Sandia Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Jan 13, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 19 ratings 
“Average” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 19 ratings
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| 1–10 of 19 Sandia Interviews | Sort by |
Master's Fellowship Program at Sandia
Posted Jan 13, 2012 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 in Albuquerque, NM (took a day)
Met with 5 interviewers that day all asking about my background, what I did over the summer (I was just fresh off an internship with them), and asked if I had any questions. Not really any technical questions, all were personal queries. Interview also consisted of a free lunch. The hiring manager said to expect a decision to be made by the next month. Here I am 4 months later left hanging, wondering if they even care to finish the interview process. I even emailed the hiring manager twice. The best I ever got was, "corporate still hasn't released the amount of candidates they could hire, we'll get back to you later". Not cool.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Summer Business Intern at Sandia
Posted Jan 10, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Feb 2011 in Albuquerque, NM (took a day)
I applied online for a summer business intern position. After I submitted the application, it took about three weeks to set up an interview. After the interview, the company took about a month to get back to me with an 'approved' response. The interview questions were pretty basic and had a few behavioral questions as well.
Interview Questions
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Postdoctoral Appointee at Sandia
Posted Dec 9, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2010 in Livermore, CA (took a day)
Interviews: After applying to an advertised post and having a few phone conversations with my future group leader, I was invited for a site visit. Most candidates interview in a full day of 30-min one-on-one interviews with the hiring manager, staff in the hiring department, and staff and managers in other departments you'll be working with. I think the idea is for as many people as possible to provide their impressions of the candidate, the interest level of the candidate, and his/her fit with the group. You're interviewing with the technical staff you'll be working with, so the interviews were more conversational and focused on the technical work to be done on the job than your typical formal screening interview. The day includes lunch and dinner with staff, so be prepared for a long day! I've heard there is the option to break it up between 2 days, though.
I found all the staff I met with to be open and honest about what they do and don't like about working at the lab, although you can pretty much guess what those things will be (government lab, so funding and research programs are at the mercy of congress, but you have a good work-life balance, etc).
Job talk: Candidates also make a 45-min presentation to staff, including those who will be interviewing you. This is a good opportunity to persuade them that you can communicate a technical topic to an audience of technical people who may not be experts on your subject. It doesn't matter if it's different from the field you are interviewing for. I think the point is to show that you can assess a technical problem, propose a solution based on sound principles, and tell them what you found - and more importantly, what it means!
Be aware that this is a national security lab and most positions involve various security screening. Ask your HR contact and the hiring manager to check into the security requirements for the specific position you're interviewing for. Do you need a security clearance (not everyone does)? Do you need to be a US citizen (not everyone does)? What if you have a dual nationality? It's their job to interpret the rules, after all!
After: My future group leader and manager were up-front with their interest and keen to know my interest right away. They kept in contact with me all throughout the post-interview process of getting the offer through HR, checking references and education, etc.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
No negotiation possible for the postdoc position - the salary and benefits are same for all. Maybe staff candidates can negotiate within the pay bands.
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Presentation, a Drug Test and a Background Check.
More Sandia Postdoctoral Appointee Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Member of Technical Staff at Sandia
Posted Dec 5, 2011
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1.0
Very Easy Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Jun 2011 in Albuquerque, NM (took 4+ weeks)
WAY easy interview - they don't ask any technical questions whatsoever. It seemed like they were pitching me to pick their group to work.
HR was kind of disorganized. I talked to a recruiter who then pointed me to a posting, then i heard from several managers, but recruiting/staffing had no idea. No one to help or direct me because there's no way to call. Total disaster but it got coordinated.
People were way to concerned about GPA at this place, bad warning sign to work there.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
I was impressed with the site, technologies. But talking to employees there, there's only room to climb through title. Benefits are a MAJOR decline at the national labs, raises are horrible, not much for bonuses. Technical people have been leaving and recruited from other places since the Labs can't keep good quality.
Apparently they are hiring so many people, a bunch of folks stated that the bar has lowered tremendously.
Essentially they look at college + GPA + clearance or eligibility and you're in.
Not sure - we are always told to never work for a company that doesn't do technical interviews. It's just a mess because you will be working with low caliber technical people.
Other Details
I applied In-Person and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
More Sandia Member of Technical Staff Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Member of Technical Staff at Sandia
Posted Aug 31, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2010 in Livermore, CA (took a day)
The interview consisted of a full day of 1:1 interviews plus a group presentation and a lunch with two other staff members.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Presentation and a Background Check.
More Sandia Member of Technical Staff Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Systems Engineering at Sandia
Posted Jul 6, 2011
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2011 in Albuquerque, NM (took a day)
I met a recruiter at a conference and after looking at my resume, she seemed very interested. She made all the arrangements to have me fly out to interview over my Spring Break. A couple of employees took me out to breakfast, then I had 2 interviews, lunch with a couple different employees, 2 more interviews, back to the hotel. It was fairly painless. Everyone I interviewed with was very friendly and more than willing to answer all of my questions honestly. After I left my recruiter (who also arranged all the interviews and gave me a ride from my hotel to the facility and back) gave me the impression it was just of making sure I was a good fit for the company and the company was a good fit for me. I left pretty confident that I would be offered a position.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, a Drug Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Postdoctoral Fellow at Sandia
Posted Jun 26, 2011
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2009 in Livermore, CA (took 2 days)
Applied online, got an email back asking for a phone interview. Got a call the same day, talked for about 30-45 mins about my thesis work as a whole and the specific relevant experience and how it matches with the position description. On-site interview a few weeks later.
HR is fantastic! Very organized, got all of my paperwork to me (overnight FedEX) with return envelope provided. Very quick turnaround on questions and also genuinely nice people.
Standard job talk format, 1 hour presentation followed by panel interview and 1:1's, lab tour. Fairly well attended for a job talk. Not many questions asked during my talk, but several afterward. Very polite interview, low stress. About 25 mins of questions and formal interviewing followed by a quick lab tour. Took me out to lunch and then back for a few more meetings. HR followed up with me about my impressions and kept me updated on the status of my application.
Manager made a verbal offer several weeks later (I've been told this is very typical; I got nervous and then kind of forgot about it). HR emailed an offer package and followed it up with a hardcopy via FedEX. Drug testing was done at a local sample collection facility. Background check was pretty standard-- pulled my credit report, character references from folks who have known me >=10 years. My friends/family told me that the investigators were very polite and professional.
The culture is a nice mix of academic freedom with corporate mission (and budgets!). Expect the standard couple of big fish to throw their weight around in your interview. I'm convinced if they aren't talking they aren't breathing. Most of the other folks on the interview won't pay too much attention to them, seems like a quick test to see if you can handle being heckled.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
Salary is fixed on a division basis, no negotiation possible if this is your only Sandia offer. They will, however, match offers from other divisions.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation, a Drug Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Engineering at Sandia
Posted Jun 5, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Feb 2011 in Livermore, CA (took a day)
The interview process at Sandia was very pleasant. I had the opportunity to go on site and meet with some of the different groups that I would potentially work with. As part of the interview process I gave a brief presentation on my previous work (some of my research projects). Everyone was very nice, however the pace seemed a little too slow for my current stage in my career.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Presentation, a Personality Test and a Background Check.
More Sandia Engineering Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Member of Technical Staff at Sandia
Posted May 8, 2011
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2011 (took a day)
S.E.E event interview, where ~60 other candidates were invited. Several interviews were arranged for each person, from different groups. The people are friendly and generally appear to be very proud in the work that they do for the government. Interviews were fairly casual and relaxed. The lab site is very large and expansive, with many well-stocked research labs, located on an air force base. Traversing the site requires a car.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Presentation.
More Sandia Member of Technical Staff Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Intern at Sandia
Posted Feb 14, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2010 (took 1 week)
Started with an in depth email questionnaire. Followed up with a phone call to schedule an in person interview. Finished with the in person interview
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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