I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Mathematica (Washington, DC) in Jan 2019
Interview
The entire process took one month. I applied online and they contacted me for a phone interview after a week and a half. I spoke with an associate director for about 40 minutes and she mostly asked me questions about why I was interested in working for Mathematica/in this position and about certain experiences I had put on my resume. She was very friendly and seemed genuinely interested in hearing about my experiences. At the end of the interview she said they would like me to come in for an in-person interview.
After setting up a time and date with their HR rep, I went in for a 4.5 hour interview, which consisted of a series of 4 thirty minute interviews, lunch with two survey research associates (the position I was applying for), and then 30 minutes with the HR representative. Everyone I spoke with was also very friendly and wanted to hear about my experiences. They also were very glad to answer my questions about work culture, their experiences at Mathematica, and tasks I would be responsible for. I personally didn't feel it was repetitive because all of them asked about different experiences from my resume (more or less), though I was of course asked by all why I wanted this position specifically. The interviews were conversational and everyone was easy-going. Before I went in for the interview, I had read reviews on this site and had read that the interviewers were genuinely interested in learning about me as much as I was interested in learning about them, and that they wanted to see if we both felt I was a good fit for the position. I would definitely agree with that. It was a long interview that took a lot of preparation, but everything felt pretty low-key and everyone was friendly so it wasn't stressful or draining for me.
That interview had happened on Friday. They contacted me the following Monday to ask if they could reach out to references. On Wednesday they offered me the position, which I accepted. I was pleased that the process was quite quick after the interview. I think it was partially because I would was heading out of the country two weeks after the interview so they wanted to expedite the process. But regardless everything was very organized and I can't imagine that you would be waiting very long.
Overall, I really enjoyed their interview process.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why do you want this position? Why do you want to work for Mathematica? Can you tell me about __(this experience)__? If you were hiring someone for this position, what qualities or qualifications would you look for?
I applied online. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Mathematica
Interview
My interview process started with a 30 minute phone screen and then several in-person interviews in the office (all on the same day). The HR team was awesome helping to coordinate travel and logistics and my interviewers were all very friendly. My in-person interview felt much more conversational than strictly Q&A.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
-How do you manage multiple projects at once?
-Which tasks in the job description were you most excited about?
-Why Mathematica?
-Talk about your research experience
I applied online. The process took 7 weeks. I interviewed at Mathematica (Oakland, CA) in Oct 2019
Interview
I was notified I received an interview 2 weeks after applying to the job. I was traveling in Australia at the time and they allowed me to conduct the phone screening via Skype, which was very kind. I spoke with the person who supervises my position in the office I applied to and at the end of the call she told me I would be hearing from HR soon to set up an in-person interview. A month after that I was flown out to their office and had 5 interviews with people from various offices/levels. Everyone I spoke to that day was very genuine and the interviews flowed more like a conversation than an interrogation (like some other interviews I've had in the past). There were no trick questions, they just wanted you to talk about yourself and your experiences. About half of the interview was them asking you questions and the other half was you asking them questions - so come prepared with a lot of good questions! Toward the end of the interview day I went to lunch with two individuals who were in the position I applied to. I found this super helpful because it allowed me to get a better sense of the job I'd be doing and the people I'd be working with. The day after the in-person interview I received an email stating they would be checking my references and a week after that I was offered the job.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Mathematica (Princeton, NJ) in Aug 2019
Interview
I applied online, and about a week later they contacted me to invite me for a phone interview. For the phone interview I spoke with a Senior Researcher who supervises people in the position that I applied for. Most of her questions involved why I was interested in working at Mathematica and the experiences I had listed on my resume. She was very pleasant and helpful, giving me a lot of useful information about the organization and the role that I would play as a Survey Research Associate. About a week and a half after this, someone from HR contacted me to ask my availability to come to the Princeton office for an in-person interview. Since I was coming from several hours away, they also offered to reimburse the cost of a hotel for the night. The interview involved five 30 minute long meetings each with one or two people, which included several Senior Research and Survey Analysts as well as an HR representative. Afterwards I was taken to lunch with two current Survey Research Associates. Most of the questions involved why I wanted to work at Mathematica, my past research experience, the experiences I had listed on my resume, and my experiences working in teams. Everyone that I met was very friendly and genuinely seemed interested in my experiences, and they were happy to answer all of my questions about the work that they did and their experiences at Mathematica. None of their questions were especially surprising, but because they sometimes asked similar questions it was a bit repetitive by the end. Overall I enjoyed speaking with everyone that I met and they seemed to really like the work that they did. A few days after the interview, they let me know they would be contacting my references, and two days after that, they offered me the job.
Survey Research Associate applicants have rated the interview process at Mathematica with 2.5 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 100% positive. To compare, the company-average is 70.3% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Survey Research Associate roles take an average of 57 days to get hired, when considering 4 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Mathematica overall takes an average of 52 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Mathematica as a Survey Research Associate according to 4 Glassdoor interviews include:
Group panel interview: 36%
Phone interview: 36%
One on one interview: 18%
Presentation: 9%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -