MCH Interview but no experience

guest464345 · Jul 20, 2015

Look carefully at the job description - usually they are very detailed for government jobs - and think in advance about how your experience gave you the knowledge, skills and abilities they're looking for. MCH jobs probably involve a lot of patient/family education - how have you done that work in other settings? Think of as many examples as possible for each skill named in the description.

Look up the services for the department where you're interviewing - find out what they do, where the clinics are, if they have new services this year, what information they publish for the general public. Government stuff is usually very easily available (including salaries!). Seeing what they emphasize in their material online will help you understand what they may ask. And if you can mention your research about their programs during the interview, it will make you look more prepared and more interested.

Public health interviews can be weird. In our department they're similar to other government interviews (the VA, state jobs, IHS, etc)....there's a set list of questions, there are 1-4 people doing the interview, and they basically take turn reading questions straight off a piece of paper, either just staring at you or taking notes while you talk. Not a lot of back and forth dialogue...it can be unnerving. You often get ranked (a number of points) for your answer on each question. In these kinds of interviews it's to your advantage to have thought ahead, and to come up with examples for each skill, because they're hard to remember in the heat of the moment.

There are sometimes general questions, or "behavioral" - type questions....tell me about a time you had to navigate a conflict at work, etc. You can look these up online and prepare for them - even if you don't need them at this interview, they're very common and it's good practice (just Google "behavioral interview questions").

You always want to have a good 1-minute spiel for the "tell me about yourself, tell me why you're interested in this job" question, for any interviews. These are often asked at the beginning, and it helps your confidence to belt out a succinct, clear, positive message that you've reheorificed before, rather than saying something vague or rambling on awkwardly.

Those are my suggestions - hope they help. Good luck on your interview, PH is awesome :)

nursemaple2 · Jul 20, 2015

Great advice

kathym1971 · Jul 23, 2015

Thank you so much. Those are some great tips. I will definitely be doing more homework on the county.