Genentech Technician Interview Questions
& Process

I interviewed at the end of January 2016. The hiring manager greeted me and led me to the interview room in the downstream department, passing through the cafeteria and the main building corridors. The interview was scheduled last minute, and I thought there would be more interviewers. But, due to scheduling conflicts, only two people interviewed me. They asked general questions about my education, my internship experience, and my motivation for a career in biotech. The interview took about 35 minutes. They didn't ask many technical questions. They also shared the work schedule, as it's a 24-hour production facility.

A supervisor called me late in the evening to set up an interview for the next week. The interview was scheduled from 1pm to 7pm, but we were told to be there by 11:30am. I wasn't given many details about the interview itself, just when to arrive. When I got there on time, I saw four other people had interviews scheduled at the same time. We were taken to a small hallway to wait. My interview wasn't supposed to start until 2pm, but I'd been there since 12pm, so I just reviewed my notes. It felt a bit awkward with people walking by and the long wait making me nervous. I was interviewed by two supervisors. One asked a few questions, but the other mostly led the interview. He asked me why I wanted to work at Genentech and some technical questions about operating machines. I only got about 5 basic questions before he said he was tired and wanted to wrap things up early. I already felt uncomfortable with the interview style, so I didn't expect an offer, but it was an experience.

I applied and a recruiter got in touch. Then I had a phone interview, followed by an in-person interview. The in-person part had two 30-minute interviews back-to-back. First, I met with two people who are also Lab Technicians. Second, I met with two managers.