For most people, this is the most stressful part of the application process. Don’t worry. Just prepare yourself ahead of time, and you will do fine.
Do your homework. Find out about the interview process. If it’s a small local department, they may want to ask you about your knowledge and interest in the community and the department. You may be directly interviewed by the chief. How many officers are on the force you are applying to? What is the major crime problem in the community? Have there been any big changes in policy or focus recently? Are there any cases or investigations that have been widely covered in the news? Who is the police chief? How long has he or she been there? Did he or she come in from outside or was he or she promoted from within? How does he or she get along with the mayor? You can get information like this from local newspapers or from the department itself; work it into your answers where appropriate, and you will impress your interviewers.
For example, if a question refers to gang graffiti, you can say something like, “Well, the gang problem is the main target of the new Street Shield unit, and they have been having some success—gang activity is down 12 percent since last year. In light of that, I would coordinate my efforts with the unit to build on their success.”
Of course, you won’t impress anyone if your information is wrong or doesn’t really connect with what you are saying. Think about the information you are going to use; don’t just blurt things out.
There are agencies in which the interviews are designed as a specific part of the background investigation. You will most likely be asked about your personal history in conjunction with certain results of the psychological exam and/or polygraph. Sometimes these types of questions are asked just for clarification purposes.
There are those departments that have a much more formal, structured interview process. These questions may be competency-based, can be more complex, and can revolve around a scenario you are given, with accompanying laws or regulations. You would then be given questions regarding what issues or problems you may see and how you would respond. The questions are designed to elicit responses that indicate if the candidate has the abilities the department has determined are essential in good job performance. The line of questioning may also be more behavior-based. This means you may be asked about your past experiences and how you demonstrated competent behavior. An example might be how you exhibited good communication skills. Usually, such departments offer a more detailed preparatory guide for these interviews.
Anticipate the questions. All interviewers want to know if you can deal with conflict, get along with other people, and learn from mistakes. To get at that information, they will ask you for details about your previous experience and education. To further probe for these qualities, they will sometimes give you a hypothetical situation and ask for your response. This also tests your ability to make good decisions and think on your feet. Here are some general ways you can prepare yourself:
Look at the interview process and your own application, and put yourself in the interviewers’ shoes. They are going to push to find out if you have got what it takes to be a good, responsible police officer. Come up with your own questions and honest answers.
Here is an example: “I see you left your job at Kasper Dry Cleaning after only three months. Why is that?” Do not say: “I had to quit because the manager was a pushy jerk, and he kept trying to make me do stuff that wasn’t in my job description.” That makes you sound like someone who is always looking for a scapegoat.
Instead, put it like this: “I had a personality conflict with the manager that we just weren’t able to resolve. That was one of my first jobs out of school, and since then I’ve really worked on my people skills. In fact, at my current job, I was able to negotiate with the boss to get a better scheduling system set up for all the employees.”
This shows that you are able to learn from your mistakes and that you have developed the ability to work with others—both important aspects of being a good police officer.
This is an important step in your preparation, so take your time. Ask a friend to help you if you are having trouble coming up with difficult questions. You really can’t overprepare; even if the interviewers don’t ask exactly the same questions you come up with, they will probably be similar. It will also mean there is less chance you will be caught off guard.
Imagine some difficult situations a police officer might face, and come up with your responses. You will need to have some practice at making good decisions quickly. These are the kinds of things you might be asked:
“You are on patrol and you see a car being driven erratically. You pull it over, and the driver is the police chief’s 16-year-old daughter. There are empty beer bottles in the front seat and her eyes are red. She says they were left by her boyfriend, whom she just dropped off, and her eyes are red because they had a fight and she was crying. What do you do?”
“You are working on a narcotics case, and you make a big bust. Another police officer, your partner’s brother-in-law, pockets some of the cash before it’s booked into evidence. You tell your partner, and he just shrugs and says that the guy’s a bum but his sister loves him. What do you do?”
“The station gets an anonymous call about child abuse at a certain address. You are sent to check it out. When you get there, the man who answers the door says there is no problem. You hear a kid screaming in the background. When you ask to come in and take a look, the man tells you to come back with a warrant. What do you do?”
When you are in the interview, the officers will keep adding complications to the original situation. Don’t rush into an answer, and don’t change your answer once you have given it. Most of the time, there is no black-and-white answer they are looking for; they just want to see how you react to stress and whether you are able to make reasonable decisions under pressure. The only time you should take back your answer is if you realize that there really is a better solution than the one you first gave. Whatever you do, do not change any answer more than once.
Practice with a friend. Get someone you trust to do some role-playing with you. Ideally, this will be a friend who is a police officer and who has been through the interview process. But whoever it is, make sure it is someone who can give you honest feedback.
Give that person the questions and situations you have come up with, along with your application. Ask him or her to write out some more questions and then put you through an interview. This might seem weird at first, and neither one of you may want to take it seriously, but keep at it. This is the best way to prepare yourself, so you can walk into that interview room feeling confident.
Take notes while you are practicing, and ask your friend to do the same. What do you need to work on? What are your strengths? Keep thinking about how to improve your performance, and incorporate those ideas into your notes.
Prepare a closer. At the end of the interview, you will almost always be asked, “Do you have any questions?” Have your answer prepared. If you have a couple of good questions, ask them. Don’t ask about retirement benefits or how soon you can be promoted to detective. That really sends the wrong signal—that you are assuming you are going to be hired and that you are focused a bit too much on your own personal goals. Simple questions about the application process can show interest and initiative as well. If you can’t think of any questions, just say something like, “I don’t have any questions, but I would like to say that becoming a police officer has been a lifelong goal, and I believe my skills would make me an asset to this department.”
Make sure you know how to get to the interview site. Do not assume it is at the police station. Check your notification form. Even if you have been to the station, or the courthouse, or wherever it is you are supposed to go, make another trip. If you can, go at the same time of day you will be heading in for your interview. Time the trip, then add a safety margin for traffic jams, subway delays, flat tires, or any other transportation disaster.
Check your transportation. If you are driving, do you have enough gas in the tank? Have you been having problems with your car? If so, arrange a backup—get a friend to stand by in case you need a ride, or make sure you have enough money for cab fare and the number of a good company. If you are using mass transit, make sure you have a ticket or money to pay for one.
Check your clothes. For some people, this is second nature, but others may need a little prompting here. Men should wear a suit or a sport coat and tie. Women should wear a dress or suit. Lay out every single thing you are going to wear to the interview, including your underwear. Make sure it is all clean, matching, with no buttons missing or seams ripped. If you haven’t worn those clothes for a while, try them on now—while there is still time to find an alternative in case they don’t fit. You want to minimize any nasty surprises in the morning.
Go over your notes. Read through your application so it is fresh in your mind. The interviewers will have read it and will probably have it in front of them, and you won’t want to just repeat what you have already told them. Read the notes from your mock interview. Think about the positive aspects about yourself that you want to get across.
Get a good night’s sleep. This is not the time to go out for a drink with your friends. Have a good dinner, and do something relaxing like watching TV or reading a book.
Make sure you get up early. You do not want to be rushed, so give yourself plenty of time to get ready. If you are a sound sleeper, set two alarms and have a friend call you.
Eat breakfast, but don’t overdo the caffeine. You want to give yourself some fuel, but you don’t want to be hyped up on caffeine. Have a sensible breakfast like cereal and fruit or eggs and toast.
Leave early. You want to be in the waiting room 15 minutes before your appointment— regardless of traffic or a slow bus. Believe me, people notice promptness, and it makes a good impression. Bring your notes, and you can use the waiting time for a little last-minute reviewing. If you are starting to get stressed out, take a few really deep breaths. Don’t start worrying about all the things that could go wrong; instead, focus on doing well and making a good impression. That should be the image you carry into the room.
Acknowledge everyone. Someone will take the lead and introduce himself or herself and the other interviewers. This person may or may not be the chief decision maker in this situation, so you need to acknowledge and address all the interviewers—now and throughout the interview.
When you are introduced, smile, shake hands, and greet each of the interviewers. When you answer questions, make eye contact with everyone. I’m not saying you should sit there with your eyes darting from person to person, but you do need to acknowledge that you are addressing more than one interviewer.
Listen to the questions. One of the biggest mistakes people make is answering the question they think they have heard, instead of the question that has been asked. If you are in any doubt, ask for a clarification.
Don’t blurt out your answer right away. You don’t get extra points for speed. Give yourself a second or two to gather your thoughts and focus on the best answer to the question. You don’t want to have to retract your answer later.
Identify the “bad cop.” If one of the interviewers begins to play the heavy, the one who challenges your answers and tries to get you to back down, don’t be aggressive with this person, but don’t let him or her bully you either. Address this person directly; don’t get thrown by the questions or by his or her tone. And don’t take it personally. This person is not out to get you—the point is to see how you react to stress and confrontation.
Thank the interviewers. When you get up to leave, shake hands again with each of the interviewers and thank them for the opportunity to speak with them.