Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Executive Assistant Interview Questions
& Process

My first interview for LLNL was with a recruiter from their staffing agency, North Wind. It was a super quick phone screen, around 10 minutes, for two jobs: Administrative Coordinator (ES&H) and Recruiter. My resume got submitted, but I never heard back about either, even after I tried to follow up. So, I applied directly to LLNL again and was persistent. About two weeks later, I got an interview for the Administrative Assistant role in the LSEO division (NIF&PS). They set it up within a week of me giving my availability. The interview itself was just okay. It was a 45-minute video call on WebEx with two people. One of the interviewers was the division's administrator, and she was about 5 minutes late. The chat was pretty informal, which could've been good if there was more energy or interest from both sides. I'm usually enthusiastic, but I felt like I had to tone it down to match them. Their words sounded positive, but their body language and tone didn't match. There were a lot of awkward pauses. They didn't really ask much about me, just one question. When I asked about career growth in the division, they said, "you can't leave us unless you get promoted." Yikes. Turns out, the last person in this job got promoted to the same role in ES&H (the one the recruiter ignored me for)! Talk about a loop. Anyway, they did tell me they weren't going with my application within a week of my thank you email. I'd just suggest LLNL rethinks their whole hiring communication style. They've got a lot to work on, and their process for finding and keeping good people isn't quite there yet.

Sometimes it can take a little while to get an interview. Don't give up though, just be sure you're prepared. You should do some research on the company before you show up. They might ask you if you looked at our webpage.

I submitted my application online and it took a few weeks for them to reply since they weren't rushing to fill this new role. I went through two phone interviews, one with HR and then one with my supervisor, and that was it for the interviews. Mostly, they asked about my past experience, what kind of job I was looking for, and my future plans. They also explained a lot about the job duties, what was needed, and the work hours. About a week after the second phone interview, they called me with a job offer. Just a heads up, the background check part is pretty long, taking about 4 to 6 weeks, and it only starts after you accept the position.