Our recruiting team gets the exciting privilege of being the first to speak with potential new teammates during the first step of our hiring process, otherwise known as Intro Calls. As part of this conversation, we always leave room for candidate questions, because it’s really important to us for candidates to evaluate if we’re the right match for them as well.
Over time, we’ve noticed there are some topics that almost everyone wants to know more about, so we’ve compiled the list of most common questions we get asked by candidates, along with the answers that will help you decide if Magoosh is the right place for you.
Table of Contents
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
- What’s the hiring process?
- Do you provide work sponsorship?
- How do I prepare?
- Do you actually read the cover letter?
- Is the salary negotiable—why not?
- Can you share more about why your values are inequalities?
- In what ways does Magoosh fulfill its mission to level the educational playing field?
- In what ways have you seen Magoosh live out the core values?
- What structures are in place to support part-time and remote employees?
- I’m on the East Coast, do I have to work West Coast hours?
- Can part-time employees choose their own hours?
Culture
What is the culture like at Magoosh?
Magoosh’s culture is a reflection of our core values, which, day-to-day, means we’re a friendly bunch who are always challenging ourselves to learn, change, and passionately do everything we can to make test prep accessible to as many students as possible. We prioritize communicating every step of the way, moving quickly, and wow-ing our students and each other as we go.
Aside from being friendly, Magooshers cheer each other on, are flexible and driven, and provide each other with the feedback we need to grow. We also like getting to know each other better and try to enable folks to be their authentic selves, and do that by having social events and virtual gatherings, like DEI Book Club, Games Happy Hour, Holiday Extravaganza, Wine Club, and more!
What are the best parts about working at Magoosh?
Some of the things that make Magoosh a great place to work include making an impact and engaging in meaningful work, a genuine commitment to the mission shared by all Magooshers, leadership that genuinely cares about people, flexible work schedules, friendly and passionate team members, and fun social events (even virtual ones!).
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
How does Magoosh foster a diverse and inclusive environment?
This is a work in progress for us! We have done a lot of awesome work so far, like:
- Standardizing our interview questions and rubrics (more info here)
- Holding ourselves accountable by using the Rooney Rule
- Ensuring Part-Time, Full-Time, remote, and in-office team members feel integrated into the Magoosh culture
- Developing a framework for Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), including BMAT, AAPI, LGBTQIA, and Minds of All Kinds
- Building out a pay equity framework (more info here)
- Ensuring equitable benefits and perks across our employee groups
- A number of other Key Results around Belonging, Voice, Inclusion and more that are owned by our Director of DEIB, DEI Committee, and ERGs for an even greater focus and impact
Take a look at these blogs for more info about our diversity goals and how we examined DEIB at Magoosh.
We know there is more we can do, and we are actively pushing ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organization.
Growth Opportunities
Are there opportunities to grow at Magoosh?
Yes! There are a ton of opportunities to grow! In the past, we’ve had part-time team members become part-time team leads, part-time team members transition into full-time roles, full-time team members move to new departments (like Marketing to Engineering), and full-time team members move up to higher-level individual contributor or management roles.
We do periodic evaluations so that Magooshers always know where they’re at and what they need to do in order to grow.
If your dreams and goals ultimately take you outside of Magoosh, we will support you in that next step of your journey, too! And we are very connected with our Magoosh “alumni.”
Hiring Process & Practices
Check out a detailed answer to this question in this blog. 🙂
Do you provide work sponsorship?
Being a small startup, we are unable to provide sponsorship and currently can only employ folks who are authorized to work and live in the U.S.
How do I prepare?
Read Nicole’s awesome blog on this exact topic here.
Do you actually read the cover letter?
Yes, we read every single one! After you apply for an open position on our careers page, we review your resume and cover letter. While reading the cover letter, we’re looking for additional signs, beyond what is captured in the resume, that you have the skills needed for the position and that you have a genuine passion for Magoosh’s mission and interest in the role you’re applying for.
Don’t have all of the requirements for the role? We still encourage you to apply (we especially encourage candidates from historically underrepresented backgrounds to apply). The cover letter is a great way to tell us why you’d be a strong candidate for the role, despite not having all of the qualifications.
Is the salary negotiable—why not?
At Magoosh we’re committed to pay equity. We understand that folks with certain identities are more likely to get raises or do better in negotiations than others. We want to ensure that Magooshers who are doing the same job at the same level will have the same salaries. We combat pay inequity by making all salaries non-negotiable. If you’re interested in learning more, take a look at this blog post that digs into our approach to salaries!
Mission & Values
Can you share more about why your values are inequalities?
Our values help guide our decision-making and how we work, but it’s not to say that one way of doing things is better than another. As you’ve already noticed, we turned our values into inequalities—the left side represents the Magoosh way, and the right side represents another good way, just not our way. To learn more about our core values, click here.
In what ways does Magoosh fulfill its mission to level the educational playing field?
What differentiates Magoosh from so many other companies is our mission. We create high-quality test prep products at an affordable price. Test prep can cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars, making it impossible for lower-income students to afford. We want all students to have the opportunity to prepare for their standardized exams. On top of our products being incredibly affordable, we also offer a bunch of student discounts and sometimes offer our product for free to community-based organizations that serve some of our most marginalized communities.
In what ways have you seen Magoosh live out the core values?
Magoosh lives and breathes its core values. They are a part of our everyday workflows. They help guide our decision-making, help us assess candidates in our interview process and employees in their performance, and are used to ensure we continue to live out our mission of leveling the playing field.
A few of the core values a new Magoosher would quickly notice are: our teammates are truly some of the friendliest folks around, we REALLY value communication, our leaders take wow > profit seriously, and done > perfect is a way of life here.
During the uncertainties of 2020, Magoosh lived out Wow > Profit in a big way, both for students by allowing flexibility with their memberships and employees by offering flexible/reduced work hours, a COVID sick bank (FT & PT employees), and additional paid time off for rest/mental health every quarter (just to name a few).
Org Structure
An area team is a cross-functional team that works to drive forward the success of a product. The different areas at Magoosh are:
- GRE/GMAT (GRAT Team)
- SAT/ACT (High School)
- LSAT/MCAT (LCAT)
- IELTS/TOEFL (IEFL)
- New Products (where we’re incubating new product ideas!)
On an area team, you may find a couple of marketers, a Product Manager, a Curriculum Manager, and an engineer.
What is the org structure?
Magoosh doesn’t have a heavy top-down structure, meaning we maintain lines of communication open across all levels of the organization and encourage input/questions/ideas from everyone. That said, we do have Area and Department Leads. Area Leads are responsible for our different products (listed in the answer above) and Department Leads guide the strategic direction of the department.
The various departments at Magoosh include:
- Content
- Data
- Engineering
- Marketing
- Operations (Business Ops, HR, Recruiting, DEIB)
- Product/UX
- Student Help
Remote Workforce
What structures are in place to support Part-Time and remote employees?
We have done a lot of work to ensure Part-Time Magooshers are just as integrated into the culture as Full-Time Magooshers. Our Part-Time folks receive benefits like sick time, paid time off, 401k, and being part of all the social events that happen at Magoosh. We’ve also revamped some of the perks for our Part-Time teammates! You can find more information here.
Before 2020, we were already developing a remote/work-from-home framework to provide our teammates with more flexibility, and the pandemic just put that timeline in fast-forward. Throughout most of 2020, our entire team worked remotely, and we anticipate shifting to an office/remote blended work environment for the future (even post-pandemic). Magoosh has been supportive by contributing toward home office equipment, offering flexible hours, keeping teams connected through tools like Asana and Slack, and hosting virtual social events.
I’m on the East Coast, do I have to work West Coast hours?
You do not have to work West Coast hours! We are super flexible when it comes to work schedules, and we want you to work the hours that are best for you while allowing for the overlapping hours that are needed for meetings and check-ins with your manager and team. In general, our FT employees work about 4-5 overlapping hours per day.
Can part-time employees choose their own hours?
The ability for our part-time employees to choose their own hours largely depends on the business needs of the team. Some of our part-time employees have the flexibility to choose their own work hours, allowing for 2-3 overlapping hours per week for manager/team check-ins and project updates, while other part-time teammates have more set schedules, doing the bulk of their work during standard business hours multiple days per week. Your manager will be able to share more role-specific details, but in general, we aim to balance flexibility and role needs.
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