Questions that may come up in a Chem/Rad Safety Tech interview?

[wrenchmonkey91]

I'm an ex-ELT interviewing for a Chemistry and Radiation Safety Technician position at the Diablo Canyon plant. I've been out of the Navy for a few years working as a chemist at Newport News Shipyard while going to school, so I've been taking some practice NUF quizes and reading up on material to brush up on my plant theory and principals for the test portion of the interview, but does anyone have any helpful tips for things they may ask during the meeting so I can be at least a little prepared? Besides generic interview questions which I've dealt with before anyway.

[hamsamich]

They like to ask questions about the stuff you have actually done, so brush up on some of the finer points on some of the more complex analysis you have done.

[Rennhack]

"Tell me about a time when you..."

And everyone else made a bad decision, and everything went wrong.
Had to address a safety concern
Had to interact with other departments
Took ownership of situation someone else messed up.
Had to promote improvement and positive behavior in others
Had to frequently enforce standards.  How it affected you and the workers.
Had to mentor an employee that was not motivated in his roll.  What were the results?
Used interpersonal skills to manage work styles and how were they received.
Had to Proactive lead project closure, problems and challenges.

You get the idea, your actual questions will be slightly different.

Address those types of questions with:

Situation or Task:
Action You Took:
Results Achieved:

They will likely ask 5 or 6 of those types of questions.  I suggest having at least 12 situations written down to draw from.  Go down your resume, and think about challenges you had at each job, and document them with the "Situation, Action, Result" format.

Then be ready for some easy questions like:

1.   What strengths do you bring to the position?
2.   What are your weaknesses?
3.   What draws you to Company/Site?
4.   What would your former teammates or managers say about you?

Follow-up Questions for YOU to ask THEM:

1)   What challenges does this role/department/organization currently face?
2)   What brought you here and what keeps you here?
3)   What advice do you have for candidates in this process?
4)   What are the next steps in this process?
5)   Why is the position vacant?

[tolstoy]

Mike makes a great list - I recommend writing out answers for each of these questions.

If you don't have experience with a particular question then be sure to have an explanation of what you would do if confronted with the situation. If you can't think of a time when you had a confrontation with a supervisor then explain what you *would* do if you did. Team player, understand company priorities, chain of command, etc. And always provide examples. With one utility I know of you receive a four out of five for getting the 'right' answer to a question. Providing an example of how you performed rightly gets you a five of five. So don't just say that safety is important but talk about a time that you stopped a job for a safety concern, etc..

Good luck.