City Year Headquarters Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – I sent in an application (resume/cover letter). I was offered an in person interview. After that, I waited and received a rejection email. The process took a long time, but there are many factors that are in play that make it take a long time, whether the result is in your favor or not. The questions in the interview are pretty straightforward. The work culture is strong and the culture of the organization is really strong. It seems like everyone cares about each other, but the staff hiring process is a bit more removed from the same culture that exists when people enter as a corps member. It is like any other job process.

Interview Details – After applying online, I was contacted by hr at city year. Following phone interview, I was
 Asked to travel to Boston for interviews with HR, including EVP of HR. I was introduced to the marketing team as " someone you'll be seeing more of". I was told there was a pool of 15...but after 10 days received a communication saying I did not need to come back. It is a terrific organization. The culture seems terrific - I was very disappointed not to have another opportunity to meet with them

Interview Details – 2 phonecall interviews

Interview Details – My interactions leading up to the interview were pleasant enough : HR staff were pleasant and responsive. The interview itself was very off-putting, however, and made me want to back away very slowly from the organization. (This is not to be disparaging in any way; it just became clear that it was not a culture in which I would thrive.) The interviewer skipped all small talk and opened the interview by declaring s/he was going to ask me a series of questions and, afterwards, I could ask one or two questions of my own. The questions were either simple information requests - which could readily be answered by the details on my resume - or attempts at psychographic profiling ("if I were a cartoon character, who would I be?"). The manner in which the interview was conducted was more controlling and unnatural than any interview I've ever had - even safe stabs at adding humor and levity on my part were met with small, exasperated snorts.

My sense is that City Year employees (HR, at least) are very inexperienced professionallly. The organization seems to have a clear idea of the type of culture they want to foster and protect (not a bad thing) and my sense is that that culture can be described as homogenous, tightly controlled and maybe a bit wide-eyed and naive (it is an education organization, after all).

Definitely not a place for me, and not one I would personally recommend. But if you're into the Red Jacket-Khakhi Pants uniform (mandatory wear on Fridays), go for it.

Reason for Declining – Culture