Tough and inspiring. Beyond the initial application form there was a two-stage interview process. The first round interview was remote, with a mixture of the usual values and competencies questions plus a live on-the-spot case study. This was a real-life case study of a live development project and was testing the ability to diagnose the key issues and data needed to develop a business plan for a project that is now being implemented in real life.
The second round interview followed a week or so later, and was in person. I was given an hour to prepare my response to a detailed case study (again based on a real life live project being developed by the charity) to then present it in an interview immediately following. It was framed very openly, with no restrictions on research tools that could be used in the hour of preparation time, and was designed to elicit how I analysed the problem and conceptualised and sense-checked my potential solution.
Both interview stages were really stimulating and gave me a great insight into the actual work and culture within the organisation, which has been borne out since starting in role.
