In one of our weekly newsletters, we asked the PH SPOT community to submit interview questions that were asked during a public health job interview. We organized these submissions and can now finally share them with you. Access the questions using the button below for your next interview!
After having submitted hundreds of applications, the feeling that you get when you receive that email or phone call for a job interview is so rewarding. The constant debate you had with yourself to apply to one more job and the emotional ups and downs that came with the process is finally all worth it!
Now it’s time to kick that interview out of the park.
I still get nervous before an interview. There is so much pressure to do well and to show your prospective employer why you are the best candidate.
Even if you truly are THE ideal candidate, the employer won’t know this until you convince them.
This is where preparation comes in.
Whether you’ve been invited for a “quick chat” or a formal interview, preparation is key.
In my experience, interview dates are often set within a week or two of being contacted. This means preparation should begin almost immediately.
My interview prep process has typically been two-fold: 1) brainstorm scenarios and events that took place at past jobs that are relevant to the skills being evaluated, and 2) to identify potential questions I may be asked and write out responses and practice.
I use the list of scenarios and events to prepare for the “tell me about a time…” questions. I prepare this list because I find it difficult to remember scenarios/events on the spot during the interview. This refresher list (with the main takeaways from the incidents) is a helpful reference that can be used to quickly assess which incident is compelling enough to share with the interviewers for the specific skill they are evaluating.
In preparing for other interview questions, I often think back to past interviews and search Google for common interview questions. (Note: Always be prepared for a question that you didn’t even plan for. Mentally preparing for that to happen lets you remain calm.)
A number of websites have compiled a great list of questions that can be used as starting points, including this one by INC Magazine and Indeed. From these two lists, I recognized a handful of questions that I have personally received during my interviews:
- Tell me a little about yourself.
- What are your biggest weaknesses/strengths?
- Tell me about a time you disagreed with a decision. What did you do?
- Can you tell me about a difficult work situation and how you overcame it?
- What did you like most about your last position? And least?
- How do you handle stress?
- Describe a time when you disagreed with your boss.
To add to these great lists of questions already available online, we compiled interview questions crowd-sourced by the PH SPOT community. In one of our weekly newsletters, we asked you to submit interview questions that you were asked during a public health job interview (whether it was related to a “soft skill” or a “technical skill”). We organized these submissions and can now finally share them with you. Access the questions using the button below for your next interview!
Get access to a compiled list of interview questions
We have compiled a list of interview questions for public health interviews, by public health professionals. This gives you a rich set of questions from a wide variety of interviews from various organizations around the world.
Help us make this the best crowd-sourced interview question repository for public health professionals. Submit interview questions you’ve received during an interview using the form below. If you have more than one question to submit, submit a new form for each one.
Good luck on your next interview! Let us know how it goes.
