Institute for Defense Analyses Interview Questions & Reviews
Overview |
| |
Salaries |
| |
Reviews |
| |
Interviews |
| |
Photos |
| |
Jobs |
| |
|
Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
|
Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 5 ratings 
“Easy” Interview
|
Interview Experience [?] Based on 5 ratings
|
Institute for Defense Analyses has 117 connections on Glassdoor
See Who You Know
| 1–5 of 5 Institute for Defense Analyses Interviews | Sort by |
Research Assistant at Institute for Defense Analyses
Posted May 4, 2011 — 0 of 1 people found this helpful
|
2.0
Easy Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Received and Accepted Offer
|
Interviewed Sep 2010 in Alexandria, VA (took 2 days)
Met with a member of HR and then two Senior Analysts.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Research Staff Member at Institute for Defense Analyses
Posted Sep 7, 2010
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Aug 2010 (took a day)
Interview process was an all-day affair, meeting with various members of the staff prior to meeting with the division director for the final phase discussion. The interviews ranged from the initial staff members who were involved directly in the area of the organization that I would be working with and that I had prior working relationships with due to other projects with my previous employer. The interviews then shifted to a number of staff members who were involved in other areas of research, but were examples of the various specialties doing work within the directorate. Each had a different avenue of questioning to see what my background was, what kind of work I was looking for and to provide details on what it was like to work for the organization from their perspective.
Mid-day of the interview process was taken up by a presentation session where the applicant was to demonstrate briefing skills and analysis of a subject (chosen by the applicant with help from the sponsor.) Briefing was question and answer formatted around a slide presentation of the topic. Duration was about one hour.
Final interview was with the division director and covered the aspects of working for the organization from a personal goals point of view. Interview was steered toward getting the point across that the organization was a fairly flat hierarchy of management, and based mainly on an academic atmosphere of operations. Candidates looking for upward mobility and advancement within the organization would be advised to look for another organization due to the strong possibility that working at IDA may not satisfy those desires and the hired person would eventually leave the organization for another more fitting to their career goals.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.
More Institute for Defense Analyses Research Staff Member Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Intern at Institute for Defense Analyses
Posted Jul 15, 2010
|
2.0
Easy Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Received and Accepted Offer
|
Interviewed Mar 2010 in Alexandria, VA (took a day)
The hiring process was much like most typical internship processes - throw your resume, cover letter, and transcript into a black hole and hope to hear back. Luckily for me I did hear back. The interview was about half an hour to forty five minutes and the PhD's interviewing me were very nice (seems like they're more brutal with Research Staff Member and Research Assistant candidates than Intern candidates). Week or two later I got the offer.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Research Staff Member at Institute for Defense Analyses
Posted Jun 30, 2010
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Received and Accepted Offer
|
Interviewed Jun 2010 (took 2 days)
The preliminary phone interview of 30 minutes went well and proceeded like a casual but informed conversation regarding the intersection between academic research, policy, and data needs.
An invitation for an on-site interview soon followed and consisted of a meeting with an HR representative, 7 one-on-one interviews with other RSMs lasting approximately 30 minutes, a presentation of my work, a working lunch with two managers and two staff members, and a final meeting with the division manager. Contrary to another related posting on the website, I found most of these interviews to be extremely informative and helpful in prompting me to accept the offer I eventually received. Some of this difference may be due to personality.
Throughout the course of the day I developed a brief, scripted response to the initial questions we had to work through then worked hard to open up the interaction into one where they could express to me whatever they wanted about IDA (why they chose the job, what they think of the work they do, what their expectations of me would be, and so forth), while I described for them my general approach to research in a policy environment. Many of these conversations exceeded the allotted 30 minutes, which many were fine with.
The presentation had the format of a job-talk but was considerably less hostile than what I have encountered in academic settings (primarily as an audience member). Not to say it was not easy, but it was important to me that there was no one present clearly gunning for my embarrassment and failure. The questions were professional and appropriately probing.
In all, the experience was draining but enjoyable. I can say that with no reservations. In a final note, the another posting on this site describing the IDA interview complained about not being evaluated for the division he or she listed in the online application. This incongruence should have been apparent in the phone interview, so I advise future recruits to take this interview seriously by listening to what the interviewer has to say about the position under consideration.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Presentation.
More Institute for Defense Analyses Research Staff Member Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
View Comments (1)
Inappropriate?
Research Staff Member at Institute for Defense Analyses
Posted Mar 18, 2009
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Received and Declined Offer
|
Interviewed Feb 2008 in Alexandria, VA (took 3 weeks)
I started with 30 minute on-campus interview following application through the university's career center. This interview was pretty standard and unremarkable.
The site interview followed a few weeks later. The day started with a meeting with an HR/recruiting staff member, and covered general background (mine and theirs) and benefits. The rest of the day was 6-7 short (about 30 minutes) one-on-one interviews with members of the research staff, a long lunch interview with the head of one of the divisions, and a seminar presenting some of my research to members of that division. The short interviews were so brief that I question their utility both to IDA and to myself, as little time was available for getting beyond the standard initial questions.
The staff were generally friendly and seemed like they would be good coworkers. However, the work they were doing in that division did not particularly interest me. Though I specified divisions of interest when I applied, I did not interview with any of those; I'm not sure how the process of circulating applications works, but this is the potential result.
The administrative details of my visit (including reimbursement) were carried out quickly and without fuss. The offer came through about 2-3 weeks later.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
Offer from a peer company in a research area that interested me more.
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Presentation.
More Institute for Defense Analyses Research Staff Member Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
RSS Feed for Institute for Defense Analyses
Interviews
Embed
