I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at SAIC in Aug 2012
Interview
I interviewed for a senior Technical Writer position. I initially had a 1:1 interview with my future manager, then a week later was brought back for Round 2. Interview lasted about 90 minutes, and was a group interview with 6 people - the team I'd be working with. The interview room set-up was disconcerting as my interviewers were in a semi circle around me and pinged questions back and forth. I was constantly shifting focus like at a tennis match. Interview itself was fairly standard questions about my experience and background. About 10 minutes into the interview I realized that the job was a much lower level than I had been told. I heard back in a week that they were going with another candidate as I was extremely over-qualified for the position and they were afraid I'd be bored. Since they'd read my resume before the interview and knew this going in, I was annoyed at the time wasted. I was told that I was also being considered for a truly senior writer position that was opening up in a month -- but I never heard anything else about it. In hindsight not getting a job was a good thing as in less than 6 months from my interview SAIC split the company and laid off the manager I would have reported to -- she'd been there 15 years.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Not difficult but surprising -- How do you handle competing deadlines, milestones and projects? This is the normal work-life of a Technical Writer. What was even more surprising was their astonishment when I gave examples of successfully doing so. They made it clear that wasn't what they were used to.
The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at SAIC (Charleston, SC) in Jun 2011
Interview
Initially had to fill out multiple documents and forms, more than half due to background check and pre-authorization of minimal clearance level.
Phone Interview was not technical ,more so of general understanding.
F2F Interview was three to one and not with the program manager I was to interview with, but supposedly with would-be peers, co-workers. No one had a copy of my resume, nor knew my background. Within thirty minutes of questions and requests of explanations of my background, their conversation turned to movies, current ones, what I had seen (which I am not an avid movie person thus not current), then to batman movies. The lead questioner (the one who took over the questioning of all three) actually posed the question: Which batman movie do you like best? Which batman do you consider yourself to be and why?
(Seriously? I kind of laughed) Serious... since I did not play along the interview was over. I met with the program manager a few minutes later who didn't even have a chair in their office for me to sit in, they gave me their chair and only told me what the interview process was.
In a second attempt with this firm, the initial phone interview was scheduled with another program manager and when the phone interview came, two people whom worked for them, called me, asking me database and infrastructure questions as they were technical SMEs, then asked me if I used MS Word, PowerPoint, Visio and Project.
I will never consider, recommend not apply for an SAIC job again, hopefully it’s just the weirdness of Charleston.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was my favorite Batman movie?
Which Batman did I consider myself to be closest to and why?
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at SAIC (McLean, VA) in Dec 2010
Interview
Got an email to answer questions, sent them back, contacted again by recruiter to arrange interview, came in for face to face interview, had to come back to meet manager, came in for 2nd interview. Made initial offer and then did background/drug test.