Q&A With Caterpillar Inc. Employees

Just a little longer

Same

Interview process with STAR system is a joke. Leaves room for bias and or misunderstood analysis of answers.

I was hired on the spot

Meet with the receptionist prior to meeting the 3 person interview panel. Took 6 weeks to hear back.

Value stream managers

Layoffs no advancement no education to further career plant closures

Regular clothes, Jean's nice shirt

Business formal

Business Casual

Network as much as you can in advance. But answer questions after thinking about them and use the star format

Come prepared with knowledge or certifications

Know someone at the company before you interview.

2 weeks then at 5 years 3 weeks

2 weeks annually and beyond 5 years service 3 weeks annually

two week standard.

Low for the amount of work.

Our operations associates haven't had a raise in over five years. The last "raise" that we got, they took away our STIP, lowered our potential gainsharing by $200, took away two days of paid personal time, and our insurance went up. All in the same meeting.

Below average at best

Male dominated not diverse engineering fact focussed not innovative and risk averse

Boys club. The company says the have a value system they stand by but they really don’t. Discrimination against women is obvious. All male managers at Waco Distribution center. 3/4 of them no college degree

Shifting. When I started it was very much a cohesive culture that supported growth. It is shifting to more of a command and control, limited opportunities for company sponsored advanced learning. Very much a good ol' boys/girls network.

Same as previously answered

STAR system interviews

Target Selection Interview Method

More about who you know then what you know. They talk about career paths but don’t follow through

By favoritism where I am; certainly not by qualifications

are you in their leadership social circle, country club or kids school.

Overall I think people feel they are fair. Have gotten more expensive over the last two years and some taken away.

They are on average with other Fortune 500 companies.

Base salary is ok but benefits are poor

15-30 min

Depends on role

Not at all but lots of paid time off

Flexible

Reasonably flexible

What is something you saw that could be dangerous and how did you fix it

Can not recall any particularly hard ones

Negative type questions that leave room for misunderstanding or not selecting person due to bias opinions

As much overtime as you need

The benefits

The brand and seeing equipment in the field at work.

As many as you want in most cases

Mandatory overtime weekly approximately 50 hours a week

For salary it's 60 plus

Phone then in person

Biased and by favoritism jobs are awarded; not by merit or qualifications

Behavioral based interview

Parts distribution. Caterpillar could be doing so much better if they would put a stop to the good ole boys club when awarding job promotions and actually hire qualified persons to fill management positions.

Oil and Gas. Leadership decision making is the biggest difficulties.

Engine. Work tools is doing bad

Stop the good ole boys club, get rid of STAR interview system as it is too open for biased opinions by the interviewers and install a new interview system that cannot be subjected to biased opinions. Remove section manager role as they are a waste of money, and start hiring qualified, educated distribution supervisors.

Be honest is a good start; but also following through on what leadership said. We have a horrible habit of starting something at the Executive office level, but not following though.

To robotic everyone has to follow CPS no new ideas

He seems to be trying to make slow improvement changes but he really needs to get a hold of one of the biggest problems. The human factor. Moral is very low in some facilities due to favoritism among management to include job promotions, as well as a reduction in employee appreciation being shown throughout the years. Random cookout where management cooks for the staff just to show appreciation has all but disappeared. They fail to realize it’s the little things that keep moral high and employees more enthusiastic about their work.

Jim does a great job of managing costs. Never afraid to drop headcount or product to satisfy the street.

Only see video and email

Very bad. Management has had mandatory overtime all year at the Waco Distribution Center. This lack of balance has caused a horrible turnover rate. If the temporary employees were included in the turnover metrics it would be setting of serious alarms

Is getting better. Some aspects of the business do still have the mentality if you are not in your cube then your not effective.

There is a lot of mandotory over time. Salary gets nothing