NPR Interview Questions
& Process

I first chatted with a recruiter who asked if I knew about NPR and what I liked about their work. Then they described the team. After that, they asked me to talk about my own experience, which felt a bit unusual, like they hadn't really read my resume. It started a little awkwardly, but smoothed out. They said I was moving on to the next stage, but then almost a week later, I got rejected. The long wait for news about the next round was actually worse than finding out I didn't get the job.

The interview process was nicely coordinated. The recruiter was friendly and knew their stuff and kept me in the loop. I had interviews with HR, the hiring manager, and some other folks from the newsroom. The interview went on longer than I expected, but that was okay.

The interview process at this major organization was shockingly unprofessional and uncommunicative. It involved multiple interview rounds and a substantial assignment that I was promised payment for. During one interview, an interviewer had disruptive children in the background with their camera off the entire time. After the final interviews, I was informed that it was down to two candidates, but then I was ghosted for weeks, despite investing over 20 hours. They even mistakenly sent me the other candidate's name. Following up multiple times, I was eventually told they decided to hire internally after a long wait. Additionally, I was never compensated for the assignment work, even after submitting an invoice and repeated follow-ups. While I respect NPR's work and was eager to join their team, this experience was an unacceptable way to treat a candidate.

I applied for the Editorial Assistant, Digital News job in early August. On August 10, 2021, the executive producer of “All Things Considered” emailed me, explaining they were assisting with hiring for the Digital EA position. They sent me an editing test that would take about an hour, involving reviewing headlines and assessing a story for publication readiness. I had to submit my response by 9 a.m. on Thursday, August 12th. They said they would schedule a Zoom call afterward to discuss my submission. On August 12th, the executive producer, who I interviewed with via Zoom, claimed they didn't receive my assessment, even though I sent it before the deadline. They asked me to resend it multiple times, to different email addresses. Eventually, after I sent it using a personal email address I don't usually use for job applications, they confirmed receipt. The job mainly involves adjusting headlines and updating the story rundown for “All Things Considered.” I learned NPR also had a temporary employee in this role. After this, the company stated the final decision would be with the hiring managers. I followed up in late August, and the executive producer said they'd passed their notes to the hiring managers and were awaiting their next steps. I followed up again in September and received no response. In late September, the company informed me that another candidate was offered the Editorial Assistant position. They apologized for not informing me personally and appreciated my time completing the assignment and interviewing. Although I was unhappy about being asked to use my personal email for the assessment, I'm thankful I wasn't selected.