Avaaz Foundation Interview Questions

Interview

Filled out a very lengthy personalized questionnaire about why I thought I would be a good fit at Avaaz, my work experience, etc. This process took quite some time. Then received an additional email some time later asking me to give a detailed response about architecting their system, which they expected would take up to an hour. At this point, I had some additional questions about the nature of the role, the team's size, etc. as the job posting had been rather vague, and it's unreasonable to expect someone to spend multiple hours on an interview before even figuring out whether or not the job is a good fit. I received a form response about how they'd be able to give me more information about the job once I'd answered their technical question. I passed -- there are plenty of other companies that are willing to at least chat with me and get some additional detail about the job given my credentials (degree from a top 5 engineering university, have worked for one of the tech giants). I recommend that they streamline their process and get some better HR folks in place who have more of an interest in ensuring that a job is a mutual fit, and not just having people jump through hoops for the sake of it.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took a week. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation (New York, NY) in January 2017.

Interview

Non traditional interview process combines Skype initial interview. Then if chosen to proceed applicants are asked to do a mock work session. Then additional Skype interviews with various Executives. This process seems to work for them but it is cumbersome for most applicants. The interview felt forced in that they expect you to give the perfect, exact answers they are looking for by pushing you through- but then those answers are used against you during the feedback portion. I knew within 15 mins of the start of the interview that I did not want to work for the organization and would not have accepted the next step of the process had it been offered.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 3+ months. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation (New York, NY) in October 2016.

Interview

Applied Online
Contacted within a week
First Interview with Senior Campaigner
Was to the point and not very formal. Relaxed via Skype
Given a written assignment to create an email campaign. Given 24 hours time to complete
Review of the assignment was insightful and helpful.
Asked if interested to revise the assignment after the feedback and given 24 hours.
Re-submitted and Followed up
Contacted and informed about moving to the next round.
The process took 3 months

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 2+ months. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation.

Interview

The process took a full two months and in the end I received a generic rejection email.

1) Coding challenge
2) Self-evaluation survey (rank your familiarity with certain technologies)
3) Non-tech interview ("crying" and "triggers" - yes, seriously)
4) Tech interview (break/fix test - login to an EC2 instance and fix nginx/apache/php/iptables)
5) Tech interview (question & answer - ipsec, elasticache, nosql, etc)
6) Non-tech interview
7) Tech interview

Throughout the process there were multiple miscommunications on their end. There were also technical difficulties where interviewers were not prepared (permissions issues on google docs, had to reschedule).

Twice I was told I was interviewing with Person A and ended up interviewing with Person B. Once I was told it would be a non-tech interview with Person A and it was a tech interview with Person B+C. Very disorganized and poor response times to boot. Never again.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation.

Interview

Applied online, was contacted shortly saying that they were interested and would like to move forward by sending me a design task. I sent it back after a couple of days and never heard back – even after following up. Actually I did, many moths after saying that they had paused this position or something on those lines.

Total lack of respect with my time, my work and my interest in joining their awesome mission.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 11+ months. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation (Remote, OR) in February 2016.

Interview

I applied to a position about a year ago, a rep reached out a few months after letting me know he would reach out for an interview.
I applied for a second position, I was interviewed for that one. The interview was a lot of questions about how I liked to be managed asked in several different ways. Kind of annoying actually.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation in February 2016.

Interview

The initial interview was an hour-long Skype interview. A lot of the questions revolved around how I like to be managed. The interviewer emphasized Avaaz's culture and asked questions to see if I would fit into Avaaz's culture. What I liked about the interview process is that the interviewer would give me feedback after each question. The interviewer told me which question I answered well and how I could improve on the answer. Overall, it was a pleasant experience--I felt that the interviewer was supportive.
The second part of the interview process was to write an Avaaz email for a hypothetical campaign. I had 24 hours to draft the email and explain the answers I gave.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation (Boston, MA) in September 2015.

Interview

So destructive that it has taken me over a year to write about it, not just because of the emotional impact, but also the practical effects on my life. In summary: I applied for 2 positions. The first, I was told would have been mine had they decided to actually hire for it (they called after 2 or 3 interviews to tell me the role had been "de-prioritized", but that I was their #1 choice). For the second role, I had several more interviews. During the final interview, the interviewer (the ED), told me that she didn't see how I was qualified for the role. I attempted to counter that by explaining why I thought I was (really I was just bewildered by the statement seeing as I had just undergone several interviews and exercises, and didn't understand why I would have reached this point if I wasn't qualified). They ended up making an offer anyway quite quickly as I had very recently accepted a different offer and explained to them that since I was going to have to rescind my acceptance of offer A, I needed to do it ASAP. I am also a part-time student, which is listed at the top of my resume. I worked for them for 5 days during which time my school schedule became an issue (A total of 5 hours of class time per week. Bear in mind that Avaaz is a virtual organization. I was working remotely. It was very clear that many Avaaz employees did not keep traditional hours. It also says in their handbook that alternative schedules are approved by line managers. My line manager knew about my classes and said it was ok.). They asked that I drop a class in order to make my schedule more amenable to their needs which I succeeded in doing regardless of the add/drop deadline already having passed. Then, they fired me, claiming that I had failed to practice what they call "radical honesty". Needless to say, I was unable to get the first offer back and was thrown into a high pressure job search. This is the most egregious part of the experience. It was also just generally fraught with inadequate internal communication. I should have heeded that as a warning sign during the first round and stayed away, but the prospect of what I thought would be fulfilling work drew me in.

Application

I applied online. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation in July 2015.

Interview

With the invitation for the first (Skype) interview they sent a clear overview of the whole process, explaining how they try their best to be as thorough as possible by letting you talk to people through out the whole organisation. After every step they will inform you whether they want to go any further.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 6 days. I interviewed at Avaaz Foundation in June 2015.

Interview

The interview process I had with Avaaz involved the following interview stages:
- Technical phone screen
- Two culture interviews
- Technical panel interview (~2hr)
- Final interview with the executive director

I found the technical interview questions to be on par with the questions that most companies ask and the interview was done in an online pair programming style.

Interview Questions