Guttmacher Institute Interview Questions
& Process

The interview journey started with an HR screen call where standard HR queries were addressed. This was followed by a discussion with the hiring manager and a team member, focusing on role-specific aspects, your professional background, and your approach to task completion. The final stage involved a conversation with the team's director and a senior team member, revisiting aspects from the previous round and including broader inquiries. The entire process spanned approximately six weeks, and the interviewers were notably kind.

My experience was disappointing. While GI has a great mission and work, the organizational changes of the past few years are clearly ongoing. The process was quite long, involving 5 interviews with 6 people over three months. After these interviews, there was a month-long delay before I followed up on my status. I was informed they were still interviewing and would contact me upon making a decision. It's been three months since, and I haven't even received a courtesy rejection email. The entire process felt disorganized: interview requests were last-minute, often within the same week. I had to complete a timed writing test, which felt unusual for a director-level role. The interviewers seemed unprepared, asking basic and unengaging questions that didn't offer insight into the organization, making it feel very one-sided. They should really look at their interview process and remember that candidates are also evaluating them.

A consultant from the company contacted me about 3 weeks after I applied for the Research Assistant position. The very next day, we had a phone screen. A week later, the consultant got in touch again to set up a second round interview. This second round involved an hour-long meeting with three senior researchers, followed by a chat with someone currently working as an RA. All three researchers were on the same call and asked me the same behavioral questions, though it seemed like they were doing other things during the interview. I followed up with the consultant after the interview around the expected decision date. Five months later, I received an email with an attachment that ended up giving my computer a virus.

So, after 3 interviews and a writing assessment, they just ghosted me. I reached out to HR about the super negative Glassdoor reviews and that Prism article with some wild allegations, and their response was basically that those people were just looking for a bad time and their experiences aren't the norm. They also said Guttmacher has always been committed to DEI. This was a huge red flag and really disappointing. Like, it doesn't matter if it's everyone's experience or not, these are real people's experiences. The HR convo made it clear to me that Guttmacher isn't really reflecting on things, doesn't take concerns seriously, and isn't interested in taking responsibility or improving. A better response would've been acknowledging the concerns, expressing regret, and detailing steps being taken to prevent discrimination against pregnant employees and employees of color.