The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Environmental Protection Agency (Dallas, TX) in Sep 2009
Interview
I interviewed for a Physical Scientist at pay grade 09. The job dealt with storm water, storm water pollution prevention plans, and NPDES. It was a phone interview that lasted about an hour, then I had questions that took about another 30 minutes. There were two interviewers, but only one talked to me. They started by telling me about the position and the Dallas, TX office. Next they told me how excited they were that they were able to hire from outside and not have to promote from within the agency. Apparently it was very rare to hire from outside and they could not believe they god approval to hire from outside. They asked 5 questions. Very standard government job type questions. 1. Tell me about 3 professional accomplishments. 2. Tell me about the Clean Water Act as it pertains to storm water. 3. How would you handle a disagreement? 4. Why do you want to work at the EPA? 5. What are your short and long-term goals?
A pretty simple interview process for early careers straight out of college: it takes a long time to hear back as is USAjobs way (expect upwards of 3-5 months), but once you get an interview it's typically a panel style consisting of 3 higher-up or supervisor level employees. From there it'll take another few months to hear back.
I interviewed at Environmental Protection Agency (Washington, DC)
Interview
Had an initial screening interview with the branch head in which she described the nature of the role and then a 30 min panel interview. The panel had some technical questions and behavioral questions.
I applied online. I interviewed at Environmental Protection Agency (Chicago, IL) in Jun 2023
Interview
An hour-long interview with a panel of three people. Was asked both technical and standard interview questions. I would recommend thoroughly reviewing the duties that it consists of in prepping for the interview. Lots of time at the end to ask questions, so would definitely prepare some questions for interviewers. The interviewers were very nice and not intimidating at all!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What experience or formal education do you have with the EPA Clean Water Act?
Physical Scientist applicants have rated the interview process at Environmental Protection Agency with 3.2 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 67% positive. To compare, the company-average is 71.6% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Physical Scientist roles take an average of 68 days to get hired, when considering 7 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Environmental Protection Agency overall takes an average of 60 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Environmental Protection Agency as a Physical Scientist according to 7 Glassdoor interviews include:
Group panel interview: 30%
Background check: 20%
Phone interview: 20%
Drug test: 10%
One on one interview: 10%
Presentation: 10%
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