UCB Associate Interview Questions
& Process

They booked me to fly into Atlanta on the day a hurricane (irma) was projected to hit, and it did, over the Atlanta area. They rebooked my flight for the next day so I could still make it for a late interview with same day turnaround. UCB never even reimbursed my expenses for the serious effort I made to change plans to get there. Interviews were typical background and experience based. I competed an “exercise” and was told that it was the “right answer”. They asked about experience with specific databases. I couldn’t discern how navigating, extracting, or analyzing these specific datasets were particularly any different than any other application environment that couldn’t be learned in a day. I requested follow up multiple times to minimal to no answer. A simple no thanks would have been appreciated.

I had a 30 min phone screen with a UCB recruiter that went well because I was informed two weeks later that I would have a 30 min call with the hiring manager. Someone from the North Carolina talent recruitment team called to arrange this call. A few days later, I received a call asking me to come into the office to meet the hiring manager for 30 mins in lieu of a call. I explained that an immediate family member had suddenly passed away unexpectedly and I needed to help with funeral arrangements and be with my immediate family on the day the company decided to reschedule my call to an in-person 30 min discussion. The HM and recruiting team showed no empathy or understanding. They asked me to delay my travel because the HM was going on Christmas vacation a week before the company shutdown and the HM insisted on meeting me for 30 min instead of calling me. They insisted that the HM was going to select a candidate for hire after all the 30 min interviews and that all candidates needed to come in. I was told I would be notified if I was selected or not selected by the end of that day. None of it turned out to be true. I altered my travel plans and had to pay steep airfare penalties. The company never notified me that I was not selected. I emailed the internal recruiter and she informed me that the HM never made a decision in December as promised and that the requisition had been open for over 4 months prior to my interview in December. It's still open now.

It was a targeted selection process with behavioral questions. First, I had a phone interview with the recruiter. Then, travel was arranged for an onsite visit. There, I interviewed individually with five people and had two more phone interviews. After that round, I came back for a second full day of interviews. I got the offer two weeks later.