Preparing for an interview at USG requires a balanced approach. While technical competence is essential, the company places an incredibly high premium on your communication skills, behavioral alignment, and adaptability.

Behavioral Competency (STAR Method) – You must structure your behavioral answers using the Situation, Task, Action, and Result framework. USG interviewers frequently use standardized evaluation sheets to grade your responses, so delivering structured, metrics-driven stories is critical.

Geographic & Relocation Flexibility – Because USG operates dozens of manufacturing plants and corporate offices, they frequently look for candidates who are open to relocation or travel. Expressing flexibility in your working location is a major differentiator.

Practical System Integration – Be ready to discuss how software connects with real-world systems. Brush up on your knowledge of APIs, database management, and enterprise service buses (ESBs), as integration is a core component of USG's IT infrastructure.

Cultural Fit & Work Ethic – USG values down-to-earth, collaborative individuals who are genuinely interested in the manufacturing industry. Show enthusiasm for the physical aspect of the business and demonstrate a strong work ethic.

The interview process at USG is structured to be conversational, transparent, and highly focused on team fit. Depending on whether you are recruited through a university campus partner, an online application, or a third-party recruiter, the process typically spans 2 to 4 weeks and consists of a mix of phone screens, manager discussions, and onsite visits.

The journey begins with an initial screening, often conducted by an HR representative or campus recruiter. This initial conversation is highly casual, focusing on your resume, background, and location preferences. If there is mutual alignment, you will move on to a technical and behavioral phone interview with a hiring manager or a panel of engineering managers. This stage focuses heavily on your past projects, technical capabilities, and behavioral scenarios.

The final stage is typically an onsite interview, which can take place at a corporate office (such as Chicago, IL or Libertyville, IL) or at a specific manufacturing plant location. The onsite interview is comprehensive and often lasts a full day. You will meet with various department heads, tour the facilities, have lunch with potential peers, and sometimes deliver a presentation on a technical project you have completed.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression from your initial application to the final decision. Candidates should interpret this as a guide to pacing their preparation, ensuring they focus on behavioral fundamentals early on before diving into deep technical and presentation preparation for the onsite stage. Note that plant-specific roles may place a heavier emphasis on onsite tours and physical facility visits compared to corporate IT roles.

To succeed at USG, you must understand the specific areas where you will be evaluated. Interviewers look for a combination of technical adaptability, system integration knowledge, and behavioral maturity.

Behavioral & Cultural Alignment

At USG, culture fit is just as important as technical capability. Interviewers want to ensure you are a collaborative team player who can communicate effectively with both software engineers and plant personnel. They evaluate your empathy, ethical standards, and ability to handle conflict.

Be ready to go over:

• Teamwork under pressure – How you collaborate to resolve critical system outages or project delays.
• Conflict resolution – Your approach to handling disagreements with team members or stakeholders.
• Ethical decision-making – Demonstrating high integrity in professional and academic settings.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Navigating communication gaps between corporate IT teams and plant-floor operations.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to convince a skeptical teammate to adopt your technical approach."
• "Describe a situation where you had to make a tough choice to maintain safety or quality standards."

Systems Integration & Core Technologies

USG relies on robust integration technologies to connect legacy ERPs, manufacturing execution systems, and modern eCommerce portals. Demonstrating a strong grasp of APIs, data pipelines, and middleware platforms is highly valued.

Be ready to go over:

• API design & management – Restful API development, JSON/XML processing, and secure communication protocols.
• Enterprise Service Buses (ESBs) – Experience with integration tools like webMethods or MuleSoft.
• Database systems – SQL database design, query optimization, and data synchronization.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Real-time data streaming architectures and message queues (e.g., RabbitMQ, Kafka) in a manufacturing environment.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How would you design an integration layer to sync real-time inventory data between a local plant database and a corporate eCommerce portal?"
• "Explain the differences between SOAP and REST APIs, and when you would choose one over the other."

Plant Operations & Geographic Flexibility

For many software engineering and IT developer roles, you will support physical plants. Showing an understanding of manufacturing environments and a willingness to travel or relocate is key to advancing.

Be ready to go over:

• Plant environments – Understanding how IT systems support physical production lines and logistics.
• Geographic flexibility – Your willingness to work at or support different USG plant locations across North America.
• Adaptability – How you handle changing environments, from quiet corporate offices to busy manufacturing plants.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Are you open to relocating to one of our manufacturing facilities, and how do you feel about working in a plant environment?"
• "Describe how you would approach gathering software requirements from a plant operator who has limited technical background."

As a Software Engineer at USG, your daily responsibilities will vary depending on your specific team alignment, but they generally center around building reliable, high-performing software solutions that support the company's business goals.

If you are aligned with the Customer Portal & eCommerce team, your primary focus will be on developing and maintaining web applications that allow clients to order building materials, track shipments, and manage accounts. You will write clean, secure, and responsive front-end and back-end code, integrate payment gateways, and optimize the overall user experience. This role requires close collaboration with product managers, UX designers, and digital marketing teams.

For engineers in IT Developer or plant-facing roles, the daily work is highly focused on system integration, database management, and operational support. You will write code to connect manufacturing equipment software with corporate databases, automate reporting tools for plant managers, and troubleshoot critical system integrations. You will spend time analyzing workflow bottlenecks, writing database scripts, and ensuring that software systems run with minimal downtime to avoid impacting physical production schedules.

Regardless of your team, continuous learning and system optimization are core to the role. You will participate in code reviews, write comprehensive technical documentation, and collaborate with cybersecurity teams to ensure all developed applications adhere to corporate security standards.