I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Institute for Defense Analyses (Alexandria, VA) in Apr 2022
Interview
Had an initial HR conversation, then a short conversation with the project lead for the group. After that I was invited to officially apply. Up front they give you the heads up that the interview process is lengthy so they want to confirm your interest. The interview did indeed last all day. I spoke with about 6 people individually, had a panel interview with 4 people, and had lunch with two people. Along with that there is a presentation that you have an hour to get through. I was warned there would be questions during the presentation and that was true. Overall, the individual interviews were fine. They were mostly interested in my background. The panel interview was a little more challenging, more of what you'd expect out of an interview. And the presentation was fine, if you've given a technical presentation before then you have nothing to worry about. The main goal of the process seemed to be about finding fit and not trying to trip you up with tricky questions. That being said, it's a long day and you should be prepared to answer questions about your work from intelligent people. The length of the interview puts this in the difficult range for me in my experience. I was exhausted by the end.
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Other Research Staff Member Interview Reviews for Institute for Defense Analyses
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.