There were 300 applicants for the position and 40 were invited to the interview. We were divided into groups of 10 people. The interview consisted of an intro presentation done by two AZ representatives; they gave some insight about the company intself as well as the positions (10 placements avilable) and what type of research different branches (locations) focus on. Then there was a group exercise (in groups of 5) for about 40 mins - the task was to make a list of 10 most influential people within the past 200 years. After a short coffee break I had my interview for 1.5hr. The first part was CV based with one longer competency based question followed by basic organic chemistry technical interview (such as aromatic electrophilic substitution, carbonyl chemistry and transformations, easy retrosynthesis).

Completed a series of questions assessing your behaviours and questions assessing ability. Then invited to assessment centre where completed an introduction exercise in group, a values and behaviours assessment on their core values and a technical interview on drug development process.