About two weeks after submitting application, I received an invite to complete an assignment. There was no indication about how long they thought it would take but it took me four full days - probably 40-50 hours. I don't see how you could do a good job putting in fewer than 20 hours and thats if you knew powerpoint and excel thoroughly. But I liked the project and had the time to put into it so I found it helpful but overkill. There are other projects that could have been designed to get the same result without taking up a ridiculous amount of time and potentially leaving candidates to feel bitter and annoyed. After turning in the assignment, I received an invite for a phone interview about a week later. The phone interview went okay - pretty standard questions. About four days later I received an update letting me know the hiring committee was still working on next steps and shortly after that I was told that they found a candidate who fit their needs better but encouraged me to apply for other open positions and that they would be back in touch if the same position reopened. Overall, TNTP is very professional, courteous, and great at communicating with candidates to keep them updated. It def made me more interested in pursuing opportunities with them in the future.

The process is very shady and I have a feeling they use interviews as a source of information and even use the "exercises" as an excuse to gather free consulting. They interview you, have you do exercises (the ones I did were using current data) that are literally the same thing schools pay TNTP to do. I was asked to make minor changes to the products I completed (such as formatting requirements) which seem strange when they are in theory looking for examples of how you will work but not expect you to already have a finished product. I was strong along and asked to do multiple exercises over about 4 weeks. Finally I had another job offer so I asked them when they would know for sure one way or the other, they called back 5 minutes later and said "sorry we have just filled the position with someone else." That was 3 months ago, the position is still listed as a current opening. In the end I am happy I did not end up there but I am disappointed in the way they handled the process, I almost feel like I should send them a bill for my consulting.