Activist Interview Preparation Guide

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Obviously, the world you live in (your socio-political environment) your particular individual passions (moral sensibilities), and the opportunities for activism that present themselves are all important. There weren’t many animal rights activists concerned with deep-sea oil drilling in the 19th Century, and I’d wager there aren’t many in present day Haiti.

Probably my friends. Because they've been with me and I think I communicate a lot. We don't have the traditional Latino relationship, you know, where you have to be super respectful. We get into it, we argue, we discuss. They'll argue with me: "You're too busy doing that." And I'll get into it with them, about what their lives are about.

Hopefully you've never had to do this, but if you did, talk about how hard it was personally to fire anyone but that you did it objectively.

Don't try to sugarcoat the answer by listing something ambitious as a fear, unless you truly mean it (for example: I fear being a great leader) - Share your real fears but discuss how you would overcome them.

Here is your chance to show how you are the best candidate for the position. Use stories of how you have managed complex cases. Bring in examples of how you assess and address risk, and try to cover which models of practice and methodology you use and why.

I think my mother was a feminist for her time. She was what I call an "equal-opportunity" mother because even before she had the restaurant, we all three had to do the housework. My older brother and my younger brother and I split up the chores evenly. We had to do dishes. And there was a chart, and after you did your chores you got to put an X on there. We had to sweep and mop the floors, make the beds, and do the dishes and do the laundry. All of us equally. So my brothers learned that growing up. My mother never made me do anything for my brothers, like serve them. I think that's an important lesson, especially for the Latino culture, because the women are expected to be the ones that serve and cook and whatever. Not in our family.

Describe what makes you passionate about the work. It could be the company's vision, the product, your desire to succeed, the clients, your peers and so on. They key is to first understand what internally motivates you to do your job and then to emphasize that in a positive way

Preparation is key. Review relevant legislation and policy, and consider current debates too, but try to avoid discussions around party politics. What an employer is looking for is an understanding of your legal obligations as a social worker. For example, a role in adult social work will require knowledge of the Care Act 2014, while a children and families social worker would need to demonstrate that they are up to date with the Children and Families Act 2014.

I can fully understand why The Activist Investor would need to conduct background checks on all potential employees. I have a squeaky clean record and am happy to comply with any of your requests.
If you have a mark on your record: "I can fully understand why The Activist Investor would need to conduct background checks on all potential employees. I did have a charge against me approximately 6 years ago for a DUI. I have gained my drivers' license back since then but I thought I should disclose that to you ahead of time.

We all have difficult decisions in our lives. Show how you were able to arrive at it and then how you decisively acted.

If your dreams don't relate to the job closely, make sure you highlight aspects of the job that will help develop the skills that will help you with your dreams. Ideally, you want your dreams to relate strongly to the career path you're interviewing for though.

Your interviewer will be looking for an answer that shows you can work in a timely fashion with an evidence-based approach. You should emphasise your understanding of meeting legal requirements and draw on relevant examples of successful case recording.

Show that you set great goals and the process and steps you took to achieve it. Details really matter here.

Last year I made a recommendation for our office to incorporate a recycling program. We were going through a lot of single-use coffee pods. It bothered me how wasteful it all seemed. I presented a spreadsheet to my supervisor comparing the single-use pods vs. investing in a built-in coffee machine. The savings over 2 years were significant and my boss has now presented my idea to our head office. It feels nice to be heard in the workplace so I continue to keep my eyes out for opportunities for process improvements.

☛ Are you sensitive? Are you intuitive?
☛ Are you an active listener? Are you able to engage clients?
☛ How do you describe your personal boundaries?
☛ What kinds of things go into a psychological assessment?
☛ Do you believe in short term or long-term treatment?
☛ How do you handle termination?
☛ Think of a client you have liked/disliked and tell me how you dealt with the counter transference issues.

☛ What do you hope to accomplish as a social worker?
☛ Our agency serves XYZ population. What interests you about serving this population?
☛ How do you feel about supervision? What type of supervision do you prefer?
☛ How do you balance your work and personal life?
☛ What types of clients do you find the most difficult to work with and why?
☛ What are some of your biggest accomplishments in your fieldwork?
☛ Tell me about the most difficult case you ever worked on.
☛ Tell me about something you would do differently in the management of one of your previous fieldwork cases.
☛ Have you ever been faced with an ethical conflict in your experience as a social worker? How did you handle the situation?
☛ Tell me about a time when you disagreed with someone over a treatment plan. What was the disagreement, and how was it resolved?
☛ How would you locate resources for clients in a community in which you have no relationships?
☛ Imagine a client walked into a session with you and appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. What would you do?
☛ What would you do if a client had a psychotic outburst in the waiting room?
☛ What techniques do you use in crisis intervention?
☛ What are your opinions on the current welfare system?
☛ Where do you think the field of social work is heading in the next five years?
☛ What is your theoretical orientation regarding family therapy?

☛ This position requires a lot of independent thinking and initiative. There is minimal supervision. Could you handle that?
☛ Would you rather draw up plans and design a program or be responsible for implementing a program? Why?
☛ How would your weaknesses interfere with your ability to do this job?
☛ What kinds of problems do you like to handle? Can you give me an example.
☛ What do you think is going to happen in the field in the next five years?
☛ Are you a member of any professional organizations?

☛ Why have you selected a career in social work?
☛ How is your previous experience applicable to the work we do here?
☛ Have you had the experience of working with people of a race or sexual orientation different from yours? (be able to articulate how culture impacts our work re: abuse/neglect/prevention/ intervention etc.)
☛ What do you hope to accomplish as a social worker?
☛ What do you judge to be your major successes or accomplishments in your fieldwork? How did you achieve these?
☛ What major disappointments/failures have you had in fieldwork? Or
☛ Knowing what you know now, is there something you would do differently in the management of one of your fieldwork cases?

☛ Do you feel you can be objective in counseling a teen about abortion?
☛ What do you think of the welfare system?
☛ What do you think of the recent welfare changes?
☛ What are your thoughts on managed care?
☛ What techniques do you use in crisis intervention work?
☛ How would you handle a psychotic outburst in the clinic waiting room?
☛ In terms of family therapy, what is your theoretical orientation?
☛ Are you prepared to make home visits?
☛ What are the risk assessment/signs of abuse/neglect?

☛ Why should your brand want to save the world? (And how do you define the world for the purposes of your brand anyway?)
☛ What are you fighting, and how entrenched is it?
☛ Where’s the connection between what you aspire to achieve and what your brand does (and therefore, what mandate, if any, do you have?)
☛ What exactly do you wish to see happen?
☛ Who will join you in the bid to make it happen?
☛ Who will refuse to trust you – and why?
☛ What’s the likely reaction overall – and how prepared are you for that?
☛ What will you do if you don’t get that reaction?
☛ Do your current behaviors fit with what you’re looking to achieve?
☛ Does your history align with your intentions? What have you said/done in the past to prove you’re sincere?
☛ How are you going to make this happen? – through whom? With what? Over what period of time?
☛ What are you doing alongside this via your CSR or business strategies to complement your stance?
☛ What are you not doing via your CSR or business strategies that could lead people to believe you’re not sincere?
☛ What other brands are also advocating for change in this space?
☛ Why are your actions different – and therefore what part of the conversation can you own?
☛ How motivated are your consumers to see this change?
☛ Where are your people in all of this? What does your (new) purpose do for them that you haven’t been able to do before?
☛ Where’s this going? – how will your brand emerge stronger for pursuing this?
☛ Where’s the proof that you’ve made or will make a difference? (And will that proof stand up to scrutiny?)
☛ How and when will you judge success? What’s your end point? And then what will you do?

This question also provides you with a chance to ask the interviewer more about a specific project or model of working. You might, for example, wish to ask about the systems they have in place to facilitate multi-agency working.

Discuss stories of how you've progressed over the years to achieve success. People relate best to stories.

Know at least 3 strong reasons about why you want to work at the company. You could discuss their vision, products, the people, the career opportunities, and the culture.

I have not personally used your commercial services; however, I have friends who have used The Activist Investor for their business needs and their reviews were always positive!
I have been a customer of The Activist Investor before, yes! The services I used were A, B, and C. My experience here was very comfortable and everyone was professional. This is one of the reasons why I applied for this role. I want to work for a company that has high standards and I know first hand that you do!

Be as open as possible and remember that everybody learns in different ways. There is no textbook answer, but be ready with two or three examples and show how a particular activity or course helped with your CPD. Crucially, employers are looking for an indication of how your CPD has broadened your skill set and how this is of benefit to the role.