I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, CA) in Jan 2007
Interview
Recruited through a staffing agency. First stage of inteview process was a panel phone interview with 4 people and me (the employee I'd be replacing, an employee who shared the position, and their two managers). After passing this phone screen, I was called in for an in-person interview with the same group (2 in person, 2 on phone). One week later I received an offer to take the position as a contractor. I contracted full time for almost 1 year then "interviewed" for the permanent full time position. I met with my coworkers for this interview which was rather informal since I'd already been working with them all for almost 1 year.
The interviews were standard. A lot of behavioral type questions about how I would handle certain situations. A lot of involvement from the interviewers telling me more about the position so I could hypothetically respond to how I would react.
There is no one work culture at KP; it differs from department to department, so no overall advice. In general though, I do think they they like to practice what they preach in re the Thrive branding messaging. They do like to see that future employees have a good work/life balance and are passionate about good health and the mission of KP.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Kaiser Permanente (Los Angeles, CA) in Oct 2007
Interview
When I was scheduled for the interview, I didn't realize it would be a panel interview but when I arrived, I was surprised to find 6 management personnel in the conference room. Initially the Director asked questions like What do you like about your current job? What is challenging about your job? Then the remaining management staff each asked one question specific to the job and how I would handle a given situation.