PETA Foundation Interview Questions
& Process

It was a 3 stage process. First was an initial interview that was about 30mins. Then there was a task based stage which had deadlines. The final interview is with the head of legal.

I first filled out a long online application with questionnaires. Then I got an email asking me to interview for a different job. I had a phone interview with the communications lead, and after that, they asked me to come in for a 2-day volunteer working interview. During this time, I worked on projects they were actually using. I had to take two days off from my regular job and lose pay to do this, only to be emailed later saying I didn't quite fit their expectations after they reviewed my qualifications. It felt like they were just looking for free work. The people there seemed nice, but I think one day would have been enough for them to decide. Two days felt like too much.

I did the online application, which was pretty long and had regular questions plus some about PETA's policies and campaigns that you had to finish all at once. A week or two later, I got more questions by email from the department manager, not HR, and they were more about the job itself. Then, I got an invite for a phone interview, which was scheduled for a few days later. It was very focused on the position, no boring questions about my weaknesses. The next day, I was asked for an in-person "working" interview in Norfolk, VA. They didn't cover flights, but they did give me a nice place to stay at their guest house and paid for my taxi to and from the airport, plus drove me to the interview and back. On the interview day, I met with HR for a quick, basic chat, then had a timed writing exercise with three prompts, like telling a story about an animal impacting my life or writing a response to an angry supporter about a PETA ad. After that, I spent the rest of the day doing tasks in the audiovisual department that would be part of the job. I got a free vegan lunch and was offered the job about a week after that. I've heard some working interviews can be a whole week long and even involve fieldwork, and that interviews can be a big commitment, but it shows how serious you are.

There was a long application, mostly asking about my thoughts on animal rights and such. Then, I had a 30-minute phone chat, followed by a sample project that took me about 2 hours to complete. The sample project felt a bit much, requiring a series of sample emails, a large systems chart (specific to their complex data flow), and about 5 documents in total.