Humanitarian Affair Officer Interview Preparation Guide

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While directing a play, I was faced with numerous problems. The sets were not coming together; the performers were fighting and not working hard; the technical aspects of the play were far from complete, and in general, it was a mess. I was the "stage manager," which means that I tell people when to go on stage and tell the crew when to bring pieces of the set on stage. So I organized everything and told people to do specific jobs and asked them in a firm yet positive manner. People began to have fun, and the production went on extremely well (all performances sold out). The play was regarded as one of the smoothest shows to have been produced by the group.

My sophomore year was about to begin and I had to decide on a major. I could not waste any more credits figuring out what I was interested in. I took some personality and career assessments to get a better handle on my interests, skills, and values. I talked to faculty in several departments to decide which faculty members I was most comfortable with. I studied the course offerings to see which courses appealed to me the most. I decided on communications studies and feel it is the best decision I ever could have made.

When I was coaching my swim team at their first swim meet, the swimmers on my team were intimidated by the other team because they were bigger and obviously more experienced. The other team members looked like pros in their matching swimsuits, unlike my swimmers' mismatched suits. I encouraged them and told them that they had practiced for so long and so hard that they deserved just as much respect as those other teams. I told them that it didn't matter whether we had matching swimsuits or not and that I would stand behind them 100 percent no matter what. They were so excited and pumped after my speech. They cheered each other on, and not only did every child break his or her own record, but my team won first place in the meet among four other teams that had been together for a much longer time.

I was the leader of my macroeconomics group in college. As leader, I had to delegate parts of the assignment to other group members. Not only did I do a written part for each paper, but I gathered all of the props we needed for our oral presentation, and I typed all of the five papers assigned. I was also taking four other classes at the time. By the fourth paper, I decided to persuade some of the other group members to edit and finalize it. I learned a lot about delegation and leadership when I discovered that they were happy to help out.

When I first began working at the YMCA, I was the youngest member of the staff. An older woman really "knew the ropes" of the place. When I first got there she barely acknowledged my presence, and through word of mouth I discovered that she thought that I was too young to successfully fulfill my duties because I was so inexperienced. She assumed I was immature. I did my job and took every opportunity to make a good impression. I was a very diligent worker and behaved in a highly professional manner at all times, learning quickly the best way to do things. After about two weeks of the silent treatment from her, she came up to me and told me how impressed she was with me. She told me that I had done an excellent job and was the fastest learner that she had ever seen. She apologized to me for ignoring me and took me under her wing and shared what she knew with me.

While attending college, I also worked at a law firm. I was successful because I practiced good time-management skills, and I made a to-do list every day. As I completed each task, I checked it off the list. It is funny how something so simple can keep you so organized. As a result of my to-do lists, I was able to visualize my daily progress.

As a Resident Advisor, I had another RA who often sought me as a person to confide her complaints to and shared quite a bit of information about activities she'd engaged in that violated the rules. Although I did not mind being a resource for this person, I knew that I could not compromise my integrity or her residents' safety. Although she became very outraged and angry with me, I talked to her about the situation and and told her that I would have to tell my supervisor. She eventually understood my responsibility and why I had to come forward with information. She knew that what she had done was against the rules, but never realized before I talked to her that she had jeopardized her residents' safety.

Select a group project you participated in during the past and explain your role and responsibilities. Provide a concise answer without neglecting to discuss important details about your participation in the project. It's fine to discuss project goals and metrics, how you communicated with team members, project conclusions, and any other relevant facts. The following is a good answer to this question.

► Tell me about the most stressful situation you have found yourself in at work. What did you do in this situation?
► Describe a situation where you believed others were putting pressure on you. What did you do to manage this?
► How do you ensure that your colleagues or direct reports do not feel too much pressure? Provide an example.
► What's the most difficult transition you have needed to make in your career?
► Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to adjust to changes that were outside your influence or control?
► Tell me about a time when you had to adjust to someone's way of working to achieve a goal or complete a project?

There will always be disagreements when working in teams. Regardless of what team members disagree about, each individual is responsible to execute their duties, and project goals must be achieved. Employers recruit employees who can compromise and solve problems.

A dataset is a collection of related data resources. A resource is an individual file within a dataset. When sharing data, you first create a dataset and then you can add one or more resources to it. A resource can either be a file uploaded to HDX (such as a CSV or XLS file) or a link to another website with a downloadable file. A resource, such as a readme file, could also contain documentation that helps users to understand the dataset.

Project leaders are assigned important responsibilities. Managers rely on them to ensure work is performed on time and quality standards are adhered to. Job candidates must provide answers that demonstrate their competency and maturity.

OCHA is the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Team members often feud even though they're required to act professionally and work together. Some team members have professional disagreements, while others have conflicting personalities. If you've feuded with a colleague in the past, whether professionally or personally, be honest with the interviewer and explain in detail the situation.

► Describe a time where you made a mistake in your work. How did you find the mistake?
► What tools do you use to check your work? Why do you use these tools? Provide an example of where you have applied these.
► How do you go about ensuring quality when there are time pressures? Describe a time where you have managed to produce quality work when you were under pressure.
► Describe a time where you found an error that was not immediately obvious.
► Have you ever discovered a mistake that was overlooked by everyone else? How did you find this? What was the result?
► Tell me about a time that you were confused by a customer's request. What steps did you take to clarify things?
► Have you ever needed to persuade someone above you that they had made a mistake? What did you do in this situation? How did it turn out?

► Describe an idea that you have conceived, implemented and evaluated?
► How do you determine whether ideas are worth pursuing? Provide an example.
► Give an example of a time where you needed to 'think outside the square' to come up with a solution to a challenging problem.
► What's the best way to inspire creativity in your team? Tell me about a time when you've done this.
► When have you brought an innovative idea into your organisation? What did you do to ensure it was successful? How was it received?

► What is your definition of success?
► Who has exercised the greatest influence on you? What did you learn from her/him?
► For what kind of organization can you do your best work?
► What are the qualities that make for a great organization, in your opinion?
► What do think might be your most important contribution to our organization?
► What would make an organization unattractive to you as a prospective employer.
► What would you expect would happen if you and a fellow employee could not cooperate?
► What would you expect would happen if you were often late for work or absent?
► What would you expect would happen if you were discovered drinking or using illegal drugs on the job?
► What would you expect would happen if a client/member/customer complained about your work, or the way you spoke to her/him?
► What would you expect would happen on your first day on the job?

► Describe a time where you saw someone doing something that did not meet company standards. What did you do? What was the outcome?
► What values do you use to guide your work? Describe a time where these were challenged.
► Describe a time in your career where you thought that complete honesty was not the right thing to do? Why did you think this? What did you do?
► We all have times where we are asked to implement policies that we do not agree with. What have you done in this situation?

► How have you prepared yourself for this kind of position?
► What have you been doing to keep up to date in your field?
► How would you rate your level of expertise in [insert major function to be performed] compared with others in similar positions? Why do you rate yourself that way?
► In which areas do you feel you need to upgrade your knowledge? Why do you feel that way?
► What improvements did you introduce in your last position?
► How good is your knowledge of [insert essential knowledge area]. Please briefly summarize that for me.

► In many cases you need to "make a call" when you have incomplete information. Describe one of these and how you approached it.
► Describe the toughest decision you have needed to make at work. Why was it tough? What did you do to make that decision?
► Give me an example of a decision you needed to make quickly and on your own?
► Provide an example of a decision that you made that you now realise was a poor decision. What happened? What did you do?
► Describe a recent unpopular decision you made. How was it received? How did you handle it?

► Describe the most challenging group you have needed to manage. What did you do to get the results you needed from the group? What was the result?
► What do you think it takes to be a truly effective leader? Provide an example of where you have demonstrated this.
► Leadership can sometimes be about being unpopular. When have you been unpopular? Why?
► Tell me about a time when you have needed to lead a group of peers. What did you do in this situation?
► Do you think leaders are born or made? What's made you an effective leader?
► Give an example of where you have had someone challenge your authority or ability to lead. What did you do in this situation?
► Describe a time where you needed to juggle your own commitments with your leadership responsibilities. What did you do?
► Give an example of a time where you have needed to manage in a time of uncertainty, either restructuring, redundancies or a time where there has been a merge of organisations.
► What do you use as an indicator that people follow you? Provide an example.
► Describe an obstacle you have had in becoming a leader? What did you do?
► Tell me about a leadership role that you have had that was not part of your formal work, perhaps in the community or in sport. What approach did you take? Why did you commit your time to this?
► Who do you admire as a leader and what lessons have you learned and applied from this example?
► You have two team members having dispute. How do you ensure that you come up with a solution that is fair to all? Provide an example.
► In any team you have people that do not perform. Describe the toughest person you have had to manage where it ultimately led to that person leaving. How did you handle this situation?

► What is your definition of success?
► Who has exercised the greatest influence on you? What did you learn from her/him?
► For what kind of organization can you do your best work?
► What are the qualities that make for a great organization, in your opinion?
► What do think might be your most important contribution to our organization?
► What would make an organization unattractive to you as a prospective employer.
► What would you expect would happen if you and a fellow employee could not cooperate?
► What would you expect would happen if you were often late for work or absent?
► What would you expect would happen if you were discovered drinking or using illegal drugs on the job?
► What would you expect would happen if a client/member/customer complained about your work, or the way you spoke to her/him?
► What would you expect would happen on your first day on the job?

► What do you want to be doing 5 years from now?
► If you had complete freedom of choice, what would you choose to be doing at this stage in your life?
► What did you like best about your last job?
► What did you like least about your last job?
► What do you want to avoid in your next job?
► Where do you see your career going in the longer run?
► How did you get into this field?
► Which courses did you like best?
► Which courses gave you the most difficulty?
► What do you enjoy most about being a [insert occupation]?
► What have been the major surprises you encountered in being a [insert occupation]?
► Which work-related organizations have you joined?
► What kinds of books and periodicals do you read?
► How do you spend your leisure time?
► If you had it to do over again, would you take the same [education/career path]? Why/Why not?

► Tell me about a time where others you were working with on a project disagreed with your ideas, yet you needed to work with them all? What did you do?
► Give me an example when you worked with a colleague who was not doing their share of the work. How did you handle it?
► We have all had times where we've worked in teams that did not get along. Describe a time this has happened to you. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result?

► Describe a time where you needed to research a problem and come up with different alternatives to resolve it. How did you determine the most appropriate solution?
► Tell me about a time where you encountered something new and needed to work backwards from the end point
► What's the best idea you have ever had and successfully implemented?
► Talk about a project did not go as planned? What did you do to rectify it?
► Tell me about a time where you needed to consult several different groups to come up with an answer to an issue? What was the outcome?
► What's the most challenging workplace problem that you've encountered? What did you do to come up with a solution?
► If you inherited a team that you sensed was not performing optimally, what would you do to begin to solve the problem? Provide a case study to illustrate where you have done this.
► Describe the steps you normally take to make a decision. Tell us about a time where this did not result in the answer you anticipated and how you handled that.
► How do you assess the quality of decisions or recommendations that other people present to you? Provide an example?
► Describe a time where you needed to choose between a number of ideas? What criteria did you use?