Applied online. Had a phone interview with hiring manager that went very well. Never heard back, despite him saying he was excited to meet me. Checked in after a few weeks and was connected to another hiring manager. This time I was brought in for an in person interview. The one on ones were great. Everyone was very nice and seemed excited about my experience and what I would be bringing to the team. They asked hard questions and made me elaborate on various skills to make sure I really knew what I was doing. I liked that, as it meant they also knew what they were doing. Only issue I had was the presentation. It went well enough but there was a guy kinda heckling me about my experiments. I didn't take him too seriously and joked back with him. Turns out he was the CSO and he ultimately vetoed me because he felt my experience working on animal models that had previously not been developed wasn't relevant. He also wasn't sure I would be able to launch fast enough (despite my experience working for NASA and a very high paced bio tech). I think he was actually mad that I didn't know he was (apparently he's well known). Ultimately I was happy to not get the offer. The scientist I interviewed with said that everyone had fought to bring me on board but the CSO wasn't budging. After many years in the business, I have found that having someone who is close minded or ego driven directing your research can be very difficult. For me, I feel that I dodged a bullet.

Multiple phone interviews. One in person interview. Total of 3 month process. In depth coverage of resume and skills. People were overall very nice. Presentation was ok. People asked interesting questions and seemed engaged. Process was just very very long.