PPD Associate Research Scientist interview questions

First, I had a phone call with the HR to describe the company, the roles, and ask about salary range. Then, a second, informal, phone call with a senior manager to discuss my experience. Finally, the formal interview was held remotely via Microsoft Teams with three managers, back to back, around 45 minutes each. All their questions were behavioral interview questions, asking about situations from the past and how I dealt with. The best strategy to answer these questions is the STAR method. The interviewers were very friendly. A couple of days later, the HR informed me that I was accepted, and a few days later I received the official offer letter. Overall, it was a very good experience, but it needs some practice.

I had a friend refer me for this position. I got a phone interview with the corporate recruiter (employed by PPD) very quickly, and from the language used, I was a favorite for the position. I was set up for the onsite interview while speaking with the recruiter. I was e-mailed separate links to apply to specifically crafted job postings. I arrived onsite, and gave a brief presentation, and met with a number of people. I was told by several people that I gave a great presentation. I knew in advance that they rely heavily on STAR formatted interview questions, and was prepared for those. I thought all was going well, until the last interviewer, who asked me several heavily regulatory focused questions, that I was not prepared for, given my background is predominately as an academic scientist, and the posting for the job had 0 yrs of industry experience required for my educational degree. I know I did well enough on the other questions, and I figured that since everything else went well enough, and that I had an employee referral, the few missed questions wouldn't be the kiss of death. I was told by my friend that often the turn around time can stretch to a month or more after the interview, depending on the allocation of staffing required for projects, etc. And the weeks went by, and by. My friend checked in with me, and I checked in with the recruiter. After about three weeks, the last job posting that they had sent me to apply was changed to a lower degree requirement, excluding mine. After over 3 months, I still have never received a single line of communication from the recruiter or the company. As my friend said to me, 'PPD knows that as far as anything related to the pharma industry, they know they are the only game in Richmond, and they act accordingly'. Pro-tip to Richmond PPD... Don't ghost applicants. I was interviewed by 4 out of the top 10 pharma companies in the US... and I just turned down an offer from one of them, because I got a more competitive job offer elsewhere. Out of all my industry onsite interviews, not a single other company ghosted me. Not even the top 10 pharma companies. If you just want warm bodies to fill your bench space, keep up your hiring practices. If you want truly innovative and top notch scientists, you should learn a thing from your clients. I cannot recommend interviewing with this company.