MD Anderson Cancer Center Program Manager Interview Questions
& Process

I applied for a Program Manager position. A recruiter contacted me, and after submitting my resume, I had an interview scheduled within days. The first stage was a panel interview with the Director and two of her direct reports, who were also program managers. They asked general behavioral questions, and the interview lasted about an hour. I learned that the recruiter hadn't provided the complete job description, only a summary, which meant I wasn't as prepared as I could have been. Despite this, I advanced to the final round, which involved three 30-minute interviews with individuals from the same department but not HR. Each interviewer was from a different background or tenure. One of the more experienced interviewers had a communication style that was hard to follow, and I wasn't sure what she was asking. She seemed distracted, which lowered my expectations. Because they needed to fill the role quickly for an upcoming event, the process was fast-tracked. What normally might take over a month and involve HR more directly, was completed in about two weeks. It's worth noting that the role wasn't strictly program management; it leaned more towards event coordination, executive assistance to the Director, and scheduling.

I applied and heard back about a week later, which was surprising since I'd applied many times before. First, I had a quick chat with the hiring manager to see if we were a good fit. Then, HR contacted me to set up an in-person interview. That same day, HR reached out with two date/time options for the interview. I was told to come to HR first, and then I'd be sent for my interview. When I got there, HR mentioned my salary requirement might be too high, even though it was within the advertised range, and asked for my minimum. After that, I went to meet the hiring manager, but had to wait 45 minutes because HR had scheduled me too early. The hiring manager and two other team members interviewed me for a total of 3 hours. It seemed to go well, and a few days later, I was invited for a second, panel interview the next week. I had to check in with HR again before heading to the other building for the interview. This one was shorter, maybe 30 minutes, and also seemed to go well. Before this interview, they mentioned a possible third interview with faculty members, depending on how this one went and if scheduling was too hard. They tried to arrange one for that day, but couldn't. It's been 3 weeks with no word, so I emailed HR 10 days after the second interview to check on the status and say I was still interested, but got no reply. I didn't have the hiring manager's contact info. I saw the job posted again recently and figured I wasn't chosen. UPDATE: The day after I posted this, HR contacted me for another interview (3 weeks after the last one with no contact). They gave me two dates/times and asked me to attend both. UPDATE: I got the job offer 2 months after applying. The initial offer was less than my minimum, but they met my minimum after I reinforced it.

After applying, I waited about a month for the interview to be scheduled, which I was expecting based on other feedback. The interview itself was a structured panel interview. It included the hiring manager, some of their direct reports, and a few people from related teams. They asked straightforward questions and gave me plenty of time to talk about my experience. Definitely remember to ask them questions too! This experience is different from the private sector, and I've really liked the whole hiring and onboarding process so far.