GTwannaB said:Don't end the interview without asking for next steps.
+1
First rule of interviewing. Have fun. That is to say, enjoy the process; enjoy meeting new people; enjoy learning new things; enjoy talking about what you know.
GTwannaB said:Don't end the interview without asking for next steps.
+1
First rule of interviewing. Have fun. That is to say, enjoy the process; enjoy meeting new people; enjoy learning new things; enjoy talking about what you know.
minivan_racer said:ShawnG said:Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:My cherry on top was my 4+ years of experience as a Flood Control Zone District Supervisor as this particular facility is built on top of the ruins of a flooded city...
Wait...
Didn't your neighbourhood flood last year?
Well I'm sure he supervised the flood to make sure it a control zone.
He moved the flood zone sign, so future floods irrigate a different area.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Good luck!
Congrats on the interview. That's a pretty exciting opportunity, good luck.
The best advice I have is to find someone to give you a mock interview. Send he/she the job posting/description and your resume so they know what kind of questions to ask you. Send me a PM if you don't already know somebody who can help with that. I'm not good at presenting or interviewing, but I've found if do a few dry-runs and actually saying the words out-loud in a room by myself makes a big difference. It seems weird...but you'd be surprised how much it helps. As much as you think you're good at conversation, you want to make sure you've had a chance to think through the questions they'll ask and contemplate your experiences that relate best to those questions. When I interviewed for my current job one of the interviewers caught me totally off guard and I wasn't prepared to answer the questions coherently and it nearly cost me the job.
Also, sometimes government jobs (mainly federal) will have a numerical scoring system. Your resume (and/or interview) should clearly convey how many years of direct experience you have with each qualification requirement. Many corporate jobs have a scoring matrix based on preset criteria (leadership qualities, & other HR preset criteria).
As someone who has been on the other side of the hiring desk, let me share some general advice for anyone looking to get into a leadership position in pretty much any organization. You want to figure out:
These are the kinds of things you'll need to know before jumping into something. You don't want to assume a leadership role if you don't have a reasonable chance of success. This is all reasonable to ask at an interview if you haven't been able to sort it out before then.
Asking about strengths/weaknesses is a little old-school. It's more common to ask questions about team-player mentality these days. Like "tell me about a conflict you've had and how you resolved it" type of stuff.
Personally, I don't ask those questions because the answers will be 99% pre-packaged bullcrap. But you're likely to come across an interviewer who buys into that stuff. It would pay to look up common "behavioral" interview questions and think about how you'd approach answering them ahead of time.
truly... best of luck!
Go get em Mike. An acquaintance is track manager at Palmer in Mass. Lots of time trying to please very disparate groups, both on and off the track.
In reply to LanEvo :
Strengths & weaknesses: my wife says I'm lousy in bed but I make a Lobster Bisque to die for!
Where do you see youself in 10 years: in jail for shooting a HR-bot who asked stupid canned questions.
We do group interviews and I'm frequently on the panel. We try very hard to avoid the canned Q & A and just let people be themselves. I can tell you if the answer is to polished it's a red flag for me.
To the OP
Good luck on your interview
I agree that having canned/rehearsed answers makes you look like a chump. But it's worth thinking about a few common scenarios so you don't get flustered.
LanEvo said:I agree that having canned/rehearsed answers makes you look like a chump. But it's worth thinking about a few common scenarios so you don't get flustered.
100%.
The good interview questions ask for specifics. "tell me about a time when" or "walk me through the most recent time you had to", etc. So as an interviewee, it is good to make sure you've got your list of crowning achievements in your head and ready. Basically anything you did that was awesome and measurable can probably be tweaked to fit inside most of these types of questions. Think about specific examples of difficulties you've overcome, specific goals and measured successful outcomes,
if they are asking open-ended questions like "what do you think are your 3 best qualities", know that they are VERY likely to follow up with "excellent, give me an example of each".
In my opinion, it is ok (or maybe even beneficial) to admit mistakes you've made in the past, as long as you're prepared to discuss what you learned and how that mistake played into the person you are today, so good to keep a few of those back pocket as well.
Finally, unless you're really lucky, the interviewer will be making their judgement of your competence in the first 60 seconds or so. So look good but not flashy, smile, make eye contact (but don't get weird), firm handshake (except covid), breath slowly, stand confidently, sit up straight. You know, easy stuff like that.
Go coastie! Good luck!
Good luck, Javelin!
Stefan (Forum Supporter) said:stuart in mn said:Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:as this particular facility is built on top of the ruins of a flooded city...
Atlantis?
Close: Vanport.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanport,_Oregon?wprov=sfti1
The yellow outline is the racetrack:
I would have loved to witness the meeting when the conversation went, "So... we've got this flood-prone area that we can't really use for much... let's build a race track!"
Good luck Javelin!
Good luck! Be yourself and be honest. Always show your willingness to learn!
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:Stefan (Forum Supporter) said:stuart in mn said:Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:as this particular facility is built on top of the ruins of a flooded city...
Atlantis?
Close: Vanport.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanport,_Oregon?wprov=sfti1
The yellow outline is the racetrack:
I would have loved to witness the meeting when the conversation went, "So... we've got this flood-prone area that we can't really use for much... let's build a race track!"
Good luck Javelin!
Well, it sorta happened because kids started racing on the abandoned streets and eventually it led to actual organization and events. The city went along with it since they couldn't actually do anything with the land due to the flood prone nature, so they made it a city park and the racers sold tickets to events to pay for track improvements.
Eventually we hosted events like Can-Am, IMSA/ALMS, Indycar/ChampCar, NHRA Top Fuel, etc. Of course as the areas around the track became more and more urbanized, complaints grew over noise and between that and the loss of major sponsors, there haven't been any large events for the better part of a decade. The one and only 24-hour race ever held (inaugural ChumpCar event on Halloween) was stopped around 2 or 3 in the morning due to noise and no others have been allowed since then as they've all been dual events.
The sad irony being that Vanport was created to house WWII workers, mostly people of color, because the racist NIMBY's of the time didn't want them living within the city limits. So Henry Kaiser told them to pound sand and built the damned city himself. After the war, many that could do so, moved to North Portland and similar, but there was a lot of "redlining" that still happened and quite a few of the families still living in Vanport were there because the had little other choices. After the flood, the redlining was relaxed and they were relocated mostly to North and North East Portland.
Let me know if you want any pointers from a small government manager's perspective.
*snip*
I would have loved to witness the meeting when the conversation went, "So... we've got this flood-prone area that we can't really use for much... let's build a race track!"
Good luck Javelin!
aid:as this particular facility is built on top of the ruins of a flooded city...
It can be dual purpose. When flooded, you race boats...
May good luck come your way with this endeavor, Javelin!
I hate waiting on west coast news when I'm east coast.
Deep breath...
Here it goes
Hope it went well.
I just can't not post. We are on pins and needles with fingers crossed.
gunner (Forum Supporter) said:I just can't not post. We are on pins and needles with fingers crossed.
This.
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