interview question

[anvil906]

Question/advice needed. I have been lurking on here for few months and wanted to say thanks for the useful advice. I applied for an NLO position in September at Excelon. They sent me an e-mail and scheduled a quick phone interview. I was scheduled for the POSS & BMST test in early December. I received a recommend on both of them a couple of weeks ago.
(if anyone wants/needs advice on passing them, I am more than willing to give some, but not in this post).

I talked to the recruiter and now have an interview scheduled on January 8th. I have not had any sort of formal interview ever. My current position I have had for over 14 years. I just went to drop off a resume and stayed talking to them for over 2 hours and was offered the job a couple of days later. I have plenty of experience in power distribution systems and power plants, but have never done any work in a nuke plant before. Wind farms, Hydro, Coal and natural gas plants along with an extensive list of various industrial and food plants.

How do I ace the interview? I keep reading about behavior interviewing and can come up with responses but they sound better in my head than I will ever be able to convey. I am also concerned about the FFD physical. I am kinda chubby but completely healthy. We are required to pass a DOT physical every 2 years and I have no problems passing that. I was wondering how different the DOT physical is from the FFD physical. I am looking forward to a set schedule so I can start to slim down again. I currently have no set work schedule and travel a lot.

Any tips / suggestions / etc would be more than appreciated.
Thanks

[drayer54]

Every question you will see can be found on this forum. Search and pay special attention to posts by Broadzilla.

Good luck

[HydroDave63]

Search and pay special attention to posts by Broadzilla.

On-topic: Practice your STAR interview answers in front of a mirror. It will feel awkward at first. Practice will improve your confidence. And the physical isn't any worse than your DOT

[scotoma]

Don't worry about FFD, it is drugs and alcohol. Don't do illegal drugs and don't come in drunk for your interview. If you use prescription drugs, tell them when you are asked.
In the Nuke world, they appreciate what you know, but it is more important how you think.
Can you learn the material?
Can you make conservative decisions?
What is more important - safety or production?
Do you use procedures and follow them properly?
Do you stop when you are unsure and request assistance?
Can you accept coaching without being defensive?
Do you use your human preformance tools? Questioning attitude, situational awareness,STAR, take two, peer checking, etc?
If you do make a mistake, how do you respond to it?
Don't go into the interview with the expection that you can "ace" it. They will probably ask the usual "why do you want this job" type questions. They will probably also ask about your experience - What did you do to improve your previous work environment? What have you found wrong and how did you fix it? How did you handle conflicts with co-workers?
Good luck! Answer the questions honestly, and limit the unsollicited stuff. They are on a time limit and want to maintain control.

[Papa Nuc]

You will have a STAR interview, I can almost guarantee it.  Remember to answer the R in STAR too, it's easy to leave that out.  Practice.

I would make sure they know you are teachable.  You may have worked in power plants, but you don't know a thing about commercial nuclear power until you've done it.

[spentfuel]

One other suggestion is drop the c 

Its Exelon not Excelon but don't feel bad I have made the same mistake a time or two

I do know of a utility that did consider being overweight as an issue for a NLO and it was used as part of a reason for letting the guy go eventually but chubby does not do this fellow justice.

good luck with the interview

sf