I applied to Philips as an electronics design freelancer a few years ago (that time to a different department). Unfortunately they use recruiting agencies for their freelance recruiting which makes their already slow process even slower and causes the hourly rate they are willing to pay to be (much) lower than their competition. Let me start by describing my experience a few years ago: I had an interview with the recruiting agency, they forwarded my CV to Philips, after about !a month! Philips got back to them saying that my future manager is interested to interview me. We plan an interview weeks further into the future (manager had no time before that). The video interview starts: manager doesn't show up, 2 Philips engineers who work under him also don't know why he's not joining. No big deal, that happens sometimes, we're all humans. We do the interview regardless, it went well. After the interview Philips communicates through the recruiting agency that Philips is eager to work with me, next step: signing the contract for the works. 1 month passes. No contract. 2 months pass, no contract. I ended up working for another client as it felt like there was something seriously wrong with this department of Philips (I'm actually surprised they still exist a few years later). Now to my recent experience (ongoing). Applied to a completely different Philips department this time. Different city. Applied !4 weeks! ago through another recruiting agency. No reply yet. It feels a bit like not much has changed and that this might be a company-wide issue. Stories about working there and the terrible bureaucracy are also doing the rounds among engineers in The Netherlands, not very motivating to apply. Figured I would share this experience in an effort to prevent others from wasting time with them.