I was called for an interview a couple weeks after applying. I interviewed with two people in a video call. One was the hiring manager and the other was an office administrator. The questions they asked were routine and expected; we discussed my background, previous experience, and what responsibilities the position would entail. All went well and sounded promising. Additionally, they said they were backlogged with work and needed to hire someone as soon as possible.
A couple weeks after the interview I was asked to do an assessment over a 48 hour period, which I completed and returned on time. While the assessment took some time, it was not particularly difficult. The next day, the hiring manager confirmed that he received the assessment, and said that if I didn't hear anything within the next week that I should contact him for an update. Since I didn't hear anything, I contacted him and he said that he would have a response to all of the candidates by the end of the week. After not hearing anything, I waited until the following week to send a follow up email. After this, they became completely unresponsive. I sent another follow up reiterating my interest in the position the following week, and this too was met with a non-response. Recently, I saw the same position re-posted on an online job board.
This type of behavior is not only unexpected, but also completely unprofessional. It appears that the young, inexperienced staff at TIMEP lack the necessary social and communicative skills of notifying the candidates they interview and assess, whether or not they are selected for the job. Unfortunately, this type of unprofessionalism is an all too common occurrence at DC think tanks.