Texas Department of State Health Services Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 82 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
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16 roles · 82 reportsCandidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Texas Department of State Health Services.
Texas Department of State Health Services
Molecular Biologist
Mid Average Neutral experience Accept offer 1 round
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Behavioral
I got the questions ahead of time so I could prep. No real convo happened, they were just writing the whole time, but they were nice. It was a mix of personality and technical stuff that should be easy if you have a bachelors and some lab work experience.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Can you explain what you know about QA/QC?
Texas Department of State Health Services
Epidemiologist
Entry Difficult Negative experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Technical screen Take home
Interview formats
Technical Other
Questions were sent 15 minutes prior to the interview. Most if not all interviews have an "in-basket exercise." Some hiring managers have the exercise before the interview to narrow down applicants. In my experience, it was done after the interview. I think it would be better if it was done before. I was recommended for positions right after my interview twice. It was a lot of running around for months with no positive result.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Can you describe your experience with data management and databases?
Texas Department of State Health Services
Public Health Specialist
Mid Difficult Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Take home
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Case Presentation
I've had a few interviews with DSHS. It's consistently a panel interview with 3-4 interviewers in a large, rather depressing building. The admin will arrange the interview and meet you in the lobby. You get about 10-15 minutes to review the questions in one room before being moved to another room to meet with the 3 interviewers. They take turns asking questions and make notes on your responses. Some follow-up questions might be asked. In one instance, they repeatedly asked for elaboration without providing any specific guidance on what they were looking for. I decided to withdraw my application for that particular office because the experience was quite uncomfortable and stressful, and nobody seemed happy. There's usually a skills assessment involved, which could be a writing task, data analysis, or another job-related activity.
Confirmed questions8 questions
- Can you discuss your background in managing government contracts?
- Please share your experience related to vaccinations.
- In your view, how can the significance of data-driven research be communicated?
Texas Department of State Health Services
Epidemiologist
Mid Difficult Positive experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Take home Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding
Applied online and got a call to set up a phone interview. The first interview was about two hours, with an hour-long phone call followed by a take-home written 'exam' to be submitted within the hour. They sent the phone interview questions 10 minutes prior. They typed notes while I spoke, leading to pauses. The written part involved data interpretation or SAS dataset manipulation. A week later, I had a second 30-minute interview, no written part. They noted all my answers. Most questions in both interviews were technical, with few behavioral ones. Overall, a good experience, though I didn't get the job.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- For cohort and case-control studies, what statistical tests are appropriate?
- How would you interpret given data and manipulate datasets using SAS?
Texas Department of State Health Services Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Texas Department of State Health Services interview reports.
“What proportion of these fetal deaths were of low birth weight?”
Read reports →“Based on the provided data, how many fetal deaths occurred in pre-term births?”
Read reports →“What are five different types of birth defects, and could you provide a brief description for each?”
Read reports →“Can you explain the difference between a gram positive and a gram negative stain, and what are the typical cell shapes associated with each?”
Read reports →“Can you name and describe 5 different birth defects?”
Read report →“What specific Protected Health Information (PHI) would you use to confirm a patient's established status at a clinic?”
Read report →“Using the “All_Results” dataset, can you create a new dataset called “Earliest_result” that includes only the earliest specimen record for each client based on the collection date, and contains just the ClientID, SpecimenID, year_coll, and Result variables, with year_coll showing the year of specimen collection? Please provide SAS code or describe the logic.”
Read report →“For 10 Texas counties, using provided tables, can you create new datasets for each county named “Countyname_rates” that show the calculated new diagnosis rate for each racial group per calendar year, including only the county name, years, and rates? Please write efficient SAS code or outline the logic.”
Read report →“Can you explain what Public Health is and why it's important?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 82 Texas Department of State Health Services interview reports.