What to Expect from the MDRC Hiring Process

Potential hires should complete the application per the requirements listed for the position that they are interested in. Some applications will require a writing sample or a sample of the applicant’s coding skills depending on the responsibilities of the position. The uploaded documents may be course-related materials or documents from an independent project that was monitored by someone with a professional background in research. Please note that applicants will not proceed to the next step if they have not followed the application instructions.

Both the Human Resources Talent and hiring teams review all applications. If your application meets the requirements for the position, you may receive an email to inquire about your availability for a video/phone prescreening call. The prescreening call gives you the opportunity to explain why you’re interested in MDRC, to share your experiences that are relevant to the position you’ve applied for, and to discuss salary expectations and location preference (MDRC hires for positions in New York City; Oakland and Los Angeles, California; and Washington, DC). Please note that a prescreening call doesn’t guarantee an in-person interview.

If your skillset is identified as a good match for the position after the prescreening call, you may be invited for an in-person interview. In these interviews, we want to make sure candidates meet some of the individuals whom they will work with. While we do our best to schedule these meetings soon after the phone screen is held, the scheduling may take a week or more to finalize. Once we finalize all schedules, an in-person interview may consist of a series of interviews with various team members from different areas and levels across the organization.

Depending on the position, applicants may be asked to complete an assessment exercise administered by the HR Talent Team or the hiring areas. These exercises are meant both to provide candidates with a glimpse of the day-to-day work associated with the position they’ve applied for and to give us a sense of the candidate’s attention to detail and analytical skills. In some cases, we might request additional meetings or calls with the candidate.

If we decide to advance your application in the hiring process, we will contact your references to gather additional feedback. MDRC will review the references and then decide to either proceed with an offer or to consider other candidates. You can expect to hear from us within a week after providing your references.

This is our favorite stage—when we offer you a position to join our team! A member of the Human Resources Talent team will extend a verbal offer of employment, followed a few days later with an official offer letter with on-boarding instructions. We’ll work with you to ensure a successful launch to what we hope will be an experience affording you many opportunities to grow professionally.