Preparing for the Interview

A personal interview not only gives your potential employer an opportunity to evaluate you in depth and you a chance to sell yourself, but it also gives you the opportunity to learn much more about the employer and the agency for which he works. You want to be able to carry on a fairly intelligent conversation with your interviewer, even if he can't. By knowing what is expected of you and by undertaking a few simple preparations, you can make a more favorable impression and minimize any nervousness you may feel.

Interviewers will size you up in terms of the following qualities:

• Initial impression
• Fitness for the job
• Past job performance
• Maturity
• Analytic ability
• Judgment and prudence
• Appearance and manner
• Leadership
• Motivation
• Potential to grow in the job
• Ability to communicate
• Overall personality
• Initiative
• Mental alertness
• Self-confidence
• Compatibility with other staff

Some agencies maintain a standard rating form and use a point system to rate candidates. Prior to your interview, try to obtain a copy of the rating form from the Personnel Department so you can tell exactly on what qualities you will be evaluated.

This list of fundamental provisions you should take before you meet your interviewer will enhance your performance at the interview:

1. Be certain of the exact time and place of the interview. If you are uncertain how to get there, just ask. Write this information down and don't lose it. If you are really unsure of where the interview location is, check it out on a local street map or take a test drive there.
2. Arrive at the interview on time. There is no excuse for tardiness for a job interview. Innumerable jobs have been lost because the candidate was late for the interview. If it becomes obvious you are going to be more than five minutes late, call and let the interviewer's secretary know. Try to arrive about 15 minutes early.
3. Be sure to get the interviewer's name right - ask her secretary how to pronounce it if you are unsure of its pronunciation.
4. Learn all you can about your potential employer and the position for which you are applying. If you are applying for work in local government, you want to appear reasonably knowledgeable about the community. Drive around the city. Read its most recent comprehensive plan. Ask planners at the regional planning agency about it. Find out its population and socioeconomic composition. Find out what the employing agency actually does, how it functions, who it serves, its size and budget, current issues facing the agency, with whom you will work, who your boss will be, and why there is a vacancy.
   Obviously it may be impossible to learn all this information before an interview, especially if you are from out of town. You can get some of this information from booklets the local chamber of commerce distributes, and/or the web. See the directories of municipal officials which furnish census data and information on how local governments are organized. Many of them are available at horaries, especially municipal and university libraries.
   At least try to learn enough so your potential employer won't feel you are too much of an outsider to learn the vagaries of the community in which you would be working. And by all means try to learn all you can about the person or persons who will interview you and make the hiring decision so you can present the side of you which will appeal most to their sensibilities. It is possible that other people you know in your field may be able to tell you something about your interviewer and the jurisdiction for which he or she works.
5. Make a list of points you want to be sure to make in the interview at appropriate moments. You may have forgotten to make these points or facts about yourself at your last interview. Placing them firmly in mind before this interview should assure you don't forget them again. Even though you should never pull out such a list at the interview, the mere act of writing the list will help you remember the points.
   Many interviewers will ask you about your career goals. Whether or not you were once a Boy/Girl Scout, be prepared! Think this one out carefully because nearly every interviewer will hit you with this one.
6. Plan to bring several items to the interview. Believe it or not, some interviewers lose a candidate's resume and cover letter just before the interview. So be sure to bring a clean copy of each with you. If requested, bring letters of reference and work samples. Students may substitute excellent term papers or projects. Bring these materials in a folder or brief case and offer them only if asked or if they graphically illustrate a point. The interviewer's desk is probably cluttered enough as is.

Questions Interviewers Ask
Be prepared to answer the questions that inevitably surface in any job interview. According to the our employer surveys, most of the following questions about your education, work experience, career goals, and yourself tend to surface in virtually every job interview:

• Tell me about your educational background.
• Why did you choose to attend that particular college/university?
• What was your major, and why?
• Did you do the best you could in school? If not, why not?
• What subject did you enjoy most? ... the least? Why?
• If you started all over, what would you change about your schooling?
• Recent graduates are likely to also be asked:
• What was your grade point average? (The more work experience you have, the less likely this inquiry will be made.)
• Why were your grades so high? ... so low?
• What leadership positions did you hold?
• How did you finance your education?
• What were your major accomplishments in each of your former jobs?
• Why did you leave your last position? (If asked why you left any of former your jobs, give reasons that do not suggest you are a job shopper or jumper. Acceptable reasons include a return to school, better pay, new challenges, more responsibility, and a desire for a different type of work.)
• What job activities do you enjoy the most? ... the least?
• What did you like about your boss? ... dislike?
• If asked to name weaknesses, never say you don't have any. Turn a negative Into a positive with a response like, "I tend to get too wrapped up In my
• work and don't pay enough attention to my family. My wife has suggested, a couple of times, that I Join Workaholics Anonymous."
• Which of your jobs did you enjoy the most? Why? ... the least? Why?
• Have you ever been fired? Why?
• Why do you want to work for us?
• Why do you think you are qualified for this position?
• Why are you looking to change jobs?
• Why do you want to make a career change?
• Why should we want to hire you?
• How can you help us?
• What would you ideally like to do?
• What is the lowest pay you would take? (Always deflect this question.)
• How much do you think you are worth in this job?
• What do you want to be doing five years from now? (Working here with a promotion or two, obviously.)
• How much do you want to be making five years from now?
• What are your short-range and long-term career goals?
• If you could choose any job and agency, where would you work?
• What other types of jobs are you considering? ... other agencies?
• When would you be able to start?
• How do you feel about relocating, travel, and spending weekends or evenings in the office?
• What attracted you to our department?
• Tell me about yourself.
• What are you major strengths?
• What are your major weaknesses?
• What causes you to lose your temper?
• What do you do in your spare time? What are your hobbies?
• What types of books and magazines do you read?
• What role does your family play in your career?
• How well do you work under pressure? ... in meeting deadlines?
• Tell me about your management philosophy?
• How much initiative do you take?
• What types of people do you prefer working for and with?
• How (creative, tactful, analytical, etc.) are you?
• If you could change your life, what would you do differently?
• Who are your references? (Have a printed list with names, addresses, and phone numbers to submit.)
• How would you respond to a question from a reporter about the plan commission's decision to override your recommendation? An increasing number of public sector employers are concerned with employees speaking to the press, especially on controversial issues. In developing your answer, keep in mind that when working for government, the public is your actual client and the public is represented by the people it has elected. Once the public's elected representatives, or appointed representatives such as plan commissioners, make a decision, you should not publicly criticize it, or criticize it on the record to a reporter, even if it runs counter to every sound principle of government.

Handling Illegal Questions
Unfortunately, despite great strides over the past decade, illegal questions continue to pop up in job interviews, even for government work. Sexism, in particular, is alive and well in the hearts and souls of many job interviewers. While equal employment legislation makes it illegal to ask certain questions during an interview, some interviewers ask them anyway. If you are prepared, you can fend them off effectively and still score points with the interviewer.

If the questions don't get asked, you've got no problem. Illegal or inappropriate questions include:

• What's your marital status?
• How old are you?
• Do you go to church regularly?
• What is your religion?
• Do you have many debts?
• Do you own or rent your home?
• What social and political organizations do you belong to? Be wary if the interviewer steers the conversation to politics. Do not be evasive, but temper your remarks to camouflage radical or extremist views. Keep in mind that in some communities a traditionally ''liberal'' viewpoint is considered "radical." Your political views are really nobody's business but your own. But don't say that in an interview unless you have found an inoffensive way to express that view.
• Try to say no more than is necessary to answer the interviewer's broad line of questioning about politics.
• What does your spouse think about your career?
• Are you living with anyone?
• Are you practicing birth control?
• Were you ever arrested?
• How much insurance do you carry?
• How much do you weigh?
• How tall are you?

If an interviewer spouts one of these illegal questions, don't go crazy and shout "That question is illegal and I ain't gonna answer it!" You may be right, but this sort of reaction does not display any tact on your part, which may be what the interviewer is testing, although tactlessly. We suggest the use of humor. In response to the question of whether you are on the pill, you could respond, "Sure, I take three pills everyday, vitamins A, B, and C, and thanks to them I haven't missed a day of work in three years."

Sometimes humor is not as appropriate. Asked if you are divorced, you might respond, "I was just wondering if you could first explain what bearing being divorced could have on someone's ability to perform this job?"

As you might have guessed by now, women are the main targets of these unjustifiable questions. But if you're prepared, you can neutralize them. For example, some interviewers will ask women with small children, ''What if the kids get sick?" A sound response to this question goes along the lines of, "I have arranged for contingency plans. I have a sitter on standby, or my husband can take a vacation day." This sort of answer indicates to your potential employer that you are a professional (not that you should have to prove your professionalism just because you're a woman, but some sexists never learn) and that you've anticipated the problem.

Married women with a family often get asked, "How can you travel?" An interviewer is trying to find out if the employer will have to pay for the woman's other responsibilities. An employer may be wondering if she is going to put her family before her job. A good answer would be, "Of course I can travel if it's important to my job. I'd be happy to do it. All I have to do is make the proper arrangements."

If an interviewer learns that your spouse works for a company that likes to move its employees around every three or four years, he may ask, "What are your plans if your spouse receives orders to relocate?" That's actually a reasonable question to ask of either partner in a two-income household, but for some mysterious reason it is rarely asked of the husband. A good answer is to say, "My husband and I have discussed this issue and we've decided that my work is important for my professional growth and we will work out a plan when and if that time comes."

Once a woman has been working for an employer for a while and has proven her worth, she'll have a better bargaining position if spousal relocation threatens her job. Try to decide how you will handle illegal or inappropriate questions before you go to an interview. With a little preparation, you can turn a negative into a positive when such questions are posed. Your answers to such questions could turn out to be your strongest and most effective weapon of the whole interview.

Questions You Should Ask
Prepare questions before you go to the interview so you won't be speechless when the interviewer asks you if you have any questions. You may want to ask about the nature of the job and agency, opportunities to exercise initiative and innovation, chances for advancement, and status of the agency. Save questions about fringe benetits (health insurance, leave time, conference attendance) and salary for the· end of the interview. As explained later in this chapter, you are best off if the interviewer raises these issues.

Dreamfedjob suggest that you be prepared to ask the following questions if the interviewer has not already answered them:

• What duties and responsibilities does this position involve?
• Where does this position tit into the organization?
• Is this a new position?
• What would be the ideal person for this position? Skills required? Background? Personality? Working style?
• With whom would I work in this job?
• Can you tell me something about these people? Their strengths, weaknesses, performance expectations?
• What am I expected to accomplish during the tirst year?
• How will I be evaluated?
• On what performance criteria are promotions and raises based?

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!