Your resume has one job: getting you to the interview… But what happens next? The interview process can be grueling, but with Arena’s help, we’ll demystify it and prepare you to do your best and land that role!

One Thing to remember

Yes, it is important to demonstrate that you can perform the job functions in the interview process. But often, we forget that the most important part of the interview is connecting with the hiring manager. Often, the person interviewing you will be your direct manager, and no manager wants to hire someone they do not mesh with. The reverse is true, too! You should make sure you want to work with the manager and team you meet in the interview process, after all, you’ll spend five days a week with them.

So relax, be nice, and be friendly (As we know you already are!) And always try to turn your interview into a conversation, not an exercise in question and response.

The INterview LifeCyle

The interview process typically looks something like this:

1. Screening Interview/First Round Interview: This is usually a phone call that takes 10-30 minutes and is to verify everything you put in your application.
   
   
2. Second-round interview: This interview will take around 30-60 minutes and will mainly consist of situational and behavioral questions, which we’ll discuss in more detail below.
   
   
3. Often, interviews have additional steps, including a skills test, a third-round interview with a principal or other senior staff member, panel interviews, and more!
   
   
4. Reference check and vetting: the interviewer will reach out for 2-3 references they can speak with to better understand your performance in past roles. Some organizations might also run a background check.
   
   
5. Final decision: You’ll either get an offer and can begin negotiations, or you’ll get rejected. Unfortunately, you might just not hear back at all; this is a frustrating reality that happens far too often. Don’t take it personally or get too discouraged.

question types

The best way to practice for an upcoming interview is to prepare potential answers to the questions you expect to be asked and then practice internalizing those answers so that you give them naturally during the interview. This might feel robotic, but remember: we prepare and practice giving campaign speeches and canvassing scripts. Interviews are no different!

Here are some basic question types you can expect to be asked during an interview:

Qualification Questions: questions that verify you have the qualifications and skills needed to succeed in this role. You can prepare for this by reviewing your resume and the job description. These are typically asked during screening interviews.

• Why are you interested in this position?
• What skills do you have that are most important for this role?
• Have you worked with X TOOL before?
• What systems do you use to keep yourself organized and on track?

Behavioral Questions: questions that ask you to describe specific instances in your past and what you did. You can prepare for these questions by using the STAR method.

• Can you tell me about when you had to juggle multiple priorities?
• Campaigns take place in a fast-paced environment. Can you tell me when you had to work on a tight deadline and what you did to stay on top of your work?

Situational Questions: questions that pose a hypothetical scenario to determine how you would respond. You can prepare for these by writing your answers backward.

• Imagine a program your team is in charge of is a complete failure. Your team is demoralized – some are angry, some are sad, and some seem unaffected. What do you do?
• Imagine you are at an event with members of the public, and two of your coworkers are arguing. One of them is obviously right. You do not manage either of them. What do you do?

Are you in need of more questions to prepare? Check out the Arena Hiring Guide >>>

Preparation Techniques

STAR Method: If you’re struggling to write answers for behavioral questions, we can use the STAR method to make sense of your past experiences. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Results. Go through your past experiences and identify situations in roles relevant to the job you’re interviewing for. For each of the answers you prepare, give a short description of the Situation, the Task you needed to take on, what Action you took to accomplish that task, and the Results that action had.

Example: Campaigns take place in a fast-paced environment. Can you tell me when you had to work on a tight deadline and what you did to stay on top of your work?

Situation: Due to a schedule change, our candidate would arrive at a town hall later than we expected.

Task: I needed to find a way to fill time while keeping people motivated to be there.

Action: I contacted my best volunteers, asking them to share their experiences and why they were voting for the candidate. I also contacted some of our endorsers to see if they could send representatives to discuss why their organization endorsed our candidate.

Result: We had an incredibly exciting buildup to the candidate’s arrival, with supporters learning more about how they could volunteer with the campaign and more about what local organizations supported our candidate.

Outliers

Two interview types that may or may not be included in your interview process are Skill Assessments and Panel Interviews.

Skill Assessments, also called work samples or practice activities, are designed to help you showcase how you would perform on the job. Skill assessments are typically done for roles that call for specific skills like programming, content creation, or plan development. This is usually followed up by a second-round interview to review the assessment and get insight into your decision-making.

Panel Interviews are conducted by two or more staff members at the organization you’re applying to. Typically, it will consist of the hiring manager, a decision-maker at the organization in question, and 1-2 of your potential peers.

Panel Interviews can feel stressful, but you should prepare for them like an interview with one person. These often feel less conversational because the panel has a series of questions to get through, and they are less likely to diverge from their scripted questions. You may also get asked questions similar to those in your first-round interview. Chances are your answers in the first round were strong, and this is a chance to reinforce what you’ll bring to the organization to a larger group of stakeholders. It’s normal to worry that because multiple people are creating the questions for this interview, they will be more challenging to answer. However, it’s important to remember that the interview process is rarely the work of a single person, even if you only interact with the interviewer.

3 Steps to Prepare for your interview

If you have an upcoming interview, review this checklist and do these three things:

• Brainstorm some questions you think you might get asked, and don’t forget to brainstorm qualification, situational, and behavioral questions.
• Write out your answers using the methods outlined above.
• Practice your answers with a friend.