I applied online. I interviewed at Curia (Albany, NY)
Interview
I applied for the position through LinkedIn. I got an HR phone interview within the same week then had the technical phone interview the week after. The technical phone interview was an hour long and it could summarized into three parts: description of the job position, talking my research experience, and then answering a few technical questions related to organic chemistry (NMR, synthesis, chromatography, etc). I was offered an on-site interview the very next day.
The on-site interview was overall a positive experience. Your day will start off by giving a 45min seminar of your past research experience. You should be prepared to answer a few difficult questions from senior chemists, but they are there for you to succeed; they'll probe you with easy questions if you are having a hard time getting a point across.
After that, you'll have lunch then you'll be passed along to several senior chemists who will interview you individually. For me, all of them didn't ask any questions really. They just wanted to get to know me better and gauge my interest in the position. You'll be given a tour of the lab spaces and your day will end with one last interview with the director.
The process overall took 3.5 weeks and HR is super helpful.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How did you hear about this position? What got you into organic chemistry? How did you solve ____ problem? What could you have done more with your project? How would you make a C - X bond without doing a simple Sn2? etc....
Phone screen involves talking to HR first to get a sense of who you are and also what the company does. Second round involves technical presentation to the group you'll be working in and questions about your research. There were also questions to make sure you have a baseline knowledge of organic chemistry.
Hiring managers are very friendly. Related technical questions and techniques related to previous work experience were asked. HPLC background knowledge is needed. 4 or 5 hiring managers would talk to you online one by one.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Curia in Jan 2022
Interview
The most pleasant and quick interview process I've been through. Everyone was nice and made me feel as though they were interested in me as a person rather than what I could bring to the company.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The interview style was very laid back and more of a conversation to get to know me rather than a formal interview.
