FIRST Interview Questions
& Process

I got contacted by HR for a phone interview. It was all standard stuff, like 'biggest accomplishment' and 'biggest weakness'. Then they had me submit at least 5 references to a website, which some of them said was a pain. This felt too early since I'd only talked to FIRST once. FIRST then asked me to write a detailed letter about how I'd contribute and do well in the Corporate and Foundation Relations Manager job. I sent that, and about a week and a half later, I had another phone call with someone else there. No more communication happened until HR sent a short email saying they were moving on with other candidates. The process itself wasn't hard, but the HR manager lacked personality, and the overall experience was frustrating because of the poor communication. I expected better from an organization founded by Dean Kamen, whose work I admire greatly, so it was disappointing to see they seemed to have a backward approach.

So the interview process started with a phone interview, pretty standard stuff. Then I had an interview with 3 managers, which lasted about an hour. Honestly, the questions weren't that great and they could have been more prepared, like at least looking at my resume. HR contacted me quickly after about salary flexibility, which was a surprise because the initial salaries offered are really low. I'd asked about the salary range upfront but was told they didn't know, which was a waste of time since it was way below expectations for the experience they wanted. I told them I was interested but couldn't accept that salary. The HR person then mentioned another position coming up that would be a better fit salary-wise and encouraged me to apply. They asked for another cover letter and resume for that role and said they'd let me know when it posted. A month later, the job posted, and I applied. Then they told me they were pulling the position to change the requirements and would repost it. I had to submit *another* cover letter, this time with salary expectations. I did that and heard absolutely nothing back. They seem really disorganized, posting jobs they don't fill, interviewing people, and then reposting the same job months later. Not a good look for their professionalism.

I talked to 3 people, and 2 of them were nice. Each chat was about 30 minutes, where they reviewed my resume and I got to ask my questions. I had a feeling this wasn't the right fit for me early on, it just didn't feel welcoming. My gut told me it wasn't for me. Luckily, I wasn't hired. Salary wasn't brought up at all. I think they want someone who's mainly excited about the company itself, not so much the pay. These days, I feel like people are more focused on money.

First, there was an initial screening interview with HR that lasted about 20 minutes. The second interview was a phone call with the supervisor who was filling the position, and it took around 30 minutes. The final interview was with the whole team and lasted about 30 minutes. Lastly, I presented some examples of my previous curriculum work.