UC San Francisco Interview Questions
& Process

Since the role was for a small lab, I think there were only one or two interview rounds. The PI and lab manager interviewed me. They asked a lot of questions about my grades from undergrad and masters, not just my GPA but specific course grades, which I found a little strange. Apart from that, they asked the typical behavioral questions and some about DS/ML applications and projects.

Started with HR, had a standard interview covering my resume, experience, and references, and then background checks. After that, I spoke with the hiring manager. There was a panel interview with the lead team members. I also got a tour of the department and had lunch with a peer. Finally, there were follow-up calls with the HR manager.

So I had to reapply for the job since they changed the requisition number. The recruiter gave me options for interview dates, and I picked three. She scheduled me for the last one the following week. Then I got two interview invites, so I used the one with the current requisition number. The recruiter who interviewed me wasn't the actual recruiter for the job but was helping out a colleague. She had a list of questions and seemed uninterested, even annoyed by my questions. She mentioned "24-7 pager duty" in an email, but when I asked about it during the interview, she acted like she didn't know anything, which was weird. I think I could have answered some questions better, but I have the skills and experience to do the job right away. I sent a thank-you note the same day and got a rejection email four weeks later.

I connected with the director who was helpful and answered my questions about the trainee program. He then passed me along to someone else who had ghosted me before and worked at UCSF. He called me, but didn't leave a message, and I called back twice. He seemed suspicious and asked how I got his number. I told him he called me. We started the first interview, but he cut it short for a meeting and promised to call back, which he didn't. After two weeks, I called him, and he said the job was filled. This time, after the employee referral, he scheduled a video interview. He canceled it, saying he wasn't doing interviews that week. The following week, I had an interview. He said he'd let me know in two weeks if I was selected and mentioned they were hiring ten people next month. I was ghosted again and my thank you notes were ignored.