Working at Toshiba in West Allis, WI: 2 Employee Job Reviews by Real Employee working in West Allis, WI Area

"Rigid work environment with a lot of space to grow and develop."

What do you like about working at Toshiba?

"We are a (rapidly!) growing company. There is a lot of opportunity to take a stake in that growth - developing procedures, finding new business opportunities, creating tools to help with the work."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Play it straight and by the book. Do not try to get creative or cute with responses. In engineering, be prepared to answer field-type troubleshooting questions.If you know _any_ Japanese, let it be known! Even a little will give you a huge leg up."

What don't you like about working at Toshiba?

"It tends to be very formal. It is a very homogeneous office - ethnic, gender, culture, humor, politics, etc. My immediate department tends to be more casual and tight-knit. Often we are in fear of management's wrath for this friendly atmosphere."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Ease up, open up to the ground-level suggestions. Ask employees to devote 10~15% of their time on improvement projects or blue-sky ideas. Foster differences and bring in unique employees. Don't dwell too much on creating a procedure when pitching a new idea. Let the process play out and the departments hash out what works. Document it once it's the status quo or we have to train someone."

What do you like about working at Toshiba?

"The pay is good. I can easily bike to work from downtown (close to one of the off-street bike paths). Generally moderate hours (rarely over 40 per week)."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"For entry level engineering positions, just show that you have a basic competency in the idea behind the equipment. From there, try to grab onto 1 skill that may be of use - for me it was some basic Japanese. That was enough to seal the deal for me.Toshiba International Corporations Power Systems Division, specifically, does not get many applicants for our jobs. You are very likely not competing against more than a few other applicants."

What don't you like about working at Toshiba?

"It is hard to innovate. Management does not allow the first few tiers of employees to problem solve their department. That is only handled by senior management, who does not have time for tasks like that, which are relatively low-level. It makes the workplace a little stagnant and unable to improve, solve customer problems, etc."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Provide a clear trajectory for the company. We also need some sort of metrics so that we know where we stand. Give employees more control over business development to increase corporate buy-in."