NOKIA Bell Labs Research Scientist Interview Questions

The interview structure for a research scientist was structured as follows:

• HR interview
• 1-hour research talk
• Interviews with the HEADs of other departments (30 mins each)
• Interview with my hiring manager's manager (30 mins)
• CTO / the president of Bell Labs (Marcus Weldon, 30 mins)
• 2 interviews with potential team mates (30 mins each)

HR interview was normal one - similar to other HR interviews - asking about current status, possible starting date, and visa status, etc.

1-hour research talk / presentation is also common for traditional research labs such as IBM or Yahoo where you gave a presenation regarding your PhD or any topics of your interests, followed by questions from all the audience. Normally the audience can be anyone of the bigger research group where the hiring team has sent out the group invitations for attending the talk.

All the other interviews with management levels are more related to recent research and your research area, and some questions related to your research questions, thesis, future directions etc. Nothing particularly difficult as it is about your research.

The other interviews with team mates are more about discussion of current projects and ask your approaches for those problems, in addition to some general  ML questions such as what is SGD, etc.

Overall the process is quite organized, all the interviewers are friendly and provided comfortable interview environment, and I got the feedback after 1-2 weeks.