Texas Instruments ACCESS (Finance, Accounting, Operations) Interviews

Howdy, fellow monkeys/gorillas! It's my first post, so forgive me (in advance) for any missteps. I apologize for the million page essay.

I just wanted to post some info regarding Texas Instruments' ACCESS interview process. As I was preparing for my 1st and 2nd round interviews this past October/November, I noticed that WSO didn't have any info regarding the ACCESS program or Texas Instruments. If you're wondering what this program is or just want some general info regarding the program, just google "Texas Instruments ACCESS." Should be the first link. In a nutshell, you have the option of being a "specialist" in Finance/Accounting/Operations or being a "generalist," and rotating through these departments to get a feel for each. I really enjoyed my interviews with TI and thought I'd share a few of my experiences with y'all. I'm hoping this proves to be somewhat useful for those who are looking at TI as a place to work at after graduating.

First Round/On-Campus Interviews

I'm an undergrad who's in his 4th year at a university in Texas. TI HEAVILY recruits from Texas schools, so it was nice being able to talk to a few folks who are/were in the program during my school's Fall career fair. TI was NOT hiring international students when they came to my school's career fair. I talked to two recruiters and gave them my resume. Within two days, I received an e-mail from TI saying that a hiring manager wanted to speak to me. They told me to submit an application via my school's career services portal and ta-da, I got an on-campus interview. It was a simple interview. For those who will be interviewing for this position, be sure to know 4 or 5 of types of products that TI makes (like their DLP and OMAP technologies...although they don't make OMAP anymore). **DON'T MENTION CALCULATORS** While there's a small chance you'll be interviewing with someone who works in Educational Technology, most of these hiring managers will point out that EdTech makes up a very small portion of TI's portfolio and that anyone who's done their research knows that (trust me, I mentioned EdTech by accident). Be prepared to talk about your resume in-depth and ask good questions (ya know, typical stuff). I believe 20 students interviewed for this position and 2 were selected for the next round. I was lucky enough to be one who was selected.

Second Round Interviews

Second rounds interviews are divided up into two sections: undergrads and grad/MBAs. The second round interviews are 3 days long. Your interview time will be split between the hotel you stay at (I was at a Hyatt) and TI's headquarters in Dallas, TX. They keep you well fed (you get breakfast/lunch/dinner) and give you a tour of Dallas. TI covers airfare and taxi rides to/from the airport. Your hotel room is also paid for. You also get to tour some of TI's manufacturing plants which were pretty cool. Now, on to the interviews:

-First Day: Essentially just a meet-and-greet. You arrive at the hotel in the evening, check-in, and have dinner with your fellow interviewees and the recruiters. This is when they go over the agenda for the next few days (interviews, lunch, dinner, etc.). We had interviewees from the usual Texas schools (like UT Austin and A&M) as well some of the lesser known Texas schools (UT Dallas and Austin College). As far as out-of-state goes, we had folks from U-Arizona, Arizona State, New Mexico, Indiana-U, and one from Cornell (I know, random). A lot of finance and accounting majors, a few econ majors, two business admins, and one industrial engineering major.

-Second Day: In the morning after breakfast, you tour TI's HQ. There's a panel discussion where you get to ask people who are currently in the ACCESS program any questions you might have. You continue the tour of the campus (which is quite large, by the way) and head off for lunch in Dallas. After lunch, you go on bus tour of Dallas. After the city tour, you go on a tour of one of TI's manufacturing plants (we went to one known as DMOS6). Very cool stuff. Once you're finished with this tour, you head back to your hotel for a reception. A lot of TI's executives will be here (I actually had the opportunity to shake hands with the CFO). In addition to these executives, some of the managers who will be conducting your panel interviews will be present. You get the names of the managers who will be interview IN ADVANCE, so take this time to introduce yourself to these managers.

-Third/Final Day: No tours, strictly business. There will be 2 panel interviews and 1 case study competition. The panel interviews are conducted by 3 managers and each interview is 45 minutes long. Once again, they ask you to talk about your resume. The questions are mostly behavioral, with a few random "technical" questions (ex. "How can a company raise capital?" or "Walk me through a cash flow statement."), although I was the only one out of the 8/9 people I talked to that received 2 of these technical questions. The case study is just an ordinary group case study. Two members of the TI hiring team will be in the room while you and your group of 4 brainstorm. They're taking notes on how you interact with your group members and how you go about answering the 10 or 11 questions related to the case study. You have an hour to answer these questions, as well as prepare a small slideshow. The case study we received was regarding whether or not a company should purchase an unethical, but profitable company, so our slideshow covered why we would/would not purchase the company. The case is judged by 3 managers and the two people who were observing you and your group. At the end of the day, the winners are announced. Every group receives the same case study topic and the group that wins receives gift cards ($50 AMEX prepaid cards for each member of the group).

After this, everyone says their goodbyes and heads home. They told us that they would get back to us in 2 and half weeks with an offer (and they did).

All the folks I spoke to who are currently in the ACCESS program absolutely love it and seem genuinely happy working for TI. TI gives you an opportunity to work in different states/countries so you don't ever get bored of the same location. I'm not saying that this is better than an analyst role at a BB or a consulting role with BCG, but it seems like TI is definitely a great corporation to start at if you're an undergrad coming out of college trying to get his/her feet wet. The pay is very nice if you plan on living in Dallas and there are bonuses/profit sharing/stock options/etc. that'll help you boost that pay number some more.

Hope this helps!