Research Staff Member applicants have rated the interview process at Institute for Defense Analyses with 3.1 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 86% positive. To compare, the company-average is 76% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Research Staff Member roles take an average of 38 days to get hired, when considering 14 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Institute for Defense Analyses overall takes an average of 41 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Institute for Defense Analyses as a Research Staff Member according to 14 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 22%
Presentation: 20%
Group panel interview: 17%
Phone interview: 15%
Background check: 11%
Skills test: 7%
Drug test: 4%
Other: 2%
IQ intelligence test: 2%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
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.