SQZ Biotech Interview Questions
& Process

The internship interview process was not very professional and it was lengthy for an internship role. I had five interviewers for a three-hour interview. After the interview, I followed up with them repeatedly for 2 weeks and they promised to update my application by the end of the week. In the following up email, I indicate in details that I want to hear the update regardless of the decision and because I genuinely like the technology. However, they never responded back until by the end of the third week, they sent me a generated email from a non-reply source for rejection. Throughout the interview process, one of the interviewers kept staring at the floor while asking me questions. I felt uncomfortable throughout the process.

I learned about the job at a career event and gave my resume to someone there. HR contacted me a few days later to set up an on-site meeting with the hiring manager, which lasted about an hour. Then, I had a full day on-site that included a presentation and an interview panel. I gave a seminar about my past research, and then I met with the entire team in smaller groups, with one or two people at a time. The interviewers included research assistants, peers, managers, HR, and even C-level staff. They asked about my skills, why I wanted to work at SQZ, and some behavioral questions. It was a good experience overall. They provided lunch.

First, there was a phone interview with a recruiter, then a phone interview with the hiring manager, and finally an in-person interview. They move really fast with their interviews. Maybe it's because SQZ is a small company, but it seems like HR isn't their priority. Some of the people I was supposed to interview with were on vacation, which they should have known about a week in advance. I met with 10% of the company, all one-on-one, one after another. Everyone was on time for their meetings, which was nice. Nobody, not even the hiring management, seemed to agree on what this role was supposed to do, which is common in smaller companies, but I was told different things by different levels of management. From what I can tell, there's been a big hiring push that's been changing the company culture, and I'd expect things to settle down in the next year.

You'll give a presentation of your work to a group of scientists, followed by multiple interviews. These interviews will be with scientists, the director, some higher-ups, research assistants, and HR. The whole thing lasts a full day, and they might ask you to come back for a second interview.