HRL Laboratories Interview Questions
& Process

First, there was a call with a recruiter, then a call with the shift supervisor. After that, I had an onsite interview. It was in an open lounge area and had 4 parts, each a different length and with different team members. The team worked really well together. The whole process was well organized and I really liked it. I felt my time was valued and the team seemed to have a clear plan.

So this company's interview process took like 15.5 weeks, and in the end, I didn't get an offer. The recruiter was amazing though, super helpful and kept me in the loop. I applied in November after an initial call in October. I interviewed a few times and thought I was headed for the final onsite with the director. They kept saying I was the top candidate, which made me hopeful. Things got a bit slower around the holidays because a new hiring manager took over. I met with the new manager, and that went fine. After the final interview in late January, I got good vibes from both the recruiter and hiring manager. It was a bummer to get rejected, especially after they said I was the top pick. The reasons they gave were that I might be "possibly overqualified" or "living too far away." It was a pretty long and disappointing process, nearly four months. Just a heads-up for others, expect a long process and sometimes mixed signals even if they say you're doing great.

The interview process had a few steps. First, there was a hiring manager call to go over basics like when I could start. Then, a call with a lead engineer to talk about the job and my resume, plus some tech questions. After that, I had a take-home coding assignment that was related to the job. Finally, there was an all-day onsite with about 4 different interviewers from teams I'd be working with.

It was a pretty simple interview process. Started with one Zoom screen and then a 3-hour panel interview. The first one was with the hiring manager, and two other managers were present but I couldn't see them, which was strange. The hiring manager was nice and just talked about my resume and job duties. The panel interview was a bit more intense. Most people shared their experiences at the company and asked if I knew about the test equipment from the job description. Three interviewers hit me with technical questions that really caught me off guard. They were mostly things I'd encountered before but wasn't ready to solve on the spot. About a week later, the hiring manager called me to chat again (not sure if that's normal). We went over the job duties, if I'd like it, or if I'd prefer something else. They mentioned an offer was coming.