# Oral boards



## mikey742 (Mar 4, 2005)

I was wondering how departments score their oral boards for employment. Is it Pass/Fail, point system or what? I was wondering because in other post if have seen people say that they score high/low on there oral board and was wondering how they came up with a score. I do not have a board coming up but I was just curious for future reference.


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## sgtmvm (Jan 17, 2005)

Never sat on a board before, but learned how it works in one town in central MA. Every board member got the same scorecard to use for the candidate. The scale was 1-5 on a bunch of general points, from appropriate dress, to shiny shoes, to eye contact, to body position...in other words, every little detail imaginable. The verbal content itself was obviously scored as well, with blank spaces for comments (mandatory for all board members to make at least some comments). Some comments I remember reading included things like "candidate seemed to reflect on questions when appropriate" and "candidate was visibly nervous and eyes appeared deceptive when asked about termination of a previous job." 

I am sure every town is different; heck, I've been to everything from very intense 10-minute sessions with three people, to picky, detailed, drawn-out hour-long interviews from every one of the brass plus a patrolman.

My $.02...haven't had an interview in a few years because I am happy where I am...hope to sit on a board soon though...


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