What is the hiring process like at Southwest Research Institute?

Great coworkers and allowed to work around personal and family needs

Poor to no interdepartmental communication. Chronic understaffing and below market salaries. Mediocre benefits. Navigating through any process, whether related to HR, purchasing, technical needs and even daily job functions require navigating through an inordinate amount of red tape-- this causes enough frustration that many simply choose not to complete a task. Technology used to support core functions is decades behind.

Southwest Research Institute treats their employees very well with pay, benefits, and PTO. They also have lots of level of management, who you will work alongside with, making it easy to get in contact with any higher ups.

The downsides are the lack of exciting work. In my division specifically, the projects were cut and paste from other projects and giving it a new coat of paint for a different client. This is how government contracts can be most of the time, but just a warning. Additionally, I myself and other coworkers expressed dissatisfaction in the recognition and thanks they get from putting in more work than asked, or for trying to go above and beyond their pay grade. People consistently went unrecognized for their accomplishments, progress, and dedication, and appreciation was only given for 'time-employed' milestones. Lastly, it is an odd work environment where everyone seemed to be coasting along. No one was really interested in making the 'next big thing' or advancing their own career (except for pursuing masters degrees). The overall attitude at SwRI was to just 'do your job and coast along,' and take the easy ride. There wasn't a strong work ethic or a culture of excellence. People seemed to work there just for the sake of a nice paycheck, not for the content of their work.