One Acre Fund Business Development Manager Interview Questions
& Process

It was a pretty long process, as expected. It started with an initial screening, then there was a plum test, followed by a first interview with the recruiter. After that, I had to complete a project task. Then came the hiring manager interview, and finally, a panel interview which included a presentation. I didn't proceed after the manager's interview.

It took over two months and started with a phone interview and then an exercise. I got to ask questions at each stage, but it felt very corporate and one-sided.

So I got referred by someone I met at a job fair, and after talking to them on the phone, I put them down as a reference. I think that helped speed things up. The whole thing was remote. I applied in July 2016 and they got back to me two weeks later to schedule a phone interview with a recruiter in Kenya. That interview had questions about leadership and then the tree campaign question. I was a bit surprised since it's a writing job in NY, but I had read their blog so I was ready. After that first interview, which took place end of August due to scheduling, they emailed me two weeks later saying I was moving on. Next was a writing assignment: a one-page grant letter to a fake donor. Usually it's a week deadline, but I got an extension because I was moving. I sent that in mid-September. Within a few days, they let me know I was onto the next step: another phone interview with a manager on the Business Development team. I don't remember the exact questions from that call, but it must have gone okay since I moved forward to an even tougher writing assignment. This time it was a six-page grant proposal to the same donor, due in two weeks. They also gave me really good feedback on the first writing task to help me out this time. Since it was a lot of work, they paid me $10/hr for my writing time. After I sent in the first draft, they gave me more feedback and another week to make changes. There was also a 30-minute call with a manager to go over any edits I was unsure about. I got paid $10/hr for editing time too. I submitted the final version in November, which was four months after applying, and they gave me a bit more feedback which was nice. Two weeks later, I finally made it to the last round! It was a phone interview with the Business Development team lead and a 7-minute presentation about One Acre Fund’s model, using a provided PowerPoint. I tweaked some slides, practiced a lot, and made notes. They offered me the job at the end of the call, pending reference checks. A few days later, I got the official offer letter.