I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Merck KGaA in Jan 2008
Interview
Stayed in one room over most of the day. 4-5 people came in and interviewed separately throughout the day. No tour, which was a bit strange. Had the impression that the team was dominated by some fairly aggressive and (in my opinion) overly-emotional French men. For a foreigner, this emotionally-charged environment may be off-putting. Seemed like it would be a stressful work environment.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Merck KGaA in Mar 2011
Interview
I interviewed for 30 minutes on the telephone and 8 hours in person for a temporary position. The people were kind. It seems that hiring decisions take a long time here, the turn around is not quick. Which just like in dating a person who is interested calls right away, the one who is not interested takes his or her time. I came with a reference list from my most recent job, the last five years. They wanted more references than the three I gave. So if you go take references from several jobs. They wanted to see publications, which I sent copies of immediately after the interview. I almost feel that the scrutiny was too stringent for the position they were hiring for, so be prepared with back-up documents.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The interviewer did not like that all of my references came from my position of the last five years and wanted references from over five years ago.