ANATOMY OF AN INTERVIEW

After navigating through the basic elements and challenges of Parts 1-4 which primarily focused on the concept of improving your public speaking skills in concert with self confidence (which are not overnight projects), lets shift gears and consider the primary elements of an interview before we dovetail the previous parts with the concepts we will now discuss. When a promotional interview (or any type of interview-civil service or civilian) is dissected into its basic components, they can be summarized as interview structure and interview concepts.

INTERVIEW STRUCTURE
Within the time constraints that an interview is limited to, the interview can be divided into three main portions. Assume an interview is between the normal time frame of 30 to 40 minutes long. The first 5 minutes is normally known as the opening portion, the specific answer and question portion is the body or main portion of an interview, and the last few minutes when the interview is concluded is know as the closing. These three portions are overviewed as follows:

OPENING
Prior to you entering the interview room, the board will briefly read your application and resume (if available) to get a basic idea of “who you are” and review your background. However, once you enter the room, its show time! Initially, the board will try to get you as comfortable as possible by asking you a few questions such as “tell us about yourself, what is your background”, and other similar questions. This portion of the interview gives the board an opportunity to meet you, get the interview started on a positive note, AND, develop an initial impression of you.

This is one of the most important parts of an interview even though it is extremely very subtle. Interestingly, it is also a part of your interview that you have complete control over. It is a fact that board members are human and will form an initial opinion of a candidate in a short period of time. You are probably wondering “what is the definition of a short period of time”? It is a fact that interview board members will form an impression or opinion of a candidate within 30 seconds to 3 minutes from the start of an interview. Surprised? Ask any person who has had an opportunity to sit on “the other side of the table” how long an initial impression takes and the common answer is often “30 seconds to 1 minute flat”!

In practical terminology, that means the first several minutes of an interview will give the interview board members a general idea of your final grade. Unless you fall asleep and hit the floor or accelerate like a Saturn booster rocket, your initial impression will not significantly vary throughout your interview. Therefore, do you think the visual and verbal image you initially project is dependent on your preparation before your interview? This portion of the interview sets the foundation and direction for the balance of the interview. Luckily, the wise and prepared candidate can determine the outcome of this portion as will be detailed in future discussions.

BODY
Once the interview board has given you a chance to be “somewhat relaxed” and gives you a few minutes to talk about yourself, the board will shift gears and use the major portion of the balance of the interview to discuss various types of questions within specific parameters that are designed to accomplish the following goals:

• Demonstrate and/or expand on your qualifications.
• Analyze your thought process.
• Determine your knowledge of your department’s rules, regulations, policies, procedures, etc.
• Evaluate your opinion on pertinent fire service subjects.
• Give you an opportunity to “take a stand” or “make a decision” on relevant issues/subjects.

The preceding types of questions are dictated by categories (normally 7-9 distinct categories) that are commonly pre-determined by a personnel department. Some examples of these categories are interpersonal relationships, communication skills, fire prevention, decision making ability, etc. The goal of the board is to ask you a question from each category within the time constraints of the interview process. Remember that a typical interview may only last for 30 to 40 minutes, yet this is the time allotted an interview board to “get to know you, determine your qualifications for the new job, estimate your potential success in the new job, and rate your degree of success with the other candidates”. The body portion of an interview provides most of the information to achieve these requirements.

CLOSING
Just prior to the end of an interview, the board will conclude the interview by indicating they are finished with their questions. Generally, most interviews are concluded with a phrase similar to “do you have anything else you want to say or add”? When the interview board reaches this part of the interview, they are done and are anxious for you to “hit the bricks” so they can evaluate your performance, determine your grade, factor your rating with previous candidates, and prepare for the next candidate.

Our next discussion will continue with this theme.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 9:31 am and is filed under FD Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.