Hello everyone. First time posting here. I'm a science teacher by profession; well, for a year anyway, and am looking to get on at a local plant for AO training. My goal eventually is to become a RO/SRO. I have a friend who works as an instructor there and teaches many of the classes the NLOs and even ROs and SROs take for various certifications so, of course, he has been a wealth of information for me. However, I'm a thorough person, and am looking for as many perspectives before I go in for my POSS testing and interview as possible.
Here's a little background on me: I have a B.S. in Biology, with emphasis in Life and Earth Science Education for the Secondary Level. I am now certified to teach all 7-12 grades Life, Earth, and Physical Sciences. I spent last year teaching all the physical sciences and a middle school science at a rural school here in Arkansas. It was a fascinating experience and an exercise in patience if anything. I actually had never even considered the possibility of becoming an Operator until speaking with my friend. I didn't realize, firstly, that plants considered people who weren't degreed in Engineering or some kind of ex-Navy. So, apparently I'm good to go as far as my degree is concerned. Having the year of professional experience may also be slightly beneficial in that I do have some real world time employing all the theory I've learned in a practical application. Of course it's only one year.
What I'm wondering is, what kinds of things should I expect from the entire POSS/Interview experience? I've been researching the POSS test and know it's a high stress, quickly paced exam. I feel confident in my abilities to perform well at it but this will be my first high stress exam. For those who have taken it and passed it, did you feel like you knew when you were finished if you had likely passed, or was there some limbo? Were you able to, especially on the math usage section, pace yourself to have at least two run-throughs getting as many quality, rather than quantity, points as possible? Unfortunately, this plant doesn't grade the test on site, so I won't know if I passed for about a week afterward.
As far as the interview, I've had several education interviews, but, assuming I pass the POSS test, this will be my first professional industrial interview. What kinds of questions do most nuke interviewers like to ask? Considering my background is in an unrelated field (more or less), would it be appropriate for me to bring in examples from my teaching experience and apply them to this interview?
I apologize if these questions seem mundane or repetitive. Like I said earlier, I like to be as prepared as possible. I thank you in advance for your advice.
