I applied in-person. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM) in Mar 2013
Interview
Interviewing for me started at a career fair with a next day 'career discussion', followed by being flown out for a panel interview. The wait time between those was ~1 month. After the onsite interview (they also gave a tour) it was ~2 months before an offer was made. The panel interview process was nice, there were 5 managers and it kept the discussion lively.