Interview Help for Police Officer Exam (page 3)

An interview with a member of the department or with a panel has become prevalent in the police officer selection process. Similar to the background investigation and the polygraph exam, the worst thing you can do during the interview is to lie or to try to create a persona that is different from whom you are. The interview may take many forms; for instance, you might be asked questions that are based on your personal history statement. In another style of interview, you might be asked to describe a past personal or work-related situation that caused you stress, or to describe your best and worst traits. You might be given a typical policing situation, a "hypothetical," and asked what you would do. In some interviews, the content of your answers is of primary importance, in others, the questioners are more interested in how you present yourself, and whether you are able to maintain your composure in a stressful situation.

The majority of police departments include an oral interview in the hiring process. If you are under consideration by a department that does not conduct an interview, it would be wise to treat your background investigator as you would a formal interviewer. How you present yourself, dress, and react to questions may become part of your background write-up by your investigator. Although your investigator is there to help you become a police officer, do not think of this person as a confidant to whom you can show negative traits or towards whom you can act in an unprofessional way. For your initial visit with your investigator, you should dress just as you would for a formal interview; even if the interviewer tells you that you need not wear business attire to subsequent visits, do not go the informal route of showing up in jeans and a T-shirt or shorts and flip-flops. You may have seen active police officers dress casually when they are off-duty, but this is not the impression you want to make before your career has even begun.

Aim for a neat, conservative appearance at your interview. This includes having your hair neatly styled (women might consider pinning up or back long hair so it is not a distraction) and wearing only makeup that is minimal and natural-looking. Too much jewelry can also be a distraction; both men and women should limit jewelry and keep what they wear to small, discreet items. Men and women who choose to wear pant suits should make sure that their clothing is clean, fits well, and is free of wrinkles; women wearing skirt and blouse combinations or a dress should wear nude hosiery without runs or snags. Applicants should be sure their shoes are polished and heels not run down.

The interview is costly in time and money because each candidate must be individually scheduled to appear before a panel of three to five people, often active police officers but sometimes community leaders, too. In small agencies and in many sheriffs' offices, the interview may be with the chief or the sheriff, particularly if agency policy permits hiring outside civil service regulations. In these instances, the chief or sheriff has the authority to select the candidate in large part on his or her individual discretion. At the other extreme, interviews can be highly formalized, including being taped for later review or in the event you do not do well and request an appeal.

The interview is intended to test what written and agility tests cannot measure. In addition to your answers, the panel is watching your posture, your body language, and your poise as you formulate your responses. They notice whether you make eye contact with panel members and generally how you react to unanticipated questions and situations. In addition to how you dress, remember to make eye contact with the questioner; use their names or titles when answering. Listen to the question and answer what you are asked. If you did not understand the question at all, ask that it be repeated rather than risk providing an incorrect or inappropriate answer. If you know you are uncomfortable in interview situations, try to get friends, family, co-workers, or faculty members to help you by asking you sample questions and measuring the quality of your responses. Did you answer what was asked? Could your voice be heard, or was it too low or too loud? Did you answer without too many, "um"s, "like"s, "you know"s, and similar verbal distractions? These are things you can practice without knowing what the questions will be. Remember, although the interview may actually be quite short—probably well under one hour—it can seem like a lifetime if you do not prepare yourself.

Oral Board Tips

• Be respectful, courteous, and pleasant throughout the process. Always keep your cool.
• Answer all questions honestly and to the best of your ability. Sincerity counts!
• Listen carefully to the questions. Don't distract yourself by thinking too much about how you might look or what they might be thinking about you. Stay in the moment. If you have to pause and think for a moment before you answer a question, that's okay. It's better than rushing yourself through the process.
• Have a question or two ready for when the board invites you to ask them. This shows your genuine interest in the job.
• Make sure you are on time! Better yet, arrive early.
• Dress conservatively, and go light on jewelry or makeup.
• Don't drink too much caffeine beforehand—you want to be able to relax.

The Interview Board Members

If you are like most people, you've had some experience asking someone for a job. So, it's not unrealistic to expect that the police oral interview board will be similar to a civilian oral interview—is it? Yes and no. There are a few similarities: Both prospective civilian and police employers are looking for the most qualified person for the job—reliable, honest men and women who will work hard and be there when they are needed.

Civilian employers expect applicants to show up on time for their interviews, to dress professionally, and to show off their best manners, as do police employers. When you step into a police oral interview board, however, you will realize that the people who are interviewing you have more than a surface interest in you and your past experiences. And the board will have more than a one- or two-page resume in their hands when the interview begins.

Exactly who is going to be using the details of your personal and professional life to interview you? More than likely it will be a panel of two or more individuals with one purpose in mind: to get to know you well. The board members will most likely be supervisory-level police officers who have several years' experience on the force. Some departments use civilian personnel specialists to sit on their boards, but most interview boards will be made up of experienced police officers.

These board members will be using information you have provided on your personal history statement and information investigators discovered during your background investigation. Investigators will provide board members with a detailed report on your past and present life history. Yes, you will be asked questions when board members already know the answers and when they don't know the answers. You will be asked to explain why you've made the decisions you've made in your life—both personal and professional. You will also be asked questions that don't have correct or incorrect answers. In short, you can expect an intense grilling from men and women who don't have the time or patience for applicants who walk into their interviews unprepared.

What Is the Interview Board Looking For?

Today's departments expect officers to attend neighborhood meetings, get to know the people living and working in their patrol areas, and be accessible to the public. This concept is known as community policing. Community policing is being embraced by most medium to large police agencies and is designed to get the officers out of the squad car and back into the community. The days of riding around in a car waiting for the next call to come out are over for most officers.

Officers nationwide feel that community policing is simply a return to the basic idea behind policing—public service. Therefore, oral interview boards are faced with the formidable task of hiring men and women with the skills and talents equal to the demands of modern policing.

The men and women most highly sought after by police departments are those who can handle the demands placed on them by advanced technology and changes in policing concepts. Computers are here to stay—in the office and in the patrol car. If you haven't already, now's the time to brush up on your typing skills and sign up for a computer class.

Then there's the liability issue. Lawsuits and threats of lawsuits have law enforcement agencies scurrying to find applicants who have specific qualities and skills that will keep them out of the headlines and civil courtrooms will be most competitive.

Yes, law enforcement agencies want it all: motivated, versatile candidates who are ready to take on the challenges of police work. You will be most competitive if you can convince the board you have the following qualities:

• maturity
• common sense
• good judgment
• compassion
• integrity
• honesty
• reliability
• the ability to work without constant supervision

These qualities aren't ranked in order of importance because it would be hard to say which should come first. They are all of importance in the eyes of the board, and your task in the oral interview is to convince them you possess these qualities. You will do your convincing through how and what you say when you respond to questions.

Youth and Inexperience—Plus or Minus?

The question here is, will an oral board think you have enough life experience for them to be willing to take a chance on hiring you? Law enforcement agencies have never been as liability conscious as they are today. Incidents like the Rodney King trial and the subsequent Los Angeles riots have heightened the awareness of city legal departments around the country.

This concern ripples straight through the department and eventually arrives to haunt recruiters, background investigators, oral boards, and everyone who has anything to do with deciding who gets a badge. The first question you hear when trouble hits a police department is, "How did that person get a job here anyway?" As a result, police departments are scrutinizing applicants more closely than ever before, and they are clearly leaning toward individuals who have proven track records in employment, schooling, volunteer work, and community involvement.

Youth and inexperience are not going to disqualify you from the process. You should be aware that if you are 21 years old and have never held a job, you will have a more difficult time getting hired on your first try at a larger police department than someone who is older, has job references to check, and is able to demonstrate a history of reliability, responsibility, and community involvement.

Maturity is a huge concern with police departments. They cannot hire men and women who are unable to take responsibility for their actions or the actions, in some cases, of those around them. Although maturity cannot be measured in the number of years an individual has been alive, departments will want to see as much proof as possible that you have enough maturity and potential to risk hiring you.

Fishing Expeditions

The fishing expedition is always a nerve-racking kind of question to answer. You aren't certain why they are asking or where the question came from, and they aren't giving out clues. For example:

• Board Member:     "Mr. Yang, in your application, you stated that you've never been detained by police. You've never been detained?"

If your nerves aren't wracked by this kind of questioning, someone probably needs to check you for a pulse. In the example above, if the applicant has been detained by police and failed to list this on his application, then he'll be wondering if the board knows this happened. The odds are high that the board does know the answer before asking the question. If the applicant has never been detained, then paranoia is certain to set in. Did someone on his list of references lie to the background investigator? Did someone on the board misread his application? These questions race through his mind as the board scrutinizes him.

Chances are, the board is simply fishing to see what he will say. In any event, don't let these questions cause you a dilemma because if you are honest there can be no dilemma. You simply must tell the truth at all times in an oral board. Your integrity is at stake, your reputation, and, not least of all, your chance to become a police officer is at stake. Don't try to guess at why the board is asking a question. Your job is to answer truthfully and openly.

Situational/Ethics Queries

Who doesn't dread these? You hear the words, "What would you do if …" and your heart pounds wildly. For example:

• Board Member:     "Ms. Peterson, assume you are a police officer and you are on your way to back up an officer who is on the scene of a burglary alarm at a clothing store. You walk in just in time to see him pick up a small bottle of men's cologne and put it into his pocket. What do you do?"

Some oral boards almost exclusively ask one situational question after another. Other departments may ask one, then spend the rest of the interview asking you about your past job history. Your best defense here is to decide ahead of time what your ethics are and go with how you honestly feel. The only possible right answer is your answer. If the board doesn't like what they hear, then you may be grilled intensely about your answer; however, you cannot assume that you've given the incorrect answer if the board does begin questioning you hard about your answers. Boards have more than one reason for challenging you, and it's never safe to assume why they are doing it.

Keep in mind, too, that it's not uncommon on police boards for one board member to be assigned the task of trying to get under an applicant's skin. The purpose is to see if the applicant rattles easily under pressure or loses his or her temper when baited. The person assigned this task is not hard to spot. He or she will be the one you thoroughly detest after you've had to answer such questions as, "Why in the world would we want to hire someone like you?"

Expect boards to jump on every discrepancy they hear and to pick apart some of your comments—all because they want to see how you handle pressure. Not all departments designate a person to perform this function, but someone is usually prepared to slip into this role at some point in the interview.

Role-Play Situations

Answering tough questions is stressful enough, but doing it under role-play conditions is even tougher. Many departments are using this technique more and more frequently in the oral board setting. A board member will instruct you to pretend you are a police officer and ask you to act out your verbal and/or physical responses. For example:

• Board Member:     "Mr. Patel, I want you to pretend that you are a police officer and you are chasing a fleeing suspect. The suspect is running from you now and I want you to stand up and instruct him to stop by yelling, "Freeze! Police!"

Board members may set up more elaborate role-playing scenes for you. Try to enter into these situations with a willingness to participate. Most people are aware that you are not a professional actor or actress, so they are not looking for Academy Award performances. Do the best you can. Role-playing is used heavily in almost all police academies and training situations today, so expect to do a lot of role-playing during your career as a law enforcement professional. Shy, reserved people may have difficulty working up enthusiasm for this kind of interaction. Practice how you'd handle this scene, and prepare yourself mentally as best you can.

Highly Personal Questions

The members of the oral board can indeed ask you just about any question that comes to mind. Applying for a job in public safety puts you in a different league than the civilian sector applicant. Yes, federal and state laws may prohibit civilian employers from seeking certain information about their applicants. But law enforcement agencies are allowed more freedom of movement within the laws for obvious reasons.

For example, you will rarely find a space for an applicant's birth date on an application for employment in private industry. This is the result of age discrimination litigation. Law enforcement agencies, as well as other agencies dealing with public safety, need such information to perform thorough background investigations and do not have many of the same restrictions. You will be expected to provide your date of birth and identify your race and your gender before you get very far in the application process for any police department. You are applying for a sensitive public safety job and must expect information you may consider highly personal to come to light.

In short, law enforcement agencies can ask you any question that may have a bearing on your mental stability, ability to do the physical tasks common to police work, integrity, honesty, character, and reputation in the community. There's not much left to the imagination after all of this is covered. If some of the questions are probing and perhaps even offensive, it is because you are being held to a higher standard by both the courts that allow these questions to be asked and the departments that want to hire you to protect life and property.

Answers—How Many Are There?

While you are sitting in the interview hot seat, you may feel like only two kinds of answers exist—the one you wish you had given and the one you wish you could take back. Most law enforcement officers in uniform today have war stories about the one thing they wish they hadn't brought up in the oral interview board. And this is to be expected. Nerves and pressure often conspire at the most inappropriate times. To help you be on guard for these moments, let's look at the mysterious wrong and right answers.

The Wrong Answer

The wrong answer to any question is the answer you think you should say because that's what you've been told the board wants to hear. Do not take well-meant advice from friends or officers who haven't been before an oral board recently. Boards will often overlook answers they don't like if they feel you have good reasons for what you say and if you are being honest with them.

If the board fails you, it will not be because you gave the wrong answer. It will be because you are not the kind of person they are looking for, or there are some things about your life or yourself you need to work on. The board just feels you need some time to work on these matters before they consider you for a job in law enforcement.

The Right Answer

The answers the board wants to hear are the ones only you can give. They want your opinion, your reasons, your personal experiences, and they want to know what you would do under certain circumstances. No one else matters but you and how you present yourself in the oral interview. If you try to say what you think the board wants to hear, you will almost certainly give them a shallow, unsatisfying response to their question.

What Do I Say?

It's not so much what you say as how you say it. The best way to answer any question is with directness, honesty, and brevity. Keep your answers short, but give enough information to fully answer the question. The board won't be handing out prizes for conserving words, but they also don't want to have to pull answers out of you just so that they can get enough information.

Avoid skirting the issue when answering questions. For example:

• Board Member:     "Ms. Abdul, I see you've been arrested once for public intoxication while you were in college? Is that true?
• Abdul:     "No, sir."
• Board Member:     "Really? That's odd. It says here on page seven that you were arrested and spent the night in the city jail."
• Abdul:     "Yes, well, I wasn't exactly arrested because the officer didn't put handcuffs on me."

Don't play word games with the board. You won't win. In this case, the applicant clearly knows that the board is aware of her arrest record, but she's trying to downplay the incident by ducking the question.

You should also elaborate as much as possible when answering questions so you don't come across as difficult. For example:

• Board Member:     "Mr. O'Malley, tell the board why you left the job you held at Tread Lightly Tire Shop."
• O'Malley:     "I was fired."
• Board Member:     "Why were you fired?"
• O'Malley:     "Because the boss told me not to come back."
• Board Member:     "Why did the boss tell you not to come back?"
• O'Malley:     "Because I was fired."
• Board Member:     "What happened to cause you to be fired?"
• O'Malley:     "I was rude."
• Board Member:     "Rude to whom and under what circumstances?"

You get the picture. This question could have been answered fully when the board member asked O'Malley why he left the tire shop job. The board would prefer that you not rattle on and on when you answer questions, but they would also appreciate a complete answer. An oral board's patience is usually thin with an applicant who uses this answering technique.

Make sure you are answering the question the board is asking you. Try to avoid straying from the topic at hand. For example:

• Board Member:     "Well, Ms. Goldstein, we know about some of the things you are good at, now tell us something about yourself that you'd like to improve."
• Goldstein:     "I'm really good with people. People like me and find it easy to talk to me for some reason. I guess it's because I'm such a good listener."

If she is a good listener, Ms. Goldstein didn't demonstrate this quality with her answer. It's important to listen to the question and answer directly. If you duck the question then the board will assume you have something to hide or you are not being honest. If you don't understand how to answer the question, tell the person who asked it what you don't understand. They will be happy to rephrase the question or explain what they want. Be specific and above all, answer the question you are asked, not the one you wish they had asked instead.

Sample Interview Scenarios

By now, you should have a reasonable idea of what an oral board is looking for and how best to not only survive the experience, but come out ahead on your first oral interview. You've had a lot of material to absorb in this chapter. Read the following scenarios illustrating the wrong way and the right way to tackle an oral interview. As you read, try to put yourself in the shoes of the oral board member who is asking the questions.

Scenario #1

Marie Garcia is sitting before the St. James Police Department oral interview board. She is wearing a pair of black jeans, loafers without socks, and a short-sleeved cotton blouse. As the questions are being asked, she is tapping her foot against the table and staring at her hands.

• Board Member:     "Ms. Garcia, can you give the board an example of how you've handled a disagreement with a coworker in the past?"
• Garcia:     "Nope. I get along with everybody. Everyone likes me."
• Board Member:     "I see. So, you've never had a disagreement or difference of opinion with anyone you've ever worked with."
• Garcia:     "That's right."
• Board Member:     "Well, I see by your application that you were once written up by a supervisor for yelling at a fellow employee. Can you tell us about that situation?"
• Garcia:     "That's different. It was his fault! He started talking to a customer I was supposed to wait on so I told him off."

Now read the second situation.

Scenario #2

Marie Garcia is sitting before the Friendly Police Department oral interview board dressed in a gray business suit. She is sitting still with her hands folded in her lap and is looking directly at the person asking her a question.

• Board Member:     "Ms. Garcia, can you give the board an example of how you've handled a disagreement with a coworker in the past?"
• Garcia:     "Yes sir. I can think of an example. When I was working at Pools by Polly I had an argument with a coworker over which one of us was supposed to wait on a customer. I lost my cool and yelled at him. My boss wrote me up because of how I handled the situation."
• Board Member:     "I see. How do you think you should have handled the situation?"
• Garcia:     "If I had it to do over again, I'd take James, my coworker, aside and talk to him about it in private. If I couldn't work something out with him, I would ask my supervisor to help out."
• Board Member:     "What have you done to keep this sort of thing from happening again?"
• Garcia:     "I've learned to stop and think before I speak and I've learned that there is a time and place to work out differences when they come up. I haven't had a problem since that incident."

So, which scenario makes the better impression? In scenario #1, the applicant is obviously unwilling to accept responsibility for her actions, she isn't showing any evidence that she is mature, and she isn't honest with herself or the board members when she says everyone likes her and she's never had disagreements with coworkers.

On the other hand, in scenario #2, the applicant is able to admit her mistakes and take responsibility for her part in the incident. Although she may have wished she could present herself in a better light, she did illustrate maturity by being honest, open, and straightforward in talking about the disagreement. In scenario #2, the applicant may have had to endure a long, hard interview in order to sell herself, but she was able to articulate what she did to correct a fault.

On the other hand, you can bet she had a very short interview and a "We're not interested, but thanks" from the board in scenario #1. Differences in the applicant's appearances and mannerisms would also affect the board's perception of their levels of professionalism.

These two situations may seem exaggerated, but applicants all over the country are making these same mistakes.

Some Final Words of Advice

Dr. Rick Bradstreet is a 20-year veteran psychologist for the Austin Police Department in Austin, Texas. He holds a law degree from Stanford University and a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. His specialty is communication skills and conflict resolution. Throughout his career with APD, Dr. Bradstreet estimates that he's sat on about 250 to 300 oral interview boards and has had plenty of opportunity to observe applicants in oral interviews. He offers the following advice to those who see an oral board in their future.

• Make eye contact. Applicants who fail to make eye contact with interviewers can expect a negative reaction from the board. Making eye contact makes the speaker feel like what he or she is saying is being heard and is being taken seriously.
• Sit erect in your chair, but not too stiff. You should not have the same posture that you would have if you were sitting at home in your living room, yet you want to appear somewhat relaxed and alert.
• Keep your hands in your lap if you have a tendency to wring your hands together when agitated. Wringing hands are generally perceived as signs of nervousness.
• Try not to drum your fingers on the table. Although this behavior is most often interpreted more as a sign of someone who has excess energy and is not necessarily seen as nervous behavior, it can be distracting to those around you.
• Feel free to shift positions periodically. It's perfectly natural to move around as you speak and is expected during normal conversation. An oral board is not meant to be an interrogation, so you are not expected to sit frozen in place for the duration.
• Speak up. If a board member lets you know you are mumbling, then project your voice. Speaking in a voice so soft that no one can hear you does nothing to enhance the image you want to project—that of a self-confident, take-charge person who knows what you want.
• Focus on explaining how you are as a person; do not respond to questions defensively. Once again, this is not an interrogation. Try to have a normal, respectful conversation with the board members and your body language will take on a more natural, confident look.
• Get out of the self-conscious mode. Your goal is to let the board see you and your experiences as unique. Do not try to mold your experiences and answers to questions according to what you think the board may want.