I applied through college or university. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Institute for Defense Analyses (Alexandria, VA) in Feb 2008
Interview
I started with 30 minute on-campus interview following application through the university's career center. This interview was pretty standard and unremarkable.
The site interview followed a few weeks later. The day started with a meeting with an HR/recruiting staff member, and covered general background (mine and theirs) and benefits. The rest of the day was 6-7 short (about 30 minutes) one-on-one interviews with members of the research staff, a long lunch interview with the head of one of the divisions, and a seminar presenting some of my research to members of that division. The short interviews were so brief that I question their utility both to IDA and to myself, as little time was available for getting beyond the standard initial questions.
The staff were generally friendly and seemed like they would be good coworkers. However, the work they were doing in that division did not particularly interest me. Though I specified divisions of interest when I applied, I did not interview with any of those; I'm not sure how the process of circulating applications works, but this is the potential result.
The administrative details of my visit (including reimbursement) were carried out quickly and without fuss. The offer came through about 2-3 weeks later.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why don't you want to go to Wall Street and make more money?
All-day series of one-on-one and small group interviews, and a one-hour presentation on the topic of my choice. Everyone was very engaging and interested in the interviews and presentation. The final interview was with the division director. The offer came after two weeks without contact.
I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Institute for Defense Analyses in Feb 2023
Interview
3 interviews. 1) Standard HR screening. 2) Small panel interview: some light technical questions. You're basically given some scenarios and you talk your way through them with other researchers. They want to see what perspectives you bring in addition to some basic technical skill demonstrations. 3) Full day interview: Almost identical to full-day professorship interviews at universities. 9-5 with a one-hour seminar you give to a large group of researchers. They ask lots of questions during the talk--feels like an academic seminar. You meet with your primary contact, department manager, various researchers, and the division director. There is also a one-hour panel interview that involves more case studies and general Q&A for the prospect. The full-day interview is grueling due to its length, but the questions are not difficult, they are mainly about your research (which you'll obviously know well) and also seeing if you are interested in the work they do. I asked a lot more questions than they asked of me.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Provided some data summaries and asked how you would improve the visualizations to present to a DoD official with minimal math background.