First Round Interview
What to expect?
Nowadays companies have multiple round interviews to make sure to have the right candidate. In my experience the first interview is usually a Phone Call or a Video Call with a HR person to check your background of experience.
Typical Questions
These are the most repeated questions I was asked
Feel Free to send me an email to give comments or add other questions
Can you tell me a review about your experience?
With M.S./ Some experience
Briefly mention how your College experience lead you to this Area, point out the projects or Internships that made you choose this path.
Talk about your Work experience and how it prepares you to this Job.
If you did a master, talk about your research and how it can be apply to this possition.
Expert on the Area
Need Feedback since I'm not an expert.
First you should ask how much feedback they are waiting for.
If its only about the specific area you are applying or if you should add any other relevant information
How to start this question would depend on your level of experience.
First Mentioned your College experience with relevant projects that add to the position you are applying.
Continue with any Intership you did or Job that give you specific qualifications.
Finally mention any personal project you did or are currently doing.
*NOTE: Add how this experience lead you to apply for this position (Why you like this Area)
Just Graduate
Why do you want to work at our company?
Beyond Meat
..
Kalsec Inc.
Global Company that gives solutions to food industry using natural ingredients with the vision to be a sustainable business
Areas: Food Protection, Color, Culinary Creations (Taste & Sensory).
Example:
I would like to work on Kalsec because it helps to food companies to develop the right flavors for the products by doing sensory analysis which is the area im passionate about.
Plus, it's a global company with the goal to be a sustainable business.
Pepsico
..
For this questions it's important to be prepared and previously research about the company goals and current products.
* Do they care about something? (Plant-Based, sustainability, etc)
* Why these align with your beliefs / Objective?
Some Company Examples for Product Development, Sensory and Flavor:
Do you have a question for me?
This is an always question! (In my case)
So be ready with at least 2 questions to do about the role/company.
So you can show you are interest in this positions
Examples:
In how many projects would I usually work simultaneously?
How long does a project usually takes?
How much will I be able to implement my ideas?
For flavor and sensory roles I had been ask this question. Since this is the area you are applying it should be a really easy question to answer however have somthing prepared would help you be more fluent in your explanation.
What is something you enjoy more about sensory?
(Or Related Area you are applying to)
I would say The two things I had enjoy most when I had done sensory is: One, made sensory descriptors to train panelist, this is really fun since you need to test different mixtures and concentrations, and two the sensory analysis, since I found fascinating how we perceive products.
Example:
What is something you enjoy less about sensory?
(Or Related Area you are applying to)
This could be a tricky questions since you don't want to seem like a bad candidate. So think about your personal experiences but try to not sound negative.
Like i mentioned I had being the lead for sensory panel and something I don't enjoy too much is when the preparation needs to start really early in the morning like 6 am, and since Im the panelist I need to be there until the end about 5pm so this can be really exhausting, fortunately this doesn't happen often.
Example:
Do you have experience in _______?
(Specific tool, process or test type they used)
This tip is for when you are not familiar with a topic/tool/test.
It's important to read the job descriptions previous an interview. So if you are not familiar with something you can look it up and show that even if you are not familiar you are interested.
Are you familiar with the spectrum Test?
I know its a test where you train the panelist so they are relate the intensity of a line scale with different concentrations of a flavor or aroma however I hadn't done it on my research since it usually takes more time and I have a short time to finish my sensories.
Example:
I saw in your CV_____
Can you tell me more about it?
(Some work or internship you did)
Example:
You need to prepare for your work and internships the projects you did and what you learned with it.
.
With how many panelists have you work with?
(This is specific for Sensory Jobs)
Example:
If you hadn't being the lead of a sensory you coul mention that you have help on sensories.
Example:
I had help on panels that include from 20 to over 60 panelist, doing the preparation for multiple test types, like triangle tests, JAR, etc.
But if you had been the lead be sure to add something more, like the different panelists you had work with
I had being the lead on multiple panels, so I have work with about 60 people for triangle tests, about 20 for CATA and about 25 for training and Line Scale.
And during this panels I have had panelist that are puntual, or that come super late so I keep a track of this for future sensories. Also I had deal with panelist that are not so familiar with the program we used so I explain them how to do it.
What types of training had you done?
(This is specific for Sensory Jobs)
Example:
This is based on your experience, if you dont have work/research experience on this, talk about the types you know and how they work
Example:
I had perform two types of training one......
But if you had done training you could easily talk about them and add what are the advantages you had seen.
I hadn't being able to do training during my experience but im familiar with the types of training that existed. So.....
Tell me about a leadership experience you had have?
Example:
Example:
During College along with other undergrad students, we participated in a contest where we made a low calorie product and I........
.....
If you don't have work/research leadership you could talk about projects where you were the lead
If you have multiple experience you can briefly talk about the ones that are more related to the position you are applying or if you don't have a similar one you could talk about the most recent one.
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