I was fortunate in that it was a very quick and somewhat easy process for being such a large institution. This was my first experience with a big company so i do not have a lot to compare to. I applied online for the position and from there your CV, cover letter, and application go to the HR dept. From my understanding they review and ensure that your experience/qualifications mirror or are similar to the job expectation. From there your application and documents are forwarded to the hiring personnel for the position. Hopefully they are not over bombarded by qualified potentials or you stand out! Once the hiring manager decided on who he/she would like to interview HR takes over again to set the whole process up and instruct you on the next phase and what documents to bring to the interview. I traveled actually about 3 hrs for my interview and stayed the weekend with friends (the interview was on a Friday afternoon) It was a fairly quick interview and was not intimidating was I was there and talking with the hiring manager. Luckily I didn't get any of the obtuse questions or anything weird, guess that is good about the science community...we are just matter of fact :) After going over my previous experience/training/education and then the hiring manager giving a better understanding of the position (was not articulated very well on the job post) we both were very in tune with expectation on both ends which was awesome. Once the professional aspect of the interview came to a close and he could start to see my level of excitement he gave some insight on what the area had to offer and some places I may want to visit while in town for the weekend to get a better understanding of what I could be getting myself into. The interview was 1:1 and I was given directions by HR on where to park and where the interviewer's office would be. Beyond that, there were no other interactions which was different for me because my previous positions included about 10-12 staff members working on the same projects. This position I came to understand during the interview when daily tasks, expectations etc were described was more autonomous than i had ever experienced. I was so up for the challenge! After the interview I made sure to send a follow up e-mail thanking both the HR person who helped my resume get to the right desk, and a separate thank you e-mail to the interviewer making sure to briefly review our discussions and highlight what I likes and stood out to me and where I thought my experience and skills would be beneficial to him. Sat and Sun passed...and I LOVED the research triangle and couldn't wait to hopefully get good news about the interview. Not knowing how long I would have to wait, or how the process really working with such a large company., I got an e-mail at 8:30 Monday morning!!! Extending an offer and if I were still interested to let him know as well as HR to set up the hiring process officially. I was stoked, gave my two weeks that day in a graceful manner of coarse. Drove down for the weekend, found an apartment and two weeks later relocated and started my new job. Best advice I can give for new employees is preparation is so important in making things go smooth. Request for documents that need to be completed be e-mailed beforehand so it is all done, don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't know how to fill items out. And please please please go to the new employee information sessions if anything just to meet some other new hires who you may connect with. I was a bad new employee and delved right into my work and had to go out of town for training so somehow I ducked under the radar and just winged turning in my benefits package without having learned all the extra awesome stuff the company has to offer and services. So if I learning anything from coming aboard a big company is you will fall through the cracks if you do not put yourself out there and a ton of good things could pass right by without you even knowing.