The whole hiring process was a fantastic experience. From the HR recruiter to the travel coordinators to the hiring manager and future colleagues, everyone was amazing, kind, and communicative throughout. The talent acquisition team is also fantastic and very thoughtful. I currently live in a different state from Tennessee, so I had to travel for the final round of interviews. My flight ended up getting canceled, but the travel coordinators were on top of it and worked very hard to rebook me and make sure I could still participate in person in my interviews the following day. The interviews themselves were casual and very informative on what the program is and job expectations. My timeline: Application submitted on May 21, contacted by HR recruiter on June 6, HR screening phone call on June 10, HireVue recorded interview June 13, hiring manager interview June 18, and finalist interviews with the whole team on July 9. My HR recruiter called me two days later and offered me the job! I signed my official offer letter on July 17.

I had two screening interviews before being invited to an on-site interview — for a fully remote position. For final week of interviews I met with people external to the institution virtually and then with operations, so two extra days outside of the on-site that were virtual. I flew across the country for the one day of interviews and met with 8 different people. In total I interviewed 1:1 with 12 people. I was particularly frustrated that I had to take a remote meeting while on site given the travel required, which was logistically and financially burdensome, especially with extended childcare costs I needed to pay out of pocket to attend. St. Jude paid for the flight and hotel, no per diem was offered. Several of my interviewers seemed unprepared, lacking questions or familiarity with my resume. Even the PI jokingly remarked that the process felt “mildly abusive,” which unfortunately captured the exhausting nature of the experience. I raised concerns with HR afterward and was told they would follow up after discussing with leadership, but I never received a call back. For such a grueling process, especially for an entry-level role for which I had over 15 years of relevant experience , the rejection was delivered via a generic thank-you email that I had to request after over a week of not hearing back. Overall, I was shocked at how poorly HR handled the process and would caution candidates about the lack of respect shown for applicants’ time and effort.