Science & Technology Interview Questions & Answers

Create an app using 5G that vodafone can create to improve some sector. I was asked more implementation details than expected, and I was asked questions in detail about the software choices.

Once my application had been accepted I was invited to an Assessment day. The day involved; an introductory exercise to test our communication skills, a tour of the offices with discussions with staff, a group assessment, a 45 minute interview with 2 interviewers per applicant and an hour and a half individual assessment where editing skills were tested. The layout of the day worked well as it allowed everyone to relax into the assessments. Throughout the day 10 or more staff members watched our actions. The interviewers took turns to ask a variety of questions involving giving an example of how you have used a skill in the past.

Describe a problem you have faced in the past that you did not deal with well and how you would have dealt with it in hindsight.

Make sure you are presentable and try to make yourself known to all of the members of staff observing you. Be friendly and memorable. If you haven't done any professional editing make sure you get lots of practice before attending the interview.

We were divided in to two groups of 7 and had to complete a timed challenge to test teamwork skills.

I submitted an application for the position via the NHS jobs website, I later received an email inviting me to attend an interview at the hospital pathology department. The interview was at 9am and lasted for 30 minutes.

The interviewers were the Laboratory Medicine Ops Manager and the Chief Biomedical Scientist of the Histology department.
I was firstly asked to confirm my I.D by providing a drivers license and proof of address. There was an initial chat about my application, and discussion of how I had used my time at university and about the relevant work experience that I already had. I was then asked questions about why I wanted the job, and why I believed I was a good fit for the job. In addition I was also asked about my understanding of data confidentiality and about health and safety and risk assessments. We also discussed support that would be available for career development, and for relocation.

After this, I was asked to submit a handwriting sample, and was also given some basic maths problems to solve with no time restrictions.

I was then given a tour of the lab by a member of staff, who had previously held the role I was applying for which gave me ample opportunity to ask more questions about the job role.

What qualities do you have that make you a good fit for the position?

If going for a pathology based role, be prepared to answer questions on what you understand by data confidentiality and about health and safety risks.

I would also ask if you can have a tour of the lab, if they don't offer it in the beginning. This can give you a greater perspective of what the job role entails, and it gives you a chance to be reminded to raise more job specific questions about your daily working tasks.

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Normally, the assessment days are held at Worthing, outskirts of Brighton. However, NETBuilder managed to book a conference room with Manchester University, thus the assessment day was held in Manchester for practical reasons. However, they were not clear on the directions to the assessment centre as myself along with another candidate were pointed to the wrong building! Both of us spent wondering the wrong building for 10 minutes before one of the staff members told us we were in the wrong building! (Both of us happened to get pointed to the wrong building when asking people for directions). We arrived there 10 minutes late but we weren't the only ones late as more candidate kept turning up.
After the introduction of NETBuilder we were asked to take a Java test. Now, I don't know about you but I never learnt Java so I was at an disadvantageous position, a long with other candidates. I had to learn the basics Java in 1 day to even stand a chance against the other candidates who already knew Java!
After the test, we were handed booklets of tasks to be completed throughout the day. There were around 19 tasks in total, we had to organise the time for lunch and slot in 2 sets of 15 minutes interviews (Technical and 'Business') when organising the tasks. The tasks ranged from taking a group photo, creating a website, making a NETBuilder anthem etc. It wasn't too difficult but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting (Considering this was my first ever assessment day!). We managed to complete all of the tasks surprisingly although there were 20 candidates in the room (2 candidates dropped out for various reasons). After the tasks were completed, we had to do a presentation on what tasks we completed. After the presentation the day was completed.
We were meant to have the CEO of NETBUilder talking to us but he never came, we don't know why but he just never turned up! We were given laptops for the tasks but they lacked the required programmes for the tasks that I was conducting! We needed Windows Movie Maker or a similar programme but we couldn't download it! It was lucky that another candidate brought his laptop and managed to have WMM on his laptop otherwise my group couldn't have completed the tasks. NETBuilder seemed very disorganised throughout.
There were two interviews conducted. The first interview I had was the technical interview. This was to test out my technical knowledge. The second interview WAS meant to be a business interview. I felt that the technical interview didn't go too badly but it could have went a lot better so I thought I would make grounds in the business interview. It wasn't even an business interview! It changed to a personality interview, which wasn't bad but a long with the other candidates, we all wanted the business interview instead of a personality interview!

"What was the most difficult technical assignment you had to conduct?"
"Can you demonstrate the architecture of C# of the website you created?"

Stay in the city overnight. I thought that travelling from Birmingham to Manchester was going to be okay. But traffic caused me to be late, with 10 minutes left to get to the conference room. Also, if you're really applying for NETBuilder (I wouldn't recommend it) then you should really learn all of your technical knowledge as that was certainly the hardest part of the two interviews.

I was in a group with 3 other members. There were 4 tasks that we did, all using either the camera provided. The first task was to take a video of a local landmark in Manchester. The second task was the take a photo of all of the candidates. The third task was to create an interview asking 4 different candidates why they chose to apply with NETBuilder and the final task was the take a photo of another local landmark for an imagery.

The IBM group assessment centre was very well run. The morning is split into four segments, where you are asked to work as a small subgroup in two of them, do a short test (to verify earlier test results) in one, and watch a "history" video and presentation.

The day is an excellent chance to network, and if you're successful you're asked to stay for the afternoon, do an individual interview, prepare a presentation and other activities. I was not successful unfortunately but it is a very competitive position and I fought hard!

We weren't really asked interview questions in that sense. However the group activities were difficult because we had to work with 6 other people we'd never met before and come to a consensus within 30 minutes on our projects.

Participate as fully as possible with your potential colleagues.
Do NOT sit in silence - you will not be chosen!
If you have an idea, speak up. Let people know you have something to say.
If you figure something out, tell people.
If you're not sure, clarify.
Enjoy yourself. It's for them AND for you.

We were split into 4 groups of 7.
We watched a 10 minute "history of IBM" video (available on YouTube) of what the company had gone through between 1911 and 2011.
We carried out a logic puzzle in order to answer questions. This required co-ordinating information
We carried out a "project management" task with a time limit, budget limit, strict client requirements and creativity.
We carried out a 10 question sequencing test to verify earlier results.

I was e-mailed by an administrator after applying for the role (by completing an online application form, submitting my CV and personal statement) that I had been invited to interview in 16 days' time. I arrived in plenty of time and thought I had prepared enough by revising my undergraduate dissertation (which I had brought along with me as I was asked in the e-mail to bring a sample of my academic work, but unusually the panel didn't even look at this - they were more bothered about my motivation for PhD and my knowledge of regenerative medicine, immunology and my technical knowledge of previous experiments). I did extremely well in the interview as there were many difficult questions put to me e.g. [Question]: How would you make sure a certain receptor binds erythropoietin in experiments? [Answer]: Antibody blocking of all other receptors to show that only one receptor is vacant and is causing the effect (I actually said drugs but he wanted me to say antibodies). The interview conducted by 5 scientists (one external examiner, three of my potential supervisors and one collaborating scientist whom would be involved in the project) lasted around 45 minutes but I wasn't offered a place due to the fact that I didn't have enough laboratory experience in the areas that I would be investigating (which has been a major problem in many of my interviews).

I was asked a question about a lab protocol for flow cytometry which I had followed during my placement but since forgotten the exact details and so I answered the question they asked me wrongly (I should have said I lysed the red blood cells prior to analysing but I said I didn't think there was a step and that the whole blood just needed to be incubated with antibodies in the dark, I basically skipped an important step), it had been 4 years prior to my interview that I had conducted such a protocol but I was expected to remember it in this level of detail - I suppose I should have known really

Make sure you know the technical information of your placement research project well (as ), plus make sure you know about the interviewers' individual research publications and interests (I answered a question about this very well), and have plenty of lab experience (especially cell culture experience is wanted by many interviewers nowadays!)

I first arrived and waited around 30 minutes in an annexe room and read my notes whilst I waited; a little while before my interview I greeted and shook the hands of two of my interviewers who arrived around 15 minutes before the interview (both of which were my main supervisors) before they went into the interview room as I thought it might make a good impression and demonstrate my keenness and punctuality, then I was called through into the interview room via a cloak room which I was able to leave my briefcase in before I entered the interview room; the interview room was a small conference room with my 5 interviewers sat across a medium-sized table with my chair being the closest to me when I entered the room which was directly facing them. I was briefed firstly by the external examiner about the format of the interview and then questioned by each of the scientists in a clockwise fashion.

Online Application
Fill out form online. Read about Intel case studies to help you structure the answers. Contact people on Linkedin who work for Intel to get some idea about what type of things work. Main thing is to show an interest in technology and understand how Intel helps firms.

Online Situational Judgement Test
Consider what capabilities are liked by Intel. Look at all the information on the Intel recruitment website and try to make those qualities stand out. This is more based on your determination to work long hours, work independently, work collaboratively. Getting the balance right between leadership and team work is vital.

Phone Interview
Few competency questions and then case study. For competency questions just be sure about Why Intel? Why this position? Why you? Have your answers planned according to S.T.A.R - Situation - Task - Action - Result. The Case Study is all about showing you can think analytically and systematically. Analyse wider issues etc.

Group exercise was difficult for me. There were around 4 people in my group. All of them were quite confident. I was the only one who was a bit nervous but finally I managed to do well.

- Learn a lot about the company
- Be one of the main speakers in the group exercise
- Be able to talk about what you did right and wrong

There were 5 people in my assessment centre. We were first given a presentation by a senior member of staff about his career. Then we were presented with a video which described a case study. We had to as a team find the best solution in each of four different categories and it had to come under budget. It shouldn't be too hard to find a solution to this. The hr people ask you some questions at the end. My feedback said that I didn't defend my opinions enough during the exercise so if you disagree with someone do say something but just don't let it turn into an argument.

We were next given a project planning exercise based on the solution youve cone up with and you have to list risks and dependencies. You then have a one on one interview which is mainly focused on defending your project plan and then they go on to ask about your knowledge of Intel. They also ask you about how you performed on the exercise, it's important to go into a bit of detail here and I think they want to know that you're aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

The interview was one of the strangest I have ever had. The director spent roughly 80% of the interview telling me about the company and reiterating how stressful the job would be. He then proceeded to ask if I had been put off of the job and when I said no, gave me a 10 hour project to complete over the weekend.

Asked very in depth questions relating the the project.

I took the job, which turned out to be okay. The company however, is in transition and I left soon after. Advice would be to not take the job and have a look on Glassdoor at some of the reviews before accepting.

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