Or if your interview is anything like mine was:
1. Why are you BSing me?
2. Why the hell should I recommend a kid like you for OCS?
3. Do you know ANYTHING about the Navy? Where is OCS? Can you tell me 5 facts about the Navy?
It was an exciting 55 minutes.
We must have had the same guy...but mine went something like...
[FYI: I'm a teeny tiny girl...94 pounds, 5 feet tall...the idea was to generate a stressfull environment to see how I would respond. These men on my interview panel looked at me (and treated me) as though I was a little girl wanting to go play war....hence the first few questions from the Commander who was administering the board interview.]
I swear, these were actual questions at my 90+ minute interview. (The interview times range greatly, most last about 30 minutes but can go up to an hour or nearly two hours like mine did. By the way, as mentioned, most interviews range about 30 minutes, the range of my bladder however is apparently 60 minutes after drinking copious amount of water....it was a very uncomfortable 90+ minute interview - lay off the water prior to interviews).
The tactic the Commander was taking in my interview was useful, it did put me in a defensive posture, but if you get questions like these to raise the blood pressure, answer only after you have taken a few seconds to gather your thoughts. They want to know you don't just blurt out the first thing out of defense.
1. Have you ever even been in a fight?!? (said just how you think he said it)
Answer: "As a child. As an adult, I found other rational ways to resolve conflicts."
2. Have you ever even fired a gun?!?
Answer: "Last weekend at the range. I prefer my Glock 19 but I have my eye on a certain Sig."
3. Are you fully prepared to deploy? The conditions are not ideal and as a woman, if you were ever captured, the circumstances, again, are not ideal. Have you thought about all of this fully and are you aware and prepared for this?
Answer: I paused, interlaced my fingers on the very long conference table, and said "Sir, so far it's been a year of paperwork, informing my family of my decision, preparing my credit history, gathering the last 10 years of my life to store on a form, informing my employers about my decision, and telling my friends and family to be prepared to answer questions about my loyalty and life to whoever comes knocking. And even today, I would not sit at this extremely long conference table across from a Commander and interview panel if I had not fully prepared myself of the consequences and risks of this decision. I would not dare waste your time nor the fears of my family for my safety if I wasn't fully aware of the consequences."
4. Today's Navy is all about Joint Forces, you will deploy with Army, Air Force, and Marines...are you prepared for that? How will you handle some gruff old Army Drill Sergeant yelling at you?!?
Answer: "The same way I handle anyone yelling at me, I turn down the volume in my head."
5. Could you actually kill someone?
Answer: "If threatened, or if they posed a threat."
He stopped asking crazy questions.
I received excellent scores from the entire panel.
Some of the panel's more useful questions:
1. Tell me something you know about Naval History.
Answer: "I wish I could." His response: "Don't worry, officer school will teach you all you need to know."
2. The enlisted men/women will have been on the job much longer than you and know more than you. You will be placed in a position of authority above them. Have you ever been placed in that situation before and how did you handle it?
Answer: "Sir, I can't cook. *the Commander looks at the interview board and visa versa as if they were saying "did you ask her if she could cook?"* You can ask my mother who will swear on the Bible that I can't cook and you can ask my friends that would say if given the opportunity, I will somehow manage to burn water. But when I managed a restaurant, the only thing I needed was the ability to put good people in the proper place that did know how to perform that job function with expertise. So, you see Sir, I didn't need to know how to cook everything on that menu - I just needed to know the right people that did."
I did get the usual questions about:
1. Why the Navy over the other branches?
2. Why an officer and not enlisted?
3. When have you ever not gotten a long with someone on a project? What was it about and what was the outcome?
4. What are your strengths/weaknesses?
BIGGEST QUESTION THAT YOU SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT/PREPARED FOR:
1. Do you have any questions for us?
Take note: You better have at least researched their unit that they are in or what their current mission objective is. Ask questions about it or have at least 2-3 questions already prepared. They will likely at the beginning of the interview tell you a bit about themselves. If anything is interesting, ask them about it in this portion. They will be glad that you remembered that far back in the conversation to ask about it.
Simply: Do your best, be yourself, but definitely, be prepared.
-Charlie
