Science & Technology Interview Questions & Answers

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.

My interview lasted for 1h 15mins on the phone. This time comprised mainly of six different sets of competency questions assessing e.g. team work, leadership, creativity and ability to deal with difficult situations and people. The woman on the phone was rather nice, however she had to push me a lot for more detail in some of my answers. I had prepared answers to expected topics, however the questions I got combined several of these competencies, making it difficult to come up with a good thorough answer on the spot. The remainder of the interview dealt with my knowledge of the company, especially their competitors and products.

Describe a situation where you have had to make a difficult decision quickly and where you have demonstrated ability convince others of your views and decisions.

Be confident, speak loud and clearly and be lively, try to smile whilst talking on the phone as if you were talking to a person in front of you. Your voice can make a big difference. Stop to think if you need time.

I did not get through to the assessment centre stage

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 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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My initial telephone interview was with a member of the graduate recruitment team, and it lasted 45minutes. After having a brief chat about what the interview would involve, he started asking questions. It was standard competency based interview asking me to describe a moment in my life that applied to the question and how I dealt with the situation. I was also asked about my CV and relevant qualifications as well as why I felt I was suited to a job within the MOD and DSTL.

Describe a situation where you were working with a group of people from a variety of different backgrounds, and got into difficulty having to use the different skill sets of each person to solve the situation.

Make sure you chase up the company if you feel it has been an unusually long time since you last heard anything, it doesn't hurt to be overly enthusiastic.

I passed the telephone interview stage and was told I would be contacted shortly regarding an assessment centre date. However I didn't hear anything until over a month later when I got an email saying that all the assessment centre dates at the moment were full and I'd get an email soon notifying me of an alternate date. I then didn't hear anything back until 6MONTHS LATER, with a short email essentially saying that they'd forgotten about me and there was no longer a vacancy but they'd keep my CV on file.