BPS Bioscience interview questions

First there was a phone screening, and then an in-person set of interviews with HR, manager, team member, and director. Most of the interviews were under 30 minutes. It takes up a good portion of the day. There was plenty of parking. The pay was very low for the expectations given in the interview. Speaking with the members of the actual team, it felt like the actual responsibilities may not have been very research oriented. Based on the job description given, it sounds like the menial tasks described is actually 99% of the work. A friend who used to work there told me that during the hiring process, they are always trying to guess your age and marital status. I felt like I performed well but was told to wait for a response later, which I never received.

I went through 2 rounds of interviews. First, a phone interview with the hiring manager. We discussed my resume and fit for the role. No major surprises but some technical questions focusing on my experience with biochemical assay development. Second, an in-person technical presentation followed by 6 1-on-1 interviews that were 30 minutes each. I got my first red flag when I arrived to give my technical preentaion and the confrence room was empty. When I asked if anyone would be joining I was told that they prefer to have me present via Teams to an empty room and employees would join virtually (despite them being in the same building and even in adjacent offices). Their reasoning was that this would make presenters less nervous but nonetheless was very unusual. The 6 interviews after my talk included research associates from my potential team, my hiring manager again, another Senior Scientist, two executives, and an HR Rep. The energy through all the interviews was fairly cold and I did not leave excited at the possibility of joining the team. The position was also advertised at a below-market rate of 80-90k for an entry-level Phd position. When I addressed this with HR they said this was becuase BPS has never done layoffs as a result of frugality. I pushed the issue and was told there wasn't much wiggle room (maybe 100k). Ultimately, I was ghosted by BPS for 2 weeks and had to reach out to HR to get additional info.