Most of my jobs before the Navy (no interview, just standards and tests) were for people i knew or were related to people i knew so they weren’t complicated and for the most part i just showed up for the job.
I’d say that my first real interview didn’t happen until I was 27 and it’s still the most structured interview that i’ve been involved in. I was applying as a summer intern for a water district and it was in front of a board of 4 individuals. They each had their set of questions which appeared to be consistent for all of the candidates. This was nice because it kept everyone on a level playing field and made it easier for them because it allows them to be able to compare different responses for the same question. I was impressed and thought that they did a great job. I on the other hand have probably never been less prepared and looking back on it, I bombed the interview, but that’s not the point. My next interview was for a parking lot attendant at Home Depot when I was in my junior year of undergrad. All I wanted at the time was a simple job that would work with my class schedule. I met with the manager and he went through a set of prepared questions, all of which I felt I answered rather well. Unfortunately for myself, I fell into the category of being way too over qualified. It was the lowest job at Home Depot whereas i’d been a reactor operator in the navy for 8 years and was working on my degree in nuclear engineering. He and I both knew this and he basically told me that i was rather over qualified. I appreciated the fact that he still went through the whole process and asked me the same questions. It let me know he was still going to do his job given the fact that he wasn’t going to hire me.
The last time I had an interview was when I was applying for an internship at my current company. It was the longest interview that i’d been through and was interesting because I ended up going through 3 different interviews. The first was a phone call that i took in between classes. The interviewer was more unstructured so he was asking various questions about my experience, education and various other similar topics. The second phase was with my would be manager and one of the leads. This was in person at the offices and was somewhat structured, but you could tell a couple of questions were their own. My final interview was probably the least professional interview that I’ve been through had. It started off normal with the guy asking questions about my background, and education, why i wanted to do the job, but then he started talking about Washington DC and politics. I was rather uncomfortable with that topic and managed to defuse the subject and get past it. Then he started talking about my experience in the Navy and started to bring up the topic of port calls over seas. He didn’t outright ask me something inappropriate, but I wasn’t comfortable on that topic with someone interviewing me that i’ve never met before. I managed to get through that as well and ended up getting the job, but I wasn’t a big fan of working with someone that does that.
It’s been interesting to see the different techniques. You could argue that the Navy has a very structured interview process, but the interview is mainly about your physical health, your mental health, and your criminal background. If you want a reliable method for processing someone then you can look no further than the military. They’re effective and efficient, especially when they see your test score.
I have to say, I still think about that internship interview and what they could have done differently. Having performed the interview process for the company, I unfortunately found out why mine were so touch and go (at best). I didn’t have much preparation other than what type of questions I was not allowed to ask. I believe that my company could possibly benefit by giving training on conducting interviews. You don’t really realize how difficult it is to interview until you’ve given it a try.
