Met my expectations - Field Interviewer RTI International Employee Review

4.0
May 5, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are various projects and types of interviewing. My project and probably the majority are in person sureys/studies. They pay was good and mileage was reimbursed, but be sure to have an economical car. I particularly liked the hours and being in charge of my schedule. It fit perfectly for me and my situation. Productivity of the team was highlighted but I never felt pressured or forced to produce.

Cons

My project had field interviewers arriving at random addresses to attempt surveys without residents aware of who we were 99% of the time. Other 1% might have seen something sent in the mail. I'd estimate that 15% of people were annoyed, especially since they assumed it was soliciting. The worst part of the job was having to enter properties and never knowing how the residents would react. Some residents were aggressively rude and a coworker was almost assaulted with a weapon. You are expected to visit every address, regardless of the crime/reputation in that neighborhood or even very rural areas that felt unsafe at first. Guidance on entering private properties was minimal and so was training on documentation/notes for each encounter. Short term a 4. Long term maybe a 3 or less.

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5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

RTI has a good mission

Cons

Adaptation to sudden federal funding loss.

3.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Remote work and reasonable working hours

Cons

If you're a PhD who enjoys research and hopes to use empirical research skills at a research institute, you'll likely be disappointed as I was. Projects in my business unit were largely implementation projects that required very little creativity or data analysis. I was told by my manager that empirical-research projects are harder to come by and when those opportunities do arise, everyone wants them. Even then, project directors are very unwilling (in my experience) to let you branch out to other projects. Using any overhead time to work on your own research is also discouraged, so I ended up working on manuscripts in my personal time. And there's no funding to attend conferences either. On top of all of this, constant layoffs create an aura of uncertainty and the feeling that you're lucky to even be there even when compensation for similar roles in private sector is far better.

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