Impossible Foods Research Associate Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process had four steps: a conversation with a recruiter, a behavioral interview with the hiring manager, a technical interview with the hiring manager, and finally a set of meet-the-team interviews in which I spoke to four people. Overall, the process was well-organized and efficient. The recruiting team was helpful and responsive to emails, but at one point a couple weeks went by with no update on my status. This company seems to really value their mission. Ultimately, I didn't receive an offer because I was less qualified than another candidate, but I think I only advanced as far as I did because I demonstrated a genuine interest in Impossible's mission. For the technical interview, it would be helpful to brush up on the basic concepts underlying the work (eg protein biochemistry) but the interview was really just a chance to demonstrate how you think rather than what you know. If I were to say anything negative about the process, it would be that a couple of the meet-the-team interviewers weren't very prepared and didn't seem very enthusiastic to speak with me.

The interview process had three main parts. First, there was an HR phone screening which was pretty easy and not technical at all, mostly just going over my resume and why I was interested in the job. After that, I had a 30-45 minute phone call with someone from the functional team, which was more technical. The final stage was a 6-hour onsite interview that started with an hour-long presentation with Q&A. I felt the presentation part was a bit much for an entry-level role, but I guess it's common for these kinds of jobs. A lot of the people interviewing me seemed really intense and tried to catch me off guard with questions. Also, there was this vibe of them thinking they're so much better than bigger, established companies, which I found off-putting. Everyone seemed super stressed and overworked. The company culture and morale really turned me off, and I probably wouldn't have taken the job even if they offered it. Because the product and business are so secret, the questions were really vague and hard to understand, which was frustrating because they were so abstract and hypothetical. There was barely any break time, maybe only 15 minutes total for the restroom and lunch. It was a really stressful and negative experience overall.

I had an onsite interview where I spoke with 4 different groups of scientists. Most of them were really nice, and I felt like I had good conversations. But, one person on the panel, who wasn't even the hiring manager, didn't know what a PDA detector was, which was pretty disappointing. She also felt the need to tell me what she was looking for in a candidate, even though it seemed like I might have more experience than her. I'm still a bit unsure if this role is R&D, Analytics, service engineering, or QC.