# Interviews



## kttref (Oct 5, 2004)

Ok..I know I posted before on this subject, and I know there are other threads..but let me ask this a different way.


How do you know the right answers to oral interivews/exams? I mean. "A co-worker lies on a report what do you do?"

There are a ton of answers to that. Or, "There is an armed robbery with two black males in a black mustang, you and your partner pull over two black males in a black mustang but it's not the robbers. You let them go but they become very agitated screaming about racial profiling and want your badge number etc...What do you do?"

"You pull over someone who sped through a red light in a school zone, you pull them over and they flash a badge, what do you do?"

I had my first interview 2 weeks ago and BOMBED it. I got a 72% on it. Final score for this town I have a 76% I'm 47 on a list of 55. It's really disheartening...How do I improve? How do I know what I'm doing wrong? 

I'm really just frustrated about this and I don't know how to make my scores better. I'm in the process for CSP and I heard you HAVE to score at least a 9 out of 10 on the interview...I need to improve before that interview...I have about a month I'm guessing. 


PLEASE HELP.


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## topcop14 (Jul 13, 2004)

kttref
Relax, First of all for the most part they want you to be truthful in your interview. Don't get caught up in wondering what they want you to say. I have applied for two municipal police jobs and one campus police job and I was hired at all three. None of these departments gave me a score as you are talking about. The last interview I had was conducted by the Chief, Lt. Sgt, and the town dick head. OOPS I mean Town administrator. They asked all the stupid questions. My personal favorite is what would you do if your coworkers were sleeping. 

PM me if you want some more pointers. As some of my answers are TOP secret :lol:


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## TripleSeven (Aug 28, 2004)

I'm not a sworn officer but I have been through a few interviews recently and have passed all of them. I think what they are looking for are consistent answers. All of my interviews, they tried very hard to persuade me to change my answers and make me feel like i gave the wrong answer, but I always stick to the answer and be consistent. Some departments want to hear that you will give a fellow officer a break, but in all my interviews, I have basically said i would treat an off duty officer as any other citizen (even though that may not be the case). If you give someone a break, and then say you will bust them under different circumstances, this is inconsistent and they don't like it. 

I don't know if the questions you mentioned were actual ones from your interviews, but on the one about the black men yelling at you about profiling, I would say to the interviewers that I would politley tell them that they matched the description of suspects I was looking for, and if they continued to get upset, i would give them my badge number and be on my way. 

Also, If you haven't already, maybe look into buying a book on oral boards, or even the Barrons Police Exam book has a good section or interviews. Good luck!


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## kttref (Oct 5, 2004)

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm just paranoid that because I've been in white collar America for awhile now that anything I say they're gonna be like "nope you're wrong, NEXT"...

I think I'm just frustrated that it's not as easy as I thought it would be. I think up answers in my head, then I say them then I almost regret it. 

Those were real questions by the way. And the interviewers have NEVER responded to anything I say. They mark something down and go on. I'm just not to happy with the way I handled these interviews. 

Thanks again.


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## phuzz01 (May 1, 2002)

Oral boards are looking for two things, and they are the same two things that any court is going to look for when you are on the stand: honesty and ability to articulate why you answered the way you did. Many of the questions are purposely designed to have multiple right answers, or even no right answers. :shock: What they want to see is that you give the questions some serious thought, that you come to a firm decision, and that you carefully articulate why you came up with the answer that you did. Also, they want to see that you don't just suck up and give them the answer you think they want to hear. Good luck!


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## reno911_2004 (May 13, 2004)

The best (and most simple) advice I ever got for those fun times, was be yourself, and be HONEST. If they ask if you'd ticket your best friend for 40 in a 30 at 3am, tell the truth. (I hope that would be a NO!) Don't complicate it with "Well, depends on the circumstances, etc." They are looking for your honest answer. I know that in one hiring pool I was once in, every person said they'd write their own mother a ticket. Obviously all BSing. Good luck with CSP! Great department.


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## kttref (Oct 5, 2004)

Thanks for the responses.

So if there are multiple answers it's better to give a straight answer as opposed to "Well if this was the situation I would do this...but if this was the situation I would do this"?


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## reno911_2004 (May 13, 2004)

In my experience, they usually lay out the circumstance fairly specifically. So I think the most honest, direct response is best. Once you start with the"well, if this were the case", it kinda sounds like you're trying to create the answer to satisfy every possible "right" answer. That's my opinion, anyway.


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## kttref (Oct 5, 2004)

reno911_2004 @ Wed Nov 17 said:


> In my experience, they usually lay out the circumstance fairly specifically. So I think the most honest, direct response is best. Once you start with the"well, if this were the case", it kinda sounds like you're trying to create the answer to satisfy every possible "right" answer. That's my opinion, anyway.


That has been my biggest problem, the questions are so open-ended I don't know where to start. Thanks for the help though


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