I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA) in Apr 2018
Interview
It was an hour-long phone interview with a few of the researchers and staff members who would be working with the new candidate. I was asked questions about topics involving biology, programming, and data science. Everyone was cordgial and interested to learn about the limits of my HPC experiences and data science knowledge. I had multiple interactions through email before and after the interview that were informative and positive as well.
My only complaint was that they said they were looking for a "unicorn" individual who could do everything, while admitting that such a person didn't really exist. As such, it bothers me that I didn't get to continue interviewing with them despite having 80-90% of the qualifications for the position.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
How many computer cores did you work with at a given time?
I interviewed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA)
Interview
I applied online. I had a chat via webex with one staff scientist. It was a phonescreening and showig my work related to the position. Rejected through. The whole process took 4 weeks.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA) in Mar 2023
Interview
It was a whole day interview including a 1-hr seminar session, multiple panel meetings, lunch, and lab tour. It is kinda like a mini-version for TTAP interview. The lab covered my flight, transport and lodging, very thoughtful!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is your ultimate goal for scientific research? What is your passion? What do you expect to gain from this position?
I applied online. I interviewed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA) in May 2022
Interview
1) Section manager reached out to conduct a 30-min screening Zoom call with one other staff scientist to go over my resume. Said the interview went well and we'd be in touch.
2) Waited ~4 weeks to get a confirmation for an on-site interview. Scheduled the on-site interview 3 weeks in advanced.
3) Before the on-site interview, a "pre-interview" was conducted via another Zoom call with an additional 4 staff scientists, debriefing me about the projects that are going on in the lab, and which ones would interest me. ~1 hr call, nothing difficult, just a conversation.
4) On-site interview was a 45 min presentation + 15 min questions (basically my PhD defense slides). After the presentation was the actual interview where all the scientists (15+ people in the room at the same time) asked you basic interview questions. Afterwards I toured the facility of where I would be working. The entire process started at 7:30 am and ended at 4:00 pm. At the end, the section manager said I had the position and to expect an offer some time in the coming week.
5) Waited another week for an (unofficial) offer.
Total process took ~4 months from submitting the application to getting an offer. Overall, nice experience. Majority of the people were professional, but some of the older staff can come off as aggressive when asking questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
For the presentation, basic questions about your research and slides; not many technical questions, more or less clarifications on your projects. The main interview took place after the presentation where they asked soft skill questions.
1) How do you handle working with a difficult coworker?
2) Have you ever been faced with a situation where you had to make a decision without all the immediate information?
3) What is your approach to solving a problem?
4) Describe a time where you had a disagreement with your advisor.
5) How do you prioritize projects and your work flow?
