I applied online. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Federal Reserve Board (Washington, DC) in Nov 2013
Interview
Applied online in late September during the fall RA hiring season. Heard back in late October about coming to D.C. to interview. In the fall hiring season, they don't hire for sections, so instead you have two interviews, each with two economists at the board. They asked simple questions about things on my resume and coursework. I also had lunch with current RAs. I heard back 2 days after interviewing about an offer.
I interviewed at Federal Reserve Board (Washington, DC)
Interview
Relaxed and informal. Was interviewed by a subset of group that was hiring for an opening - one took the lead. Asked me questions about my background, my interests, and timeline for hire.
Two interviews each had 2-3 different economists from different teams. Interview lasted 1-2 hours each, Questions ranged from behavioral to technical (mostly econometrics and data related). I had a couple of research projects I worked on in undergrad and they asked quite a bit about them and my future interests.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Handed me a print out of some Stata results and asked me to interpret some coefficients.
Very relaxed - be yourself and convey your enthusiasm for the role. You don't need to be certain on a PhD and you should not force yourself to say you are if you are not. Be open to analytical roles and all projects and that answer will reveal itself.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time when you made a mistake and how you resolved it.
Research Assistant applicants have rated the interview process at Federal Reserve Board with 2.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 91% positive. To compare, the company-average is 76% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Research Assistant roles take an average of 37 days to get hired, when considering 35 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Federal Reserve Board overall takes an average of 42 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Federal Reserve Board as a Research Assistant according to 35 Glassdoor interviews include:
Group panel interview: 37%
One on one interview: 15%
Phone interview: 13%
Background check: 12%
Drug test: 7%
Presentation: 7%
Skills test: 7%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -