’s important to note that not all Stryker Gallup tests are conducted over the phone. The company will sometimes use an online or written version of the test. Whether an applicant receives a verbal, written, or online Gallup test depends on the position.
This test will discover the applicant’s natural talents and determine whether or not their natural talents align with the ideal profile for the applied for position. It does this by asking questions that ask the test taker to associate a set of sentences with each other.
This interview/test eliminates a lot of candidates and many applicants report struggling with attempting to understand the idea behind some of the questions. If the test is conducted over the phone, then the interviewer may ask the questions rapidly.
Face-to-Face Interviews
Stryker likes face-to-face interviews. As mentioned earlier, some applicants report having up to 8 face-to-face interviews during the hiring process. These interviews are typically conducted by the following positions:
HR
Engineers (for engineering positions)
Sales Managers (for sales positions)
Regional Sales Managers (for sales positions)
A panel composed of the team the applicant will join
Principal Engineers (for senior engineering positions)
The interviews are done both one-on-one and in a panel format. Applicants have reported that the interview questions are sometimes asked very rapidly, but the interviews themselves tend to be short at only 15 to 20 minutes per interview. Applicants are strongly recommended to ask questions about the job to the interviewers.
Technical Interviews
Interviews for engineering and tech positions at Stryker usually involve at least one dedicated technical interview. Interviewers may also ask technical questions during other interviews. These questions will usually ask the interviewee about some common algorithm or other knowledge that someone with their qualifications should have or is important to the position.
Applicants for technical or engineering positions should review some basic principles from their field of study that might be relevant to their position at Stryker before any non-HR interviews at Stryker.
Stryker Interview Questions
The interview questions at Stryker vary depending on the interviewer, the type of interview, and the position. Here are some common questions interviewers at Stryker like to ask during interviews:
Why are you a good fit for this position? You will almost certainly encounter this question when interviewing at Stryker during the HR interview and during the face-to-face interviews. This is your time to mention your relevant projects and relevant experience. Stryker likes to see teamwork, so focus on team-based projects and how you work on a team.
Why medical device sales? The interviewer wants to see an answer that does not talk about the excellent pay in medical device sales. Helping people by ensuring that doctors have access to excellent medical devices or an interest and/or experience in the medical field are both good answers.
What’s one thing you don’t like about yourself? This question can often give interviewees problems. It’s easier to think about the question as, “What is a limitation you have? How do you overcome it?”
A good answer would mention jumping into projects too quickly. And you have overcome this by pausing for a few minutes before starting a project to fully understand the scope and ensure the project is up to par the first time.
How to Prepare for Stryker’s Gallup Test?
Stryker does not use assessment tests other than the Gallup’s CliftonStrengths Assessment. Stryker and Gallup both claim that it is impossible to prepare for the Stryker test, but that is not true. Practice psychological tests are available and can guide you on the answers that best match the desired personality profile.
The Stryker Gallup Test is often a verbal test done over the phone, so it’s a good idea to practice verbally responding to the questions. It’s much different taking a verbal test as opposed to a written or online test, which can sometimes give the test taker problems.
You want to sound and be confident when taking the Gallup Test, and familiarizing yourself with the questions works great for that.