With more than 20 years of experience conducting and managing oral board interviews, I think I can fairly say I’ve heard every possible answer to every question asked of a candidate.

The most gratifying feeling a seasoned oral board panelist can experience, is grading the answers of that exceedingly rare applicant that presents an amazing interview.

With rare exception on all of the countless oral board panels that I’ve sat on through the years, one constant remains.

We, the panelists, want to hire the next guy or the next gal that walks in the room.

Interview panels are charged with finding the best applicants they can, and to that end, it’s our hope that the next person who walks through the door is going to be an interview rock star.

Unfortunately, very few are and there are some days, none of them are!

I liken the interview process to panning for gold on a river bank.  You simply never know if or when you’re going to hit pay dirt.  When you do, it’s a great feeling.

This is why I’ve dedicated the latter portion of my career as a police chief, to assisting applicants with honing their interview skills, and thankfully, learning to be that person, the rock star candidate, is teachable and more importantly, learnable.

To be sure, interviewing properly, in a manner that will land one a job offer is a skill, and most all skills can be taught and the skill of interviewing properly, is no different.

Preconceived notions

If you’re familiar with my previous publications you’ll note that I make numerous references to [Read more…]

Virtually anyone and everyone that interviews for a position in law enforcement wants to walk away feeling that their interview carried a sense of passion.

After all, passion is loosely defined by many as a strength coupled with sufficiently acquired intelligence and skill.

To support my point, consider this sentence.  “He had a passion for mountain climbing.”

Surely anyone that had a passion for this type of hobby would likely be pretty darn good at it, and would have certainly acquired the knowledge and skills necessary to pull it off without falling to his death.

So, why not claim that your passion is chasing bad guys and putting them behind bars?

A Passionate Interview

I recently perused an article dedicated to general interviews (as opposed to the very unique interview that we call the law enforcement oral board) and with great interest read a sample question posed by the author of the article.

The question was, quite simply, [Read more…]

 

Trick Questions

There are a great number of questions that oral board panel members will ask candidates that are designed for one purpose…

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To determine your level of loyalty to THEIR agency.

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Answer these questions inappropriately and it’s likely the next letter you open up will say, no thank you.

I’m going to highlight three questions that you MUST be prepared to answer. If they don’t ask them, I still want you to answer them in brief, narrative style, at the end of your interview.

You can call them trick questions as the sub-headline suggests, or you can simply recognize them for what they are, measures of your loyalty.

Question One

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If you could work for any agency, what department would you choose?

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The truth is, most every applicant has a dream department they’d like to work for.  It may be as close as the next jurisdiction over or, at the other end of the country.   Many law enforcement candidates just want a foot in the door and for starters, any agency will do.

Their plan is to make a name for themselves and later, lateral to the agency they really wanted to work for in the first place.

If you don’t think we administrators know this game, you’re mistaken.  That’s why we ask what I call, the hidden loyalty questions.

When you’re asked this type of question, you can bet that your interviewing agency has watched one too many applicants get trained up and bail.

Hiring and training are very expensive endeavors for any law enforcement agency.  When they invest time and money in you, they want to reap the benefit of that investment.

If you give them ANY indication that you’re [Read more…]

What skill does most every candidate overlook?

The ability to talk about themselves in the setting of an oral board interview.

It’s easy to share your thoughts, ideas, ambitions and even your life story with a friend, or group of friends.

Unfortunately that ability is generally not transferable from the dinner and drinks setting, to the interview setting.  Quite simply, you’re not talking to friends.

Talking about yourself in an interview setting is entirely different, and sometimes awkward.

If the interview were held at a local eatery and everyone was having a beer and a hamburger yes, most people could pull it off.

Law enforcement agencies however, don’t serve food and drinks at oral board interviews, but, you should pretend they are when it’s your turn in the hot seat.

The negative consequences for not knowing how to set the pace early in your interview are two-fold and both are potentially interview enders.

If you don’t know how to “do it” interview style, you’ll find yourself in that tongue-tied state that I’ve seen hundreds of applicants in.

The LAST thing you want to do during your interview is present a weak answer to the first question:

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“Tell us about yourself”

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The second last thing you should do in a law enforcement interview is to follow the advice of the standard “correct” answer that you’ll find from most any interview guru.

Finally, in that tongue-tied state that you find yourself in, you’ll also be giving the oral board panel members that icky, [Read more…]

 A new interview trend

Back in the day, it wasn’t terribly uncommon for out-of-state applicants to be flown-in for a law enforcement oral board interview.

The candidates that landed round trip airfare across country in order to sit down for a 30 or 40 minute interview didn’t have mediocre resumes.

These candidates had application packets so full of positive accolades the department was already impressed enough to fork over a few hundred dollars, just to try the shoes on.

Those days are gone, and replaced by Skype and other live video interviews.  With this comes news that can truly work in your favor.

Most people, and I would tender a guess that “most” means in the 90 percentile, present poorly, if not exceedingly poorly during a video interview.

That, for you, is great news because you can learn quickly how to appear as the perfect video interview applicant.

Two factors for failure

There are two key reasons that video interview candidates fumble badly on camera and the first reason has [Read more…]

Behavioral Based Oral Board Interview – Take Two

I receive a fair amount of feedback from my blog posts, but few have elicited the number of questions and comments as my last post, “Behavioral Based Oral Board Interviews.”

It seems that my advice and observations regarding the necessity for preparation of American law enforcement candidates, in the area of behavioral interviews, didn’t fall on deaf ears.

I’m glad to learn that those willing to prepare for their oral board interviews are apparently really drilled into preparing to the fullest extent possible.

Members of EarnYourBadge clearly appreciated the perspective my earlier blog post gave them, and those who are not yet members, asked me to elaborate on the RMSI.

Members also expressed their appreciation for my encouraging them to drill into the mountain of RMSI video information in the Member’s Room of EYB.

Some had simply skipped it, assuming it was meant only for Canadian law enforcement applicants.

While it is indeed tailored to the unique interviews conducted in Canada, it’s a must learn for everyone, regardless of which country you’ll interview in.

If you’ve not yet read “Behavioral Based Oral Board Interviews” post, please do.  In doing so, you’ll be in a position to pull more usable information from this post.

How It Works

As noted in the previous blog, unlike the standard oral board, behavioral interviews are meant to measure and predict the future behavior of applicants, by means of examining their past behavior.

Let’s pick apart just one of the eight competencies embedded in the RMSI interview module, “Teamwork.”

Let’s assume the panel asked you to [Read more…]

Make room for Canada

Don’t be fooled into believing that behavioral based oral board interview is something new in the United States and that us folks “south of the boarder” invented the process.

Canada has been vetting Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and other law enforcement candidates by way of the Regular Member Selection Interview (RMSI) model for many years.

More agencies in the U.S. are picking up on this process and so, if you’re truly interested in becoming prepared for your upcoming oral board, whether it’s tomorrow or next year, you must consider this type of interview.

Behavioral based oral board interviews are something you may face, as opposed to the standard scenario or question based interview.

What is it?

The RMSI is a very structured interview process that encompasses an evaluation of every candidate on eight specific core competencies.

In fact, it’s not often referred to as an oral board as much as it is a “selection interview.”

The goal of this interview technique is to determine if that candidate possesses “essential organizational competencies.”

Ultimately, its intended purpose is to determine if the candidate possesses the necessary attributes to be successful in a career in law enforcement.

The theory applied in the creation of the RMSI is that, if screened properly, a candidate’s past behavior will likely predict future behavior.

The eight competencies for which you’ll be screened are: [Read more…]

Getting Too Comfortable

I’m going to share a little known tactic with you that a good number of oral board panels use, and a few chiefs (myself included) that’s meant to pull from you, something you should never say or do.

If you’re in an oral board interview and the panel is made up of a group of stern faced, stuffed shirts, you’ll likely not be facing the tactic that causes me to write this post.

If, on the other hand, your panel seems to be very, or even exceedingly friendly, read this post in its entirety, you could be in danger.  This can be an interview killer.

I’m not much of a trickster when it comes to interviewing.  What I mean is, I’m a pretty straight forward Chief, but there is a tactic or, better put, maneuver that I employ at EVERY interview.

It’s critical that you’re aware of this stratagem.  I’ve eliminated many, MANY candidates through the years, by way of this interview ruse.

Blue Jeans, at an Interview?

Because I’m not terribly fond of traditional oral board interview practices, in the administration of my agency, I’ve mixed things up a bit over the years.

Once my staff has pared down the number of viable applicants to a reasonable number, before they move on to any phase of the oral board process, I phone the officer candidates and ask them to come to my office for an informal interview.

I do this for two specific reasons. [Read more…]