I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Genentech
Interview
Hour long phone interview primarily focused on past research experience. Submitted 10 slides to hiring manager the day before based on chemistry research. Talked for about 40 mins about my slides while the interviewers asked questioned intermittently. Last 10 minutes or so were more personal questions about relocating to San Francisco and what my future career plans are.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Do you plan on pursuing graduate school at a later date?
I applied online. I interviewed at Genentech (South San Francisco, CA) in Apr 2026
Interview
I had an interview with a principal scientist from the R&D department
the interview went well , had many follow up questions solely based on my research experience. they asked a mix of behavioral and technical questions.
unfortunately, they were not ready to sponsor F-1 students despite everything being positive.
Had a screening call with the hiring manager then half day interview with 5 interviewers, gave a seminar presentation, received tour of relevant buildings and lab space, gave 3 references, they were not contacted.
I applied through a staffing agency. I interviewed at Genentech
Interview
Interview process was very straightforward. Spoke with my manager and lab mates. No one asked any particularly difficult questions and were very easy to talk to. It felt like I was asking them more questions about the job and culture at Genentech than they were asking me questions.
Research Associate applicants have rated the interview process at Genentech with 3.1 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 70% positive. To compare, the company-average is 68.8% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Research Associate roles take an average of 27 days to get hired, when considering 40 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Genentech overall takes an average of 33 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Genentech as a Research Associate according to 40 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 23%
One on one interview: 20%
Group panel interview: 18%
Background check: 11%
Skills test: 10%
Presentation: 6%
Personality test: 5%
Drug test: 3%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Other: 1%
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