National Math and Science Initiative Interview Questions
& Process

Horrible discriminatory and data-collecting recruiting process. It's clear the organization's executive team should be fired for upholding policies and practices that go against their own equity and inclusion "values." Then again, considering how many CEOs this organization has gone through in the last ten years, it's very clear that anyone worth their weight would not work for such a mismanaged and failing organization. Red flag after red flag, like forcing candidates to conduct a one-way interview with themselves, and then requesting candidates to share work samples that have the potential to be used for the organization's own gain--all without ever interacting face-to-face. The negative reviews are completely understandable. Unfriendly and underprepared hiring staff. The HR and recruiting team should be deeply embarrassed by their policies, procedures, and antics. Donors would be horrified to know how incredibly backwards this organization operates. They also had a data breach in 2021 after failing to safeguard their own students' sensitive information. Donors, applicants, students, teachers, and parents should be concerned about this organization.

So I was super hesitant to even apply here cause of all the bad reviews, and then they fired all the Black women after they spoke up, which I thought was messed up. But I went ahead anyway to see if things had changed. The interview process is wild. First, you do a video interview thing where you don't talk to anyone, you just get a couple of minutes to read a question and then a few minutes to answer. Their service had issues, so I had to talk to customer service for 30 minutes. Then, they wanted me to do a project and show work samples before I even talked to a real person. After all that, I interviewed with the president, but she was in her RV and kept cutting out, which was rude. Then I had a panel with four VPs, including the hiring manager. It was funny they asked about DEIJ and microaggressions, considering their past issues. I think they were just taking notes. Their DEIJ stuff feels fake. Also, it seems like they only care about funding now, not their mission, based on the questions for this business development role. It was all about sales experience, and no one asked why I wanted to work there or cared about the mission. To top it off, they didn't even send a personalized rejection, just an automated email. I was embarrassed for them, and it's a shame because students need better STEM education.

We had two rounds for this interview. The first one was a super deep dive into OOPS and SQL Server, to check if I really had the chops for Angular, .Net Core, and Cloud stuff. The second round was with the VP and Delivery Manager, and it involved some tricky coding puzzles, testing how well I could handle complex SQL and .NET challenges.

I applied through FlexJobs and was contacted a few weeks later for a one-way video interview. It felt a bit awkward with a couple of tough questions, but overall manageable. About a week after that, I got an email saying I advanced to the second round, which was an online assessment. They asked for it to be done in three days but mentioned extensions were possible. Since I was traveling around Memorial Day, I requested an extra three days. I didn't hear back about the extension, but I finished it once I got home. The assessment was really long, taking me over 4 hours and included editing, writing a 2-3 page concept paper, making graphs, and analyzing data. A few days later, they informed me they were proceeding with other candidates. I felt their process was impersonal and disrespectful.