interview!!

had the interview today!!  it went really well.  the recruiter said he is going to recommend me (to the regional office in chicago) and that i should expect a follow-up interview in a couple of weeks.  then pending that outcome, which doesn't seem to be a big deal, i will hopefully get a nomination!

he basically asked all of the interview questions i posted, pretty much in order.  (have i praised the availability of the internet in the last 15 minutes?)  it was really no problem at all.  i'd already thought through all of them and was completely relaxed besides.  something about being in business and being on the spot in front of managers on a semi-regular basis – and having 20+ years of experience doing it – makes it pretty easy.  and "thinking on your feet" is a cakewalk when you know all the questions ahead of time.  even if he had thrown some curves in there, i would have been fine since i was so comfortable having a solid idea of what the interview would be like ahead of time.

i learned some interesting things.  i already knew that engineering is a "specialty" area, meaning they are happy to get people with those skills, but it's not one of the six main program areas.  what i figured out is that you still get placed within one of the general program areas anyway (subject for another time), and you do something within that area that has some engineering aspect to it.  so for example, i could end up working on water resource projects within the health program area.  more than that, i could end up anywhere from a site that specifically has an engineering project and has actually requested an engineer to a place where there is no particular engineering need at all.  furthermore, i learned that the level of definition for your work can vary enormously.  i could come into a situation where the job description is set and very well defined, or one where there is only a general principle or direction and no established project in place.  in other words, i could land in east osh-kosh being told to work on "agriculture" with no discernible engineering slant and no set goals or tasks defined.  wow.

volunteers also tend to have secondary projects they work on.  things they get interested in or want to accomplish or stumble upon or fit their personalities that they take on in addition to their main project.  things to do while waiting for things on the main project to develop or while things are on hold (like during the summer of a school year) and so on.  my interviewer had several other things he worked on, including having a radio show and doing health education with municipal first-responders and setting up a computer network for some community members.  now you're talking!  all this and i get to make stuff up too!!

i asked about the likelihood of being assigned to latin america.  i had read somewhere that it may not be easy to get placed there since so many people have had spanish training and would all like to go there.  the recruiter let me know that my four years of high school and one semester of college spanish would be a minimum to have me qualified as having spanish language knowledge, though he ominously went on to ask a couple of times about my flexibility in being assigned to other areas of the world.  he himself had been in paraguay and noted that his moderate amount of school spanish was not much help to him since the training he received was for guarani, the local native language, and not spanish.  in the end, he ended up having to learn both, and advised me to start brushing up on my spanish in advance.

there's no way to know, of course, in what kind of setting a volunteer will land.  we talked about this a bit.  he was in a "medium city" – about 14,000 people with 3 paved blocks, then cobblestone, then dirt roads.  he said of the 108 volunteers in paraguay, only 1 didn't have electricity, about 25% didn't have running water, and about 50% didn't have hot water.  but in his city there were 2 internet cafes.  so, as expected, it's a mixed bag and impossible to know ahead of time.  but he did point out that paraguay and bolivia (where the PC no longer operates) are two of the poorest countries in latin america.  that said, africa, china, any other place is a whole different ball of wax and also completely unknown for what the conditions could be.

ha!  and get this!  even once you have received your invitation, the very last step, and you know where you're going and when your plane takes off, you STILL don't know *where* you're going.  turns out you only know for sure what country you are going to.  you get three months of training before you find out in what village/town/city you'll be living.  so you pack for 2-plus years without even knowing whether you'll be in the middle of nowhere or in a city?  yep, says he.  but you know a lot from knowing what country you'll be going to, he says.  if you're going to paraguay i guess you can make some good guesses (there's only really one or two real cities?).  if you're headed to china, you can be sure you'll be in a relatively crowded place with lots of people.  that's all well and fine, i think, but what about if you are told you're going somewhere like peru?  i don't even have to explain to him what i mean (village vs town vs city, coast vs plains vs mountains), he just nods and says "you could end up anywhere."  big help there.

so now i wait again to here from the guy in chicago.  hopefully he doesn't take too long this time.  i'm imagining it will be a short phone interview to elaborate on any of the topics we discussed that he'd like to know more about.  then i guess it goes to washington for them to assign a general geographic area and program area.  oh, and approximate timing, too!  whee!

so this is what my online status looks like today, before the update to indicate the interview has been completed:

interview prep, part 2

-or- the Interview Questions

warning:  this one is going to be dry, and only of real interest to the most hard-core among you.  but here it is anyway.  in preparing for the interview, i snuck around the internet a bit and found a guide for the general questions i'm likely to be asked.  (again, i say, what did we ever do before the internet?)

it will be a "professional" interview, which shouldn't be a problem, though technically i haven't had one in over a decade.  dress appropriately and all that business (possibly the biggest challenge...).  they'll want to know my reasons for wanting to join, my expectations & concerns about working overseas for two years, my volunteer & work experience (i've got work covered just fine -- it's volunteering that may need some creative answers), etc.  unlike a regular interview, they get to ask personal questions (health, diet, relationship status, financial situation).  one way i've heard it put is that they want to make sure they're getting neither an idealist with no experience nor an experienced person with no ideals.

so i keep flipping back and forth between this is going to be a cakewalk and this could be a challenge.  i could be the ideal candidate, with maturity and plenty of foreign culture and language experience.  or they could realize that i remember about 6 words of spanish and have very little real volunteer experience.  it's hard to say.  of course, i'll keep you posted.

oh, and only just today did i find three minor errors in my application.  crap.  i read that thing a million times and had others look over most of it.


so anyway, here are the generally-agreed questions that get asked:


***************************************************************

MOTIVATION / COMMITMENT

• What motivates you to seek a service position as a Peace Corps Volunteer? How does Peace Corps service fit into your long range plans?
• Remember back to your first playground experience. Why did you want to play on the playground? What games did you play?
• What, if anything, might keep you from completing a 27-month commitment to Peace Corps Service?
• Do you have a specific geographic preference? If yes: what is the reason for your preference and how flexible are you? If there are specific regions where you are unwilling to serve: what are your reasons and what is your degree of flexibility?

PRODUCTIVE COMPETENCE

• Please tell me about your most successful experience in a leadership role. Be as specific as possible.
• Please tell me about an experience when you were able to transfer some knowledge or skill to someone who was different from yourself. What did you learn about your interpersonal skills from that experience? What did you learn about the other person?
• Please tell me about the most frustrating experience you have had when working with others. Specifically, how did you manage that frustration?
• Please tell me about a time when you worked in an unstructured or ambiguous situation? How did you approach the task at hand? What did you learn about your personal strengths from that experience?
• All Peace Corps Volunteers learn a new language. Have you studied a second language?
  • If so, what challenges did you face and what level of facility did you achieve?
  • What aptitudes or abilities can you draw on to help you succeed in learning a new language?

MATURITY

• What situations do you typically find stressful? What do you currently do to reduce stress?
• When you are overseas, circumstances and/or cultural norms may prevent you from employing your usual ways of managing stress, boredom, and loneliness. You will also most likely be out of touch with your familiar support group.
  • In such a situation, what alternative outlets might you use?
  • If your support group currently plays a critical role in helping you cope with stress, how will you manage without them?
• What is the longest you have been physically separated from important people (family, friends, romantic interests, etc.) in your life? What was the most difficult part of being away from those closest to you? How did you cope?
• What kind of support have you received from those closest to you on your decision to join the Peace Corps?
• Has anyone close to you opposed your decision to join Peace Corps? If so, who was it? What were his/her concerns? How have you responded to them?
• Tell me about a time when you had trouble following a rule.
• One’s ability to work through and resolve differences or conflict is often tested in cross-cultural situations. Please tell me about a specific situation, one we haven’t already discussed, when you needed to work through a disagreement or difference of opinion. Were you able to reach a resolution? How, specifically, did you do that?
• If you weren’t able to resolve the conflict, what prevented you from doing so? In retrospect, is there anything you would do differently?
• Are you currently in a relationship? If so, how will you handle the expectations of your service overseas?

SOCIAL SENSITIVITY / CULTURAL AWARENESS

• In some countries, tattoos, body piercing, or unusual hairstyles may be culturally unacceptable. To be a successful Volunteer in such a country, you would have to modify your appearance so that it conforms to local norms. Are you willing to make such an adjustment? Give an example of a time that you had to modify your appearance.
• The following are issues that you may face in your country of service. Please note any concerns:
  • different and/or lack of familiar foods
  • different living conditions
  • lack of privacy; isolation
  • prescribed gender roles
  • possible minority challenges
  • personal religious requirements/possible lack of access to your own religious services
  • living in a culture where alcohol may be widely consumed and accepted/living in a culture that prohibits the use of alcohol altogether

interview prep, part 1

-or-  the Core Expectations

at the risk of boring you guys to death, i'm gonna put some Peace Corps schtuff in this one.  they have this magic list of expectations that volunteers should be able to meet in order to be successful.  it's mostly a bunch of stuff about being respectful of other cultures and being flexible, committed, professional, aware of your image.  why am i posting this?  i don't know.  just because it's part of the prep i have to do for the interview -- be aware of all of these and have good examples to illustrate each.  i'll let you know if i come up with any really good stories...

1. Prepare your personal and professional life to make a commitment
   to serve abroad for a full term of 27 months
2. Commit to improving the quality of life of the people with whom
   you live and work; and, in doing so, share your skills, adapt them,
   and learn new skills as needed
3. Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of
   hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective
   service
4. Recognize that your successful and sustainable development work
   is based on the local trust and confidence you build by living in,
   and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community
   and culture
5. Recognize that you are responsible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
   for your personal conduct and professional performance
6. Engage with host country partners in a spirit of cooperation, mutual
   learning, and respect
7. Work within the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps and the local
   and national laws of the country where you serve
8. Exercise judgment and personal responsibility to protect your health,
   safety, and well-being and that of others
9. Recognize that you will be perceived, in your host country and
   community, as a representative of the people, cultures, values, and
   traditions of the United States of America
10. Represent responsibly the people, cultures, values, and traditions of
    your host country and community to people in the United States both
    during and following your service

to be serious for just a moment, if you were in charge of the list, what would you add to it?

interview scheduled!!

finally!  after waiting and waiting (and a few nudging emails to various people), i've heard back from the Peace Corps!  i'm going to have an interview with them next week!

the timing could be better, since the medical forms come after the interview and my physical comes before the interview.  (i put the physical off for as long as my insurance would allow, but with the yearly renewal, they demand it by a certain time.)  thought maybe i could get a twofer on that one.  but i managed to find unofficial copies of the PC medical forms online, so i can at least prime the doctor for the coming paperwork and get any tests and special procedures ordered.

but i'm not complaining.  the interview is coming, the interview is coming!

also thanks to the internet, i got a little bit of a heads-up on the questions they ask during the interview.  i'll write more on that later.  for now i'm excited!

btw, what the heck did we ever do before the internet?

shaggy

i need a haircut.
i REALLY need a haircut.
but i'm waiting to have this darn interview first.  and if it doesn't happen soon, i fear i will become rapunzel.

slight exaggeration, i know.  if you know me, you know i like my hair short.  really short.  as short as possible without giving my mother a heart attack, and then maybe a quarter inch shorter than that for good measure.  i've always wanted to shave my head once, just to do it.  not that i think it would look particularly good, but i just want to try it.  anyhow, i like my hair spikey on top and up over the ears and short enough in back to feel the fuzz at the bottom.  i just think it looks cool, it doesn't bug me that way, and it allows me to be lazy for as long as possible about getting it cut again.  it's hard to believe that in high school my mother and i would argue over my bangs being so long that they hung in my eyes.

anyhow, it's reasonable to expect that in many places (if not most/all) where i could be sent, there will be somewhat traditional gender roles.  this may very well include women wearing their hair long.  i know, i know:  almost enough to make me turn tail and run.  can you imagine me with a ponytail?  don't even get me started on the other possibilities.  so i figure that, for this interview, i should at least not look like i fell under a lawn mower.  Pech for me.  (Pech is a german word for bad luck, so unfortunate, sucks-to-be-you.)

i exchanged a couple emails with the local and local-ish recruiters a while back.  i finally wrote to ask what was up, since i had submitted everything and was supposed to hear back from them within two weeks, which had since passed.  turns out they had sent me an email that bounced back.  i was instructed to send in my fingerprint and agency check forms (security clearance, as far as i can tell) to the chicago recruiting office and was told that i'd be contacted by the university of michigan recruiters for an interview after those were received.  those were officially received a week ago, and now i'm just sitting here, twirling my ever-longer hair, waiting to hear about an interview.

maybe i can do some extra good and donate to locks of love by the time this interview happens.  another exaggeration.  but still.  there's an awkward war going on between the back of my hair and the top of my turtlenecks.  i can't have this kind of discontent in my wardrobe.  it's sketchy enough as it is.

shaggily yours, baby rapunzel