Heavy emphasis on the individual - Public Health Analyst RTI International Employee Review

4.0
24 Apr 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Lots of independent work, folks generally trust you to finish your work. You're able to have a very flexible work schedule, and the PTO policy is also flexible (as long as you can ensure coverage for your tasks before you leave, you rarely ever get denied). People here are also very friendly and open to answering questions. There are so many facets and type of public health work happening at RTI, so there are lots of opportunities to network and do different kinds of work across the institute.

Cons

I've found that you have to "figure out" things on your own if you want to learn about things outside of your current role. RTI also seems to be less of a place to learn, and more of a place to showcase the skills you already have. There is not so much of a focus on streamlined trainings to get from level to level, which makes career growth here very slow (because you have to figure things out on your own, do your own networking, find your own opportunities, in order to grow). There also seems to be an imbalance in how work is distributed across different practice areas and programs. One program in the institute can be completely slammed, while another part of the institute can have folks struggling to find work.

Explore other reviews about RTI International

5.0
8 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

RTI has a good mission

Cons

Adaptation to sudden federal funding loss.

3.0
15 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Remote work and reasonable working hours

Cons

If you're a PhD who enjoys research and hopes to use empirical research skills at a research institute, you'll likely be disappointed as I was. Projects in my business unit were largely implementation projects that required very little creativity or data analysis. I was told by my manager that empirical-research projects are harder to come by and when those opportunities do arise, everyone wants them. Even then, project directors are very unwilling (in my experience) to let you branch out to other projects. Using any overhead time to work on your own research is also discouraged, so I ended up working on manuscripts in my personal time. And there's no funding to attend conferences either. On top of all of this, constant layoffs create an aura of uncertainty and the feeling that you're lucky to even be there even when compensation for similar roles in private sector is far better.

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