I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Merck (Rahway, NJ) in Aug 2023
Interview
Approached by an employee to apply to the position, talked with the HR and then a senior scientist - largely technical. Then I was invited to an on site interview, I gave a presentation and had several one-on-ones with director-level scientists. Also had a lab tour and lunch. It seemed they had a relatively large candidate pool so expect some rigor in selection. There were a lot of behavioral questions about lab experiences which I found harder to answer than some technical questions.
They were very nice. I liked the process and meeting the people in the team. They flew me to Rahway to give a 45 minute seminar followed by some panel-like interviews. However, I did not get the position and they never provided any feedback.
Recruiting process started with a resume screening by the recruiter, followed by an HR interview to discuss background and motivation. The next stage was a hiring manager interview focusing on research experience and project fit. The final stage was a full-day onsite interview that included a one-hour research seminar, technical discussions with team members, and several behavioral interviews with cross-functional stakeholders.