American Institutes for Research Interview Questions & Reviews in Washington, DC

Interview Details – I got the job information at my college's job fair. About half a month later, I received a call from a Recruiting Assistant and ask me to sent her a resume. After I do that, about three days later. I received an email and schedules time for the first phone interview.

Interview Details – two rounds of technical phone interviews, and then one on site interview
A non-tech recruiter asked all technical questions in first round of interview. Question about the programming language you pick.
- declare a pointer, where is the pointer stored, on Stack or heap
- transient (Java)

Interview Details – Was contacted initially by a recruiter requesting that I participate in a phone interview. A phone interview consisted of speaking with a couple of researchers and about my experience. Was asked whether I had any questions and the phone interview was very friendly.

About a week later I was contacted for an in person interview in the Washington office. Spent an entire day at the office speaking with HR, the team I would be working with, and meeting other colleagues. Very positive experience in-person.

Negotiation Details – Able to negotiate start date but not salary.

Interview Details – Perhaps the most unprofessional interview process I've ever experienced. I applied for a job through the online system, but also had a mentor forward my CV to several hiring managers in the organization. Within 24 hours of my CV being sent to contacts in AIR, a recruiter called me to set up an initial phone screen for the next day. The scheduled interview time came and went with no call. The next day, the same recruiter contacted me again to set up a phone screen. When I explained that I'd had an phone interview scheduled, but no one called me at the designated time, the recruiter said that she "couldn't remember" if she'd set up an interview with me and that she must have missed it on her calendar. The phone screen was rescheduled for the next day and actually happened this time. The interview lasted about 30-45 minutes and went very well. The recruiter contacted me the next business day to set up a phone interview with 2 hiring managers. She also asked me to send a writing sample and sent an email to confirm the scheduled interview time. However, like the initial phone screen, the scheduled interview time with the hiring managers came and went with no phone call. I contacted the recruiter to find out what had happened, and she said that the hiring managers "got really busy and forgot to call" me. Once again, the interview was rescheduled. This time, only one of the hiring managers called, but the interview went on as planned. It went very well, and I was told that they were interested in bringing me in for an on-site interview once they were certain that they would have enough funding to hire another researcher. Almost two months have passed, and I still have not been contacted to schedule the on-site interview. While it is possible that they are still trying to work out the funding situation, I've basically given up on AIR and do not intend to continue the interview process with them if I am contacted. I'm just amazed that an organization of this stature thinks that they can continue to get the "best and brightest" to work for them when the hiring process is such a mess. I got along well with the hiring manager who interviewed me, and I think I would have enjoyed working for him, but just about everything else in the interview process suggested huge problems with the organizational culture at AIR.

Interview Details – I submitted an application online. Within a month, I got a screening call or pre-interview from an HR assistant, asking basic questions like my interest in this position. I had a phone interview shortly after with a senior research associate. A few weeks later, I had an in person interview with 2 other research associates. Everyone I spoke to was courteous and informative. They asked about my research experience in detail, my future goals, and what I wanted from this position. I tried to answer questions as fully as possible and convey my enthusiasm for working there. I called 2 weeks later to check on my status and was told they would call if they were moving forward. I never got the call.

Interview Details – I was able, through networking, to meet someone who worked within the organization. After an initial telephone conversation my resume was forwarded to HR who then set up a formal interview. Due to timing and internal evaluations, it was five months before an opening was available for me.

Interview Details – The interview and hiring process were well handled by the HR department. They moved things along at a fair pace and communicated well with the executive recruiter who set up the interview. They did everything they said they were going to do. They were generous with the flight cost and hotel cost reimbursement. They repaid the expenses very quickly too. They did a good job explaining the role to the recruiter. They answered every question that I asked and didn't dodge any issues. They painted an accurate picture of the work and the environment. When I asked to spend some time with some of my future colleagues, they didn't freak out and the people I met with were gracious through the process.

Negotiation Details – They were as flexible as I would expect. They gave me adequate time to consider the offer and then agreed to extend my notice period for my former employer from the tradition 2 weeks to 4 weeks (so I could offer better transition assistance).

Interview Details – First there was a 30-minute HR interview, followed by two separate phone interviews with Research Associates that lasted about 30 minutes each (about a week later), then another phone interview the following week with a manager/senior associate, then an in-person interview at the D.C. headquarters with 7 different individuals (some were with two at a time, and a couple were on the phone to the other AIR locations). Overall a very nice interview process, they paid for flight and accommodations to D.C. and were very friendly.

Reason for Declining – The pay was not high enough for the D.C. area.