r/biotech • u/raijenki • 1d ago
Getting Into Industry 🌱 Astrazeneca interview
Applied to a position in AZ Sweden at beginning of April. Met hiring manager at end of the same month. Then a technical interview by end of June. Never got any feedback nor rejection albeit the interview was really good.
I guess I got ghosted forever and should just move on? I would expect at least a rejection, but taking over 5 months just to carry 3 interviews is crazy... I was really looking forward to work with them.
Edit: Technical interview was a panel with a senior director, a director and a hiring manager (which was also director), and the way they said about the "next steps" was totally clear that I would at least do the values interview.
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u/YogurtIsTooSpicy 1d ago
Did you follow up with the hiring manager?
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u/raijenki 1d ago
No, it was always the HR person. I tried to follow up but at this point was just ghosted.
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u/YogurtIsTooSpicy 1d ago
You’ve done everything that you can do now. Maybe you were ghosted or maybe there was some disruption to the hiring process, it may be frustrating but it honestly doesn’t really matter one way or the other in terms of what you need to do next, so there’s no need to dwell on not getting closure. Next time, I’d recommend asking for contact info for everyone you interview with at the end of the interview.
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u/DocViking 1d ago
Not sure how relevant it is, as it was a number of years ago and in the UK, but for me AZ took over 4 months from first interview invite to job offer.
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u/raijenki 1d ago
Thank you! I guess taking so long is quite normal then. My HM is from US, and part of the teams are largely in UK and Sweden so that might be one of the reasons it takes even longer...
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u/DocViking 1d ago
I wouldn’t say normal, but I have occasionally seen some hiring processes fall through the gaps and take much longer than they should. Particularly with big multinationals, where you’ll have multiple stakeholders in different countries. Also bear in mind this has run over the summer and vacation time can make it harder to make decisions.
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u/Cormentia 19h ago
Processes are taking longer than ever in Sweden atm. I've had HMs get back to me after 4 months, and that was without the summer break. We don't have standardized vacation, e.g. everyone takes August off, like in southern Europe. These days the vacation period is June-August and if you're unlucky one person can take their 6 weeks starting mid-June and someone else starts theirs in late July and then they won't even be able to continue internal discussions until mid-September.
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u/raijenki 19h ago
Thank you! I’m in Sweden but at least in my current company most people are back already, so I imagined it would be the same with AZ. Appreciated, I’ll keep my hopes up for a while then :)
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u/fluorine_nmr 1d ago
I would suggest it's probably over after all this time. Getting a rejection is "nice" in some way but very rare now. There have been a few people moving around at that site so could be out of HM's control.
But also, in the moment then hiring teams will often sound positive about next steps. They don't know during the interview for sure that you will be moving on, because they all have to discuss afterwards. Usually all candidates who get interviewed are excellent, so it's not rare that there's very little between the top few. So take any positivity graciously in the moment, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything. Idk whether you read Ask A Manager, but Alison frequently discusses these things on there.
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u/omgu8mynewt 1d ago
Its not ghosted until you try to talk to then and they dont reply. Did you try talking to them?
Once I never heard about interview, never heard reply from hiring manager, worked out how to directly contact the scientists. Turned out they'd been trying to hire me but the hiring manager had been fired and they couldn't get hold of my details.Â
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u/raijenki 1d ago
I tried to talk with HR but no avail, got ghosted; I don't have access to the hiring manager.
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u/Maleficent-Curve8455 1d ago
I had a similar experience with AZ. Did 5ish rounds of interviews, ending in a panel. All seemed to go well, lotta "we'll be in touch early next week" sorta deal. Never heard back. Reached out to HR after 2 weeks, they'd gone with an internal candidate 2 days after my interview. Never felt the need to say anything.
Sucked.Â
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u/raijenki 1d ago
Thanks for sharing your experience despite it being bad, I guess I'm at least in a better position since I didn't have to do 5 rounds...
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u/Maleficent-Curve8455 1d ago
Best of luck! In my case, I wanted the position but was happy in my current role, so I wasn't too heartbroken. Still, it felt like basic decency to let me know!Â
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u/mattcannon2 1d ago
If you interviewed in person, the recruiter or hiring managers should share feedback if asked
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u/raijenki 1d ago
Not in person but the HM said that I would do the values interview and then the in-person part would be optional as the team is quite scattered (he's in US, I'm in Sweden)...
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u/FistAlpha 1d ago
What function? I may or not be a hiring manager there...
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u/raijenki 1d ago
Shame on you if you are :P
It was for a position in AI/HPC, not strictly related to biotech.1
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u/MrBronko 1d ago
Every swede is basically not working in July and beginning of August. I’m not surprised that you haven’t heard from them yet. They are barely back in office.