I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Targacept (Winston-Salem, NC) in Jan 2008
Interview
The interview was initiated with a phone call that lasted about a half hour. The caller was a potential co-worker rather than a manager, which I thought was a good idea since day to day interactions would be with this person and his opinion of my personality and skills would be important. An on-site interview was scheduled for about two weeks later. I was flown in and put up in a hotel across the street. The travel arrangements were very well organized and my schedule was emailed to me a few days prior to the trip. The interview itself lasted from about 830 am to 4 pm, which included lunch with two other potential co-workers. There seemed to be a strong emphasis on personality matching with company culture because the company is still relatively small and young. In all, I met with about 8 people (including lunch) and was asked about prior experience, specifics techniques I was familiar with, technical questions about pharmaceutical chemistry and the industry in general, my goals for the next 5 years, my impressions of Targacept, and a series of behavioral questions (asked by HR). I was invited back for a second on-site interview about two weeks later (mostly the same as the first but meeting with more senior members of the company) and an offer was made approximately a week after that.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Could you talk about your undergraduate senior project?
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Targacept in Dec 2008
Interview
Poor interview planning and scheduling. Most persons were difficult to speak with, and not very open minded (there were exceptions to this, though). current employees did not appear happy and i sensed extensive jockeying for positioning within company. Too much sensitivity about titles. offices etc.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
There were implied questions (worded as statements) pertaining to my political affiliations