I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2+ months. I interviewed at Biogen (Cambridge, MA) in Jan 2020
Interview
The initial interview with the recruiter and hiring manager went well. They were really interested in bringing me on and then radio silence. Less than 24 hours before they wanted me to come in for an interview, I received an email from the hiring coordinator that they wanted me onsite for interviews in less than 20 hours. Who does that? Where is the professionalism? I told them that it wasn’t possible and they would need to reschedule for the following week. When I went to interview, the sr director of the group was late and there was no explanation as to why. The next person was remote and no one was informed so that delayed the start. The person after that had the wrong room. So far, not a great start. When it finally came to meeting the hiring manager, she appeared nice and when asked what her ideal candidate was, she said that it would be someone like her contractor who went through her calendar and made PowerPoint decks for her. They had made her an offer but the contractor would rather remain a contractor, which I think speaks volume to the group.
I don't want to go into a lot of details since I don't want to burn my bridge with Biogen for future opportunities. What I will say is that I was contacted by an internal Biogen recruiter for a position which was clearly a stretch – technically I was qualified for the role but I would've needed a lot of training and onboarding support. HR was at least pleasant to deal and speak with but the hiring manager asked very technical questions which they either knew or should have known that I wouldn't be able to answer. My suspicion is that I was that one "poor sucker" external candidate who Biogen is legally and ethically required to speak with before internally promoting someone. Ultimately I now realize that, beyond "networking" with HR, this was a complete waste of time. So be very, very careful if a Biogen recruiter reaches out to you, especially in this 2025-2026 job market, because there's a very good chance that they're fishing for their next sucker
I applied online. I interviewed at Biogen (Boston, MA)
Interview
HR - HR Manager - Team - HR.
First was an interview or prelim screening by an HR rep. Then was a meeting with hiring manager. Then the process was a full days interview
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Biogen
Interview
Long (3+ months). Went through 4 different recruiters with initial screens painting a very different picture of what the final job offer looked like. Extremely disappointed at being lied to and then receiving a job offer 30-40% below compensation expectations that Biogen recruiters established from the start.
Booking an hour long meeting for 5 minute phone call is also unprofessional at best - an email would suffice just the same. The back and forth with the final recruiter once an offer was received was very, very slow. On average 5-7 business days was typical response time.
Not a reflection at all on the employees I met, they were top notch and I would have loved to work with them.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions based on a spectrum of different behavioral psychology aspects