Preparing For Federal Job Interviews

Getting a job with the Federal government can be a long and often torturous process, and that’s just applying for the position.  This posting will talk about how to prepare for a Federal job interview.

Who Will Interview You?

 Federal interviews are typically conducted by a panel of three people, usually including the hiring official.  Like a military court martial jury, the interview panel must include people of at least the same grade as the position being filled.

In a perfect world, the panel will include a subject matter expert.  When I interviewed for a public affairs position at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration years ago, the panel including the deputy administrator (whom the position reported to), and the communications director at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  I’ve also experienced interviewers who were clearly “warm bodies,” who were the right grade and available to participate in the interviews, but had no knowledge of government communications.

Some agencies allow the hiring officials to conduct solo interviews.  This can be a lot like speed dating, especially if the interviewer is a political appointee or the job being filled bears little resemblance to the vacancy announcement.  I was once interviewed for a position as head of communications operations for a regulatory agency.  The agency had also announced a vacancy for a media relations specialist at a lower grade.  The first question lobbed at me by the communications director was: “tell me about some stories you’ve pitched to reporters?” 

 Baffled, I asked whether I was being interviewed for the GS 15 management position or the GS 14 media relations position. “ Oh, we are combining the two positions,” was the answer.

Since media relations is one of my passions, I gamely went on with the interview.  When it came my turn to ask questions, I asked what type of individual the director was looking for. “Someone I can trust,” came the response from the person who was trying to fill two vacancies with one person.  Needless to say, I didn’t get the job, nor did I want it.

What Questions Will You Be Asked?

Federal job interviews generally use the structured interview process in which each candidate is asked the same series of questions and then are rated based on their answers.

The responses are graded on a 1-5 scale using a ratings guide developed by the hiring office and human resources staff.  Higher ratings are assigned to answers that provide the most detail.

Questions can be job specific or situational.  Expect open-ended questions requiring you to provide detailed answers.  For example, "describe the types of documents you have written, reviewed or edited."  Your answers should provide examples relevant to the job for which you are intervewing.

Many of the questions are designed to determine your knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the job.  To get an idea of the types of questions you may be asked, take a look at the vacancy announcement.

Here are some questions I used to interview candidates for communications manager positions in a previous job:

• Describe your experience in working with Congressional staff;
• Describe your experience in responding to media inquiries;
• This position requires a significant amount of writing materials for use in communicating with the media, Congress, senior government officials and members of the public, including drafting press releases, Powerpoint presentations, brochures, letters and point papers.  Can you describe your experience in writing these materials, including the editing process and what type of feedback or results you obtained.

Candidates should also expect behavioral questions designed to evaluate whether you would be a good fit for the organization.   Here’s two questions that I have fielded during job interviews: 

• Describe a situation in which your boss disagrees with your recommended response to a media inquiry; 
• Give us an example of how you handle someone with a difficult personality??

Interview scores are supposed to be scored using a rating guide using level of complexity and skills used. Here's an example from the Merit Systems Protection Board. "Describe a situation in which you had to deal with people who were upset a problem."  The highest rating would go to a candidate who maintained his/her cool when discussing highly sensitive or controversial topics.


In a future post, I will discuss the types of questions to ask during an interview.