Interview Preparation

No matter what type of job you are seeking, there are some general steps you should be prepared for when it comes to the interview process. As job selection becomes more of a competitive process, many companies take additional steps to weed through the applicants in an effort to find the best match for their company. This holds true even if you are a civilian seeking a position in the military. The military has become more selective as to who can enter and who can re-enlist, so civilian positions may likewise be more selective.

Before you go in for an interview, it is a good idea to prepare by taking some mock interviews, either with a friend, or simply reading through possible dialogs which can be found online at various interview preparation sites. It has become more common place to find that aside from the typical job history and strength/weaknesses job skills questions, there are also questions revolving around behavior and reaction scenarios. These types of questions are basically asking you how you might react to certain situations in the work place. There tend to be a fairly decent amount of these, and some sound similar in the way they are asked, but they all work together to expose different angles of your behavior in these situations.

You may also be asked by the interviewer to describe a past experience at a job that caused a conflict, and how you dealt with it. What was your reaction to the issue? What actions did you take? How did it make you feel? How was it ultimately resolved? What do you feel you could have done to have made the situation better?

These type of discussions can help determine your stress management skills, attitude, ethics and personality attributes which may assist the interviewer to see if you are a good fit for the position, the surrounding employees, and the company as a whole. If you can walk in with past conflict resolution scenarios already in mind, it may help you to answer such questions quickly, clearly and professionally, without stumbling and fumbling through.

Even if you are not directly asked about such scenarios, you may be asked for strengths and weaknesses, and such a past experience can be brought up as an example of a way you properly handled the situation. Or, if it is a scenario that you felt was not handled sufficiently, you may also use it as an example of a weakness you previously had in handling a situation. That would allow you to then explain your faults in handling the issue, and to focus on what you learned from the situation and how you have adjusted to not handle things in the same manner now.

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Armed Services Jobs blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog site.