US Agricultural Research Service Interview Questions
& Process

I waited a long time to hear back, mostly because of a government shutdown. Once things started moving, it felt pretty rushed because another shutdown seemed possible. I had an interview set up with the hiring manager, but then they realized HR needed to be involved. So, my interview got rescheduled to include a quick phone chat before the in-person. Everything had to happen within a week, and I had very few time slots to choose from. I managed to do the phone interview during my lunch break at my current job. Then, the in-person interview became a second phone interview because of bad weather. There wasn't enough time before the potential government shutdown to reschedule again. I think both interviews went well. It was mostly a conversation about my experience and how I work. I got to talk to both lead scientists and another lab technician I'd be working with. They answered all my questions about the job.

The interview was a bit strange. They asked some questions about the job and some random ones about my background. Two people interviewed me over speakerphone. They sort of implied I wouldn't be hired but wanted to know why I was interested in the role. They were nice, but it felt like a 30-minute waste of time.

Had an initial phone interview with standard behavioral questions. They quickly set up an on-site interview and I got an offer. The on-site was shorter than expected for a large company. Usually, a big company interview takes 2 days, but this one was just 1 day and finished by 3 PM. Overall, it was a good experience.

I got the interview for a high school internship program through my friend who was in the program the previous year. The man interviewing me was the head of the lab and he could speak english fairly well. I told him why I wanted to work for him and that I was willing to work for free so i was motivated to learn.