ChemRisk Interview Questions
& Process

The company came to recruit in person at my school of public health. After giving a presentation, everyone in attendance was split between a recruiter and a current employee for a short interview. They came in December, looking for both interns and full-time employees. I interviewed with the recruiter. She looked at my educational background and highlighted key courses in statistics, environmental health sciences, and epidemiology during my first year of M.P.H. and courses in chemistry, biology, and geology I took as an undergraduate. She also asked about previous research experience. This took about 20 minutes. About one month later, I had an interview with two consultants over skype. This one lasted about 45 minutes and consisted of me telling my educational and professional story. There were few technical questions, more typical interview questions like "what is a challenge you have faced and how did you overcome it?" The company is seeking those who have a combination of inter-personal skills as well as technical skills in their focus areas of toxicology, industrial hygiene, epidemiology, and environmental engineering. About three weeks after this, I received a call telling me I was offered a position. They were very flexible with the expiration date, and I did not officially accept for two months.

I first met a senior consultant at the career fair, and then my resume got passed to HR. After that, I got an email for the first phone interview. The first phone interview was with 2 consultants who were very nice. They asked about my resume and my knowledge of the company, and emphasized that writing skills are very important. Then I was called back for a second lunch interview. I had lunch with 3 senior-level consultants who were also very nice and engaging. They asked and answered a lot of questions, and I felt very welcome. After lunch, I had an office tour and then interviewed with another consultant. I'm now waiting for the final decision.

About two weeks after I submitted my application online via the school recruitment site, I got a phone interview with two junior people from the company. About a week after that, they set me up for an in-person interview that included lunch with two more associates. On the day of the in-person interview, I first met with the managing epidemiologist for a one-on-one chat. Then, two different associates took me out for lunch, which lasted about an hour. When we got back to the office, I met a bunch of other associates before having a brief one-on-one with the managing epidemiologist again. Nearly three weeks later, they called to let me know I didn't get the job.

I was introduced to ChemRisk by a friend and reached out to the Supervising Health Scientist about openings, sending my resume. Because of my background, I was asked to write a cover letter to make sure my interests aligned with ChemRisk. Two weeks later, I got an email for a phone interview with two senior Health Scientists. They talked about their backgrounds and asked me about mine, including questions about relocating and if I like writing reports and publishing. After another two weeks, about 5 weeks after I first applied, I was invited for an in-office interview. They said it would be an all-afternoon thing, that I'd have to give a presentation about my past work (especially a project), and that we'd have dinner afterwards. At the in-office interview, we all had lunch together. Right after lunch, I presented my background and a project I've been working on; the staff seemed interested and asked questions. Then, I had five separate interviews with groups of 2 or 3 people. This was followed by a one-on-one with the Supervising Health Scientist, which I thought went really well, discussing career and education goals. Dinner was casual, like hanging out with friends, with varied topics not really about work. About 3 weeks after the in-office interview, I got an email saying they didn't have work for my background, which surprised me since I thought the interview went well. It was a really challenging interview experience.