I applied through college or university. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Dow (Lafayette, IN)
Interview
On campus interview. One on 1One. Nothing too difficult. Basic technical questions. Want you to be able to efficiently summarize research. Pretty much want all responses to be technical based. Interviewers weren't to intense from what I could tell
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
If you had a million dollars what would you research
Dow has a big recruitment effort to hire fresh PhD candidates and comes really early compared to other companies. They finished their university campus interviews and their on-site interviews before you had a chance to interview with any other company. The representatives from the company say they do this so early to make sure they get pick of the best candidates.
I applied through college or university. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Dow in Sep 2014
Interview
Submitted transcripts, recommendations, resume, and research summary and filled out online application one week before on campus recruiting. On campus interview builds a profile up of your qualities and skills (filling out predetermined questions on a computer or paper). Questions about research, as well as expected behavioral questions: describe your research and its impact, biggest challenge in grad school, tell me about a time you started a collaboration, what is your expertise or skills you have, why do you want to work in industry, why Dow, etc. If qualified, this profile is is sent to various divisions/locations. If a location is interested, within 3 weeks you will be contacted directly by that division and invited for an on site interview.
On campus interview was very straightforward and the interviewer (they are PhD researchers themselves) explained that they were building up a profile and asking typical predetermined questions while summarizing my responses on a computer. Very friendly interviewer and never felt like I was being grilled.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Kept asking what other technical skills or abilities I had, but did not seem receptive to any of my answers, though I tried answering from multiple perspectives.