How difficult is a government interview? What are your experiences with these type of interviews?

Question

I just had an interview with the local government (county) for an auditing position. Although I did not have to take a test they said that their interview is based on a score. Depending on how you do on your interview they will send you a letter in 2 or 3 weeks to ask to back for a second one. Overall I think I did all right, I made good eye contact, was confident, and the interviewers made verbal agreement to most of my comments. They asked a total of 9 questions and I feel I answered 7 out of 9 smoothly. THe other two were situational questions so I had to think a bit about it. I told them this and they seemed okay with my answer and they were rather patient with me. I think they were okay with me because they smiled a lot and when I left I thanked them and told them I was excited about the position and hoped to hear back from them. Immediately after that I sent a thank you card to both of them. How do you all feel I did. I'm just going crazy thinking about this.

Answer 1

It sounds like you did pretty well at the interview. You can't really tell by their smiling, etc., as they do that with all the candidates. They want to be careful of lawsuits. Government interviews aren't that much different than private sector interviews. Just go with your feeling of having done well at that interview, and keep on going out on more. It doesn't do any good to try to second-guess at this stage. I think sending the thank you card was a good idea. It's good manners, and just might be the thing that makes you more memorable if you're in the top two being considered. Good luck in your job search.

Answer 2

I had an interview with the department of education, the interview went excellent, they introduced me to everyone and showed me around and even showed me some of the stuff I would be doing. I had great references, but I still didn't get the job. I would just stop worrying about it and keep your job search up and hopefully when you least expect it, they'll call you back in for a 2nd interview. I think the thank you card might have been a little overboard and made you seem desperate, but desperate isn't always a bad thing, it means you'll work because you need to work. A follow up thank you email works, something to the effect, I enjoyed meeting with you and am looking forward to hearing back from you..blah blah blah. Good luck!

Answer 3

I work for the government and do a lot of interviews. I couldn't say how well you did based on what you shared, but you seem to have things together. The interviewers - panel score your answers to questions. I use 1 the worst and 5 the best scoring. I look for specific example responses from candidates and compare them to the types of situations/scenarios folk in my office experience. Best of luck.