{"id":3189,"date":"2014-07-10T19:52:21","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T02:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/?p=3189"},"modified":"2014-07-10T19:53:22","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T02:53:22","slug":"interview-practice-prepare-repeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/gov-talk\/career-advice\/interviewing\/interview-practice-prepare-repeat\/","title":{"rendered":"The Interview: Practice Prepare Repeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Audio<\/a>My career spans three decades in local government with wide-ranging administrative experiences in small cities, large counties and now with five years of private sector experience working in public sector recruitment, strategic planning and organizational management. My current position offers me unique opportunities to work with public agencies as small as 1,000 and as large as 1,185,000.<\/p>\n

In my executive recruitment work I provide on-going information and advice to applicants interested in applying for a position. Questions I am often asked, \u201cTell me about the City.\u201d \u201cWhat do you know about the County Board?\u201d \u201cWhat happened to the last Administrator?\u201d These questions are common and anticipated. The questions change and evolve as applicants move further in the process. The interview stage is where the next round of questions often surface. The most common question is: \u201cNow, tell me again what the elected body (insert City Council, County Board, etc.) is looking for in their next administrator.\u201d By this time in the process the answer to that question is simple.<\/p>\n

However, the balance of this column is not about what are the right questions to ask, but rather what is the right impression to be left. You see it is much more than just questions that decide your fate in an interview.<\/p>\n

On Monday, July 14, my son and I attended the All Star Game Home Run Derby Contest at Target Field in Minneapolis. I grew up in a baseball family. My father was a long-time Chicago Cub fan who never had the chance to see his team win a World Series. To this day my family and I enjoy \u201cgoing out to the ballpark\u201d to watch our favorite team play. So in the spirit of the summer and with a metaphor that is very apropos, let me offer a few of my personal recommendations on \u201chow to hit a home run in an interview.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the fundamentals that applicants often overlook is the practice (yes practice), effort and preparation that is necessary to hit it out of the ballpark during the interview. As someone who has witnessed hundreds of interviews, I have seen it all. I can tell in five minutes with 90% accuracy how an interview is going to end up. I know in advance what I am looking for \u2013 only a few fundamentals and to be quite candid, they are relatively easy to spot and see. Here is what I look for in an interview:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n