I applied through an employee referral. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Genentech in May 2016
Interview
Phone interview directly with a senior/lead safety scientist. I am switching careers, so my interview was largely abut my training and experiences and how they might translate. I had a good contact but still wasn't able to get the job (more experienced candidates). It took 1 week to get phone interview, but 3 weeks to get the rejection.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2+ months. I interviewed at Genentech (South San Francisco, CA) in Jan 2012
Interview
I was contacted by email from their HR department, exchanged several emails, spoke with the HR person on the phone, then spoke with hiring manager on the phone for 45mins. They said they would contact me to set up an on site interview, then I heard nothing for three weeks (granted this was over Christmas). First day onsite was entirely touring and looking at real estate. Second day was 8 one hour interviews with various departments. Each had been given a specific question to ask me from a standardized interview tool that they were using (did not see the name). Had lunch at the facility cafeteria with hiring manager and one other. Range of personalities as expected, some serious bordering on stern, others more casual. HR representative arrived 12min late and offered no excuse or apology. One person arrived munching cold pizza from break room and openly disparaged recent merger with Roche. All asked reasonable questions and treated me with respect. Told me they would be in touch and three weeks later told me by phone they had given position to someone with more experience, even though I was very open from the beginning about my experience level.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
"Describe a situation in which you had to use teamwork to accomplish a goal"