# S6E34 John Lembke | Best Practices for Hiring Engineers

- Show: [Being an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer)
- Published: 2025-08-22
- Length: 39m
- Episode: 34
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers

## Summary

John Lembke, a manufacturing engineering manager at Scythe Robotics and formerly at Phantom Auto, Seagate, and GE, discusses best practices for hiring engineering teams, emphasizing the use of skill histograms and targeted job descriptions to avoid hiring people who merely resemble the manager. He details interview strategies that prioritize interpersonal fit and collaboration over pure technical prowess, advising candidates to use the STAR method for concise, specific responses. In operations, Lembke explains how Scythe Robotics achieved a 60% capacity increase by resolving quality bottlenecks and specializing workstations, while also contrasting ERP and MES systems and advocating for specialized, short production lines over flexible, complex ones.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=0) Introduction: John Lembke and Scythe Robotics
- [2:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=131) Early Life and Path to Mechanical Engineering
- [4:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=242) Hiring Best Practices: Skill Histograms and Job Descriptions
- [7:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=438) Interview Strategies: Interpersonal Fit and Soft Skills
- [15:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=922) Common Hiring Mistakes and Candidate Advice
- [24:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=1494) ERP and MES Systems in Manufacturing
- [28:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=1714) Scaling Production at Scythe Robotics
- [30:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=1812) Production Failures and Specialized Tooling
- [35:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-08-22-s6e34-john-lembke-best-practices-for-hiring-engineers#t=2130) Endurance Sports and Leadership Philosophy

## Topics

- [Hiring & workforce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/hiring-and-workforce)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Factory operations & automation](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/factory-operations)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Scythe Robotics (company)
- Phantom Auto (company)
- Seagate (company)
- GE (company)
- SAP (other)
- Tableau (tool)
- Strava (tool)
- Hammer Nutrition (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Building Teams That Scale And What Happens When They Don't | Peloton, Meta, Blaze Talent | Will Blaze](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2026-04-13-building-teams-that-scale-and-what-happens-when-they-dont-peloton-meta-blaze-tal) (TRADEOFFS)
- [185: Nice Mahogany Table](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-01-25-185-nice-mahogany-table) (Embedded.fm)
- [Hiring Processes with Gergely Orosz](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-11-07-hiring-processes-with-gergely-orosz) (Oxide and Friends)
- [51: There Is No Crying in Strcpy (Repeat)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2019-09-12-51-there-is-no-crying-in-strcpy-repeat) (Embedded.fm)
- [Foundation First: Products, Systems, Process & People w/ Bill Kaewert](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2023-07-25-foundation-first-products-systems-process-people-w-bill-kaewert) (The Manufacturing Executive)

## Citing this page

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