I was once given this requirement for a scientific computing-type position at an industrial research lab. Most of their applicants were PhD-types, for whom giving an hour-long presentation on their last six years of research was par for the course. For me, it meant I had to scramble to put together a PowerPoint of my undergrad curriculum and research opportunities.
Nah, it didn't suck. One of the strongest "soft" skills I learned in college was giving Powerpoint presentations. Almost as many engineering classes had Powerpoint requirements as papers. In my case, I didn't need to choose a topic - the topic was my educational background and research I had done.
They gave me a few days notice, it was enough time. The only weird thing was that they were surprised when I asked what the presentation should be on - in their minds, of course everyone already a presentation prepared of their PhD thesis. As (perhaps) the only candidate without a PhD (I don't know why they flew me out either...), I was not familiar with their standard rules of the game.
I was once given this requirement for a scientific computing-type position at an industrial research lab. Most of their applicants were PhD-types, for whom giving an hour-long presentation on their last six years of research was par for the course. For me, it meant I had to scramble to put together a PowerPoint of my undergrad curriculum and research opportunities.