Chemical Abstracts Services Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – I had a brief phone screen with someone in HR and then had a 3 1/2 hour interview with about 9 different people (they rotated in and out while I stayed in one conference room). It was nice to see who I would potentially be working with on a day-to-day basis, but I was not given a schedule in advance. Most interviewers were very scientific types, which I expected, and did not have well developed interpersonal skills. Several mentioned that the company doesn't have aset interview guide and that they weren't even sure what types of questions to ask me. Overall it was pretty exhausting, especially not knowing who was coming in next and they didn't offer water or a bathroom break.

Interview Details – This was for an editorial position that would entail going through the chemical literature and structuring it into the CAS database web. The interview took most of the day.

Started off with the typical chat with an HR person to confirm basic things about employment eligibility and whatnot. Then met with a more senior manager in one of the editorial divisions (the editorial function is divided up based on chemical discipline so that analysts are familiar with the type of literature theyre reviewing, be it inorg chem, org chem, p chem or whatever), this was a pretty friendly conversation, not much in the way of tough questions. After this I met with a couple lower level editorial managers (simultaneously). They asked the typical behavioral questions like "what's your biggest weakness" and "tell us about a time when you overcame a significant challenge." If this is a job you want, I think the big thing here is to get across that you love nothing more than being thorough and highly productive... they want to know you will crank through tons of papers and enter the data accurately.

Then I went to lunch with a couple of analysts. I think they tried to match me up with people they though I would get along with, convincing me that CAS has a fun culture or something along those lines. This was the most casual part of the interview; they were explicit that nothing here was evaluated.

After lunch I met briefly with an editorial analyst who had the same role I was interviewing for. This was not stressful or difficult, but was meant to show me what the job would be like day to day. She demonstrated how she analyzes papers.

Then met with the head of editorial. She was mad cool. Told me that "at chemical abstracts, an extrovert is someone who only looks at the other person's shoes," and other bits of difficult honesty. She really wanted me to understand the exact nature of the job and the expectations that go along with it. Despite her high pay grade, this was not that difficult of a conversation.

The final portion of the interview was basically a test, so come prepared for that. It consisted of a chemical nomenclature portion and a translation exercise (which was in the language I had expressed proficiency in). I thought the nomenclature part was difficult... be sure to know the rules for assigning axial chirality. For the translation part they just take a chunk of text from the literature and tell you to have at it. The test is timed so be ready to work fast. Then they go over the answers with you and you go home.

Reason for Declining – Took a bench chemistry job instead

Interview Details – Meet with HR, met with another manager, met with hiring manager and 3 team members

Interview Details – fairly simple, standard process. Phone call with manger, interview with HR, manager, and team. Interview with Manager's manager. Interview with Manager's Manager's Manager. If they like you they aren't afraid to tell you. HR does take a very long time to get back to you with an offer, and when they finally do, they don't give you very much time to think about it.

And usually they do not hire after November because the budget year ends in Dec. If you do interview late, they will probably wait until Jan to hire you.

Negotiation Details – non-existant