Tesla Personality Test, Assessment Center, Hiring Process & Interviews Online Preparation – 2024

What Is Tesla?

American clean energy and automotive powerhouse Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard, and Marc Tarpenning. Elon Musk, J.B Straubel, and Ian Wright later joined the company and were named co-founders. In 2008 Elon Musk took over as CEO of the company, a role he still holds. Since its inception as a manufacturer of cars that run on renewable energy sources, Tesla, now Tesla Inc, acquired solar panel producer SolarCity and is now a major producer of solar panels and solar roof tiles.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Tesla has several manufacturing plants and locations all over the world. Their largest manufacturing factories are referred to as a Gigafactory and are located in:

• Nevada, U.S. (Gigafactory 1)
• Buffalo, New York, US (Gigafactory 2)
• Shanghai, China (Gigafactory 3)
• Brandenburg, Germany (Gigafactory 4)
• Austin, Texas, U.S. (Gigafactory 5)

There is also a large factory in Fremont, California, US and a plan for Gigafactory 6 in Ontario, Canada.
There are many positions available within the Tesla company for all different types of skills and career paths including:

Employees of Tesla are eligible for a well-rounded benefits package including:

• Medical coverage
• Vision and Dental
• Retirement plans
• Vacation and Paid Time Off
• Stock Options
• Employee Loans
• Employee Discounts

Tesla offers opportunities for traditional employees as well as internships, co-ops, and graduate positions. With its focus on the manufacture of cars that run on clean energy, and it’s focus on renewable sources and technology, there are positions available that run the gamut from engineering, to accounting, manufacturing, logistics, marketing, and more.

What Is Tesla’s Hiring Process?

Application Process

Begin your job search with Tesla online. You can search for careers by location, title, or city. To apply, find the job you are interested in, and create an account. Submit your resume, can either upload your file, or copy-paste. After this, you will need to create a profile, and fill out a section including your skills and experience. Your resume and application will be reviewed by a team of recruiters. Since positions with Tesla are so desirable only resumes that stand out will be selected to move on.

Phone Interview

If your application is selected, you will be contacted by a recruiter for a telephone interview. During this interview, they will ask you about the skills and experience listed on your resume. They may ask you about why you are interested in the company, and your reasons for applying. If you impress during the phone interview, you will be asked to take an online test.

Tesla’s Hogan Personality Test

Tesla wants to hire only the best and brightest. They also want to ensure that everyone they hire is a good fit for the company. For this reason, they have job candidates they are interested in take an online personality assessment. Tesla utilizes the Hogan personality tests to make sure job-seekers have the traits they find most desirable.

The Hogan Personality Inventory is not timed and will only take around 15 minutes to complete. The questions are formatted so your answers will be either “agree” “disagree” or “true” “false”.

The Hogan Personality exam is based on the 5 Factor personality model, also called the OCEAN model. The 5 personality traits measured are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

The Hogan test measures the “bright side” personality traits of adjustment, ambition, sociability, interpersonal sensitivity, prudence, inquisitiveness, and learning approach. All these factors combined are meant to measure how well you can adapt, work with others, your reliableness as an employee, and your potential within the company.

If you get a satisfactory result on the personality assessment, you will be contacted to begin the in-person interviews.

In-Person Interviews

The process of interviewing job-seekers at Tesla is rigorous. There will be several stages of interviews, to help narrow the field of candidates to the very best.  The interviewers will inquire about your knowledge of Tesla, and the goals Elon Musk has for the company’s future. You will be asked behavioral questions, best answered using the STAR method. Using this method, you will tell the recruiter about a situation related to the question.  You will explain what the task at hand was, the actions you performed, and the results of your actions.

The number of interviews you have will be based on the position you have applied for.

Tesla’s Assessment Center

If you successfully pass the interviews, you will be invited to an assessment center. During the assessment center, you will participate in group exercises, a presentation, and role-play scenarios. You will be required to take further assessment tests based on the position you are being considered for these tests may include:

• Numerical Reasoning – Demonstrating proficiency with numbers and functions such as ratios, percentages, and graphs.
• Verbal Reasoning – You will be tested on your linguistic skills by reading a short passage and answering the multiple-choice questions at the end.
• Skills-Based – Some positions will require skills assessments, such as coding, clerical, or mechanical.

The assessment center will end with final interviews, after which your application will be reviewed and compared to other candidates.

In prior years Elon Musk himself would review all applications as a final stage in the hiring process. It is unclear if he still does this.

How to Prepare for Tesla’s Assessments?

The online testing is a very important part of the Tesla hiring process. Tesla recruiters want to be 100% certain that all new hires understand and fit into the company culture. Personality tests are tricky to prepare for since you want to be honest in your answers, while still meeting their requirements. Start with learning as much about Tesla Inc and Elon Musk’s vision as you can. This will give you an idea of the personality traits they find desirable. Be honest in your answers and answer as though you are already on the job.

The online tests required during the assessment center are much easier to prepare for in comparison. You can sharpen your reasoning skills through the use of word puzzles, and find online resources to help refresh any math skills you may feel you are weak in. Review the hard skills needed for your desired position, and make you are ready in case you are asked to do skills-based testing.

Tesla is at the forefront of sustainable energy technology. You need to be able to show them that you have the same drive their founders did. This begins with an impressive resume and ends with the assessment center.

If you do not do well on the personality assessment you will not make it to the interviews. So, arm yourself with knowledge of the company and the Hogan personality inventory, so you can show Tesla you have the traits they want, and the skills they need and receive that job offer.