I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at In-Q-Tel
Interview
I set up what I thought was a networking call with a woman from the leadership team. She was the most overtly combative, protectionist, waterfall, arrogant, self-important, and condescending person with whom I have ever spoken. The exchange turned me off from the organization entirely, because if the leadership team treats people so poorly, I would neither want to support nor work with them.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1) Asked about her transition from her previous role to IQT - her response was curt but professional.
2) Asked about her current areas of focus and mentioned her work on Internet and GPS policy as an example, explaining that I had seen her Foreign Affairs article on the topic - she declined to recognize the article or that this was even an area of interest for her. Moreover, suggested that if I wanted to know what the company and she had been doing to try "looking at the website". Clarified that I had seen her Council on Foreign Relations article, and asked about her connection to the Council on Foreign Relations. "Did I mention the Council on Foreign Relations?" was her response.
3) Asked if she knew any other connections that I should reach out to based on her knowledge of my skills and interests.
Her response was indignant: "My colleagues and I receive hundreds of interview reviews per year and I'm not comfortable adding to their workload unnecessarily".
Me: But we have known each other for 15 years and I worked on your husband's campaign for free, surely that counts for something."
Her: "Not my campaign".
Yikes.