I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at US Patent and Trademark Office (Alexandria, VA) in Apr 2020
Interview
I applied for the patent examiner position in Alexandria, Virginia on January 26, 2020.
The job posting had an opening date till June 2020, but it turned out, the patent office has something called cut off dates before the job posting expires, so they interview people every couple of months.
Referred to selecting officials 3/30/2020
Invite for interview 4/9/2020
Interview date 4/15/2020
Tentative offer 05/27/2020
The interview was online using WebEx, it was with a supervisory patent examiner. The examiner was very nice and I felt like she was genuinely interested in what I had to say. The interview questions were just like you see all over on Glassdoor. Be prepared and show real interest in the job and I believe you will get it. I have a master's degree in engineering and I had passed the patent bar exam before I applied. Some people online say passing the patent bar is a disadvantage for a patent examiner position because the office might look at you as someone who is coming for a couple of years and then moving on. I do not believe this is true based on how the supervisory patent examiner handled this information when we talked about it during the interview.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
How do you explain technical information to clients?
I interviewed at US Patent and Trademark Office (Washington, DC)
Interview
Online Hirevue interview. Interview was simple and brief. Questions were related to the general breadth of patents as a whole along with various personality questions. You are given multiple attempts to record your answers.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
"Give us a time where _____ happened and how you responded"
I applied through a staffing agency. I interviewed at US Patent and Trademark Office (Oxnard, CA) in Jun 2026
Interview
I've only done the digital one, where I recorded myself, and it was fairly easy. You got chances to redo your recording, which was nice, and you had a minute before you read the question to prepare your answer. I found it to be intuitive.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was one time you had multiple things to do? How did you prioritize those things, and how did you complete them? (that's the gist of the question)
I interviewed at US Patent and Trademark Office (Alexandria, VA)
Interview
I started getting emails for the first round of interviews on 4/16 and did that first interview on 5/13. It was just simple behavioral questions. I received an email to schedule a live online interview on 5/19, and I am scheduled to take it on 5/21.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell us about a time where you had to prioritize multiple tasks and how you responded to it. Tell us about the outcome.