MITRE Interview Questions.

It's always hard to know what to expect when going in for that interview -- and preparation can make all the difference. What is the interview process like at MITRE?

Any advice on striking the right note?

Different interview processes for different candidates.

Most common is for the experienced professional: candidate must present a 30min or 1hr briefing on a topic agreed to by the hiring managers. Usually the topic consists of something related to the open job, or it is a technical innovation that the candidate proposes as a potential topic to pursue in their future career with MITRE. Attendees not only include the hiring managers, but also any other interested employees who happen to be around. Questioning from the audience is encouraged.

For college grads, interviews can be several hours long. Sometimes it consists of many 30minute 1-on-1's with hiring managers and future colleagues. Other times could be a group interview. Hiring managers often take the candidate out for lunch. They try to discover the "whole" person through not only simple technical questions ("What did you study and why did you like it?" "What did you take away in your class project?"), but also hobbies, and sometimes theoretical questions (how do you think M&M's are colored?). At lunch, they want to see how you order/treat the service staff on top of how you behave in a slightly more casual atmosphere.

Interview process isn't very complicated as long as the candidate has interpersonal skills and acts professionally at all times.

Wow.. That is really intensive. Having all of those people around you in an interview seems a little intimidating..

As Nuge in Colorado said the interview processes are different. Also depending on the group(s) that you interview with the questions can be very different. If you have and advanced degree, especially a Ph.D, then the focus will be more on the work that you accomplished as a graduate student. Then they will briefly speak to you about the work that they are doing at MITRE and why they thought that you might be a good fit for their group(s) based on your skill set. I was asked a few technical questions that were related to my area of expertise, but to be honest with you they were not too challenging. The hardest part was probably the presentation, but then again it probably only felt that way because I was presenting part of my dissertation. If you are applying and have a Ph.D be prepared for standard defense questions. That is if you have already defended your work. If not then think of some questions that people might ask to poke holes in your argument. Then find answers to the questions, because most of the people at MITRE are pretty technical and have probably seen something similar if not exactly like the work that you were/are doing in graduate school. So be prepared!!!! Other than that the interview process is not too bad.