Community Advocate Interview Preparation Guide

A major part of the community manager role is advocating on behalf of users, so this question should be a no brainer for anyone you intend to hire. This is also a good question to ask folks who might be transitioning in from another field, as there should be many transferable situations at top of mind ranging from defending younger siblings from bullies to helping a teammate get a promotion. Pay particularly close attention to how they describe the way that they went about pursuing a good outcome — this can be very telling, particularly in its absence.

I truly believe in fighting for the liberty and justice of all people. Our political leaders must listen when constituents are yelling.

As a Brand New Congress candidate, I am also currently endorsed by Justice Democrats.

Schools which accept public funding are bound by the IDEA requirements. This includes Charter Schools, Vocational-Technical Schools, and special education schools which accept special education students for placements funded by their public school districts. It does not apply to private schools which generally do not accept publicly-funded students.

Because advocacy is not a credentialed profession, parents are often faced with confusion when deciding who to hire. It is usually helpful to start by asking for recommendations from specialists (independent evaluators or clinicians) who know their child’s needs. As in selecting an independent evaluator, it is wise to choose an advocate who is experienced in helping families whose children struggle with similar disabilities. It can be helpful to speak with two or three advocates to compare. I believe it is critical to choose someone with whom a parent feels “simpatico”, someone you feel you can trust to give you honest, compassionate and thoughtful advice, even if its advice you’d rather not have to hear. Other resources for advocacy are the Special Needs Advocacy Network (SPAN) and the Federation for Children with Special Needs.

Again, an easy question to ask that can be a minefield for the unprepared. It doesn’t really matter how you respond to this, as long as the courses you offer have a reasonable relationship to the job you’re interviewing for. If you’re interviewing at a small law firm that only does civil cases, it’s suspicious if all of your favorite courses are criminal law and procedure. Perhaps you’re just interviewing here because you can’t get the job you really want? (Which may be true, but isn’t the best impression to convey!) Before the interview, look over your transcript and think about what classes are most related to the work you’d be doing in the role you’re interviewing for. Easy — those are your favorite classes!

As I’ve argued elsewhere, the most important information on your resume actually has nothing to do with law at all — it’s your hobbies and interests. If well selected, these can fill a good chunk of time in an interview and allow you to make a more human connection with the interviewer. However…you have to actually do these things! I once asked a candidate what kind of cooking he enjoyed, and he looked at me blankly until I showed him the Interests section of his resume, which listed “cooking” as an interest. Turns out he didn’t cook at all, which was somewhat confusing (and made me wonder who wrote his resume!).

My guess is 90% of advocacy teams live in marketing. That’s because marketing has the budget and if the top priority is to generate leads that's where advocacy probably belongs. At Crimson, advocacy lives in the client services organization alongside support, coaching, professional services and most important the Customer Success team.

I have had the opportunity to manage advocacy programs that lived in marketing and client services and have to say that client services is the place to be. For a new program, it is especially important for advocacy to be close to the people working directly with customers.

We take progressive opposition that attempts to divide us up by creating divisive narratives that focus on our differences, and we flip it on its head. We must strategically utilize empathy and intersectionality to transform our diversity into a strength. When we dedicate our energy to identifying commonalities while respecting our differences, we can galvanize our base. To accomplish this, we need leaders that not only communicate the importance of common ground, but model it as well.

Intersectionality means that, as progressives, we must recognize that once we better acknowledge the differences among us, the better we will understand how to empower the diverse subgroups within our movement. Once this occurs, our opposition cannot marginalize our efforts, because each and every fight includes a diverse base bringing with them the multiple perspectives and skills needed to create systemic change. Once we fight just as hard for each other as we do for our singular issues, all issues progressives are fighting for will be addressed and changed.

My rule of thumb is that if a parent is worried about their child, they should consult with their child’s doctor and teachers to determine whether a more thorough evaluation would be helpful. If a parent requests a special education evaluation, the school district is required to provide them with a Consent to Evaluate form. Once the consent form is signed, the district has 30 school days to conduct the evaluations in any and all areas of suspected need and to convene a Team meeting to determine eligibility. Within 45 school days of the signing of the consent form, the Team has to provide the parent either with an IEP or a Notice of Refusal to Act (i.e. denial of eligibility). Parents can then accept or reject (in whole or in part) the IEP as proposed. They can also reject the denial of eligibility. Upon receipt of a rejection of any sort, the district is required to notify the state within five days and parents can avail themselves of the Bureau of Special Education Appeals dispute resolution options and resources.