RAND Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online and had a referral from someone who works there. A senior researcher reached out within a few weeks for a 30-minute chat. They seemed really interested in my resume and research background. Then I had another interview that was pretty much the same as the first one. Everyone I talked to did a good job explaining the role and the hiring steps and were happy to answer my questions.

This was a long process, about 4 months total. It started with a quick 15 min HR screen, then a 30 min chat with the associate director, followed by a 60 min meeting with the director. After that, there were four 30 min meetings with research leads. They also had a data science assessment before the final round. Everyone was nice and the questions seemed easy. The whole thing moved pretty slowly, and I had to check in multiple times to get updates.

My interview at Rand started well, but then got weird. The first HR person was nice, professional, and let me talk about my background, even did some small talk, which was cool. But the second HR person I met was not friendly at all. She immediately started firing questions at me, didn't let me get comfortable. I tried to chat, but she just cut me off, saying we had to stick to her list. The whole interview felt super rushed, she kept telling me to hurry up, which was really off-putting. It felt like she didn't care what I was saying, just moved to the next question without even responding. It made me feel like just a number, not someone they valued. When I asked about her own experiences and wins at the company, she was cold and didn't give any real info, which sucked. It felt like talking to a robot would have been similar. The way this interview went really showed me what the company culture might be like at Rand – cold and very by-the-book. Even though I was excited about the job, this HR interaction made me decide not to move forward. It was a really disappointing look at how they might treat their employees.

I applied online and it took about two months to hear back. I was contacted for an interview and they scheduled a 4-6 hour block on a single day. The interview was postponed by RAND for two weeks. I got the interview schedule the night before. It consisted of 1.5 hours of info sessions and 3 interviews. Two interviews were with more senior researchers (30 min each) and one was with a current RA (45 min). There were 15min-1 hour breaks between interviews. Everyone was very nice and friendly. It seemed more like a vibe check.