Ok, so last July I applied for this job -- 911 Communications Officer. In August I took the test for the job and they put me on a waiting list (I was #57) and last week they called to see if I was still interested. I was be cause currently I'm a temp and that would be a permanent position. (And it starts @ $21.55 an hour).

So Sunday they had a "pre oral orientation" and that's when I scheduled my interview, its on Saturday (why I didn't get it over and done with Monday is beyond me, just adds more stress I guess).

So after the interview they'll either send out a rejection letter or have you schedule a polygraph test at some point (thats if you don't get a rejection letter).

So my question is this: Are there any hints or tips that I could use for interviewing in front of a panel or a board?

The best advice will be the hardest to follow and that would be to try to relax, right!

One thing about the oral interview that I pay attention to is when a question is asked, how quickly does the answer come, and does it sound like a real answer, or what they think I wanted to hear.

I interview for an occupation MUCH different from the one you are seeking so my opinion could be the exact opposite of what they may be looking for.

I like to see the applicant think about the question a little bit before blurting out an answer.

In your field, thinking and acting fast could be critical so taking your time to answer may not be the best advice, I don't know.

Just try to be confident, they won't bite you or molest you so the worst that can happen is you don't get the job, which, you don't have now anyway, so you really have nothing real to loose other than an opportunity.

If you miss this one, there will be more to come your way.

Just relax, I am sure the 911 is different but I remember on my oral, we had a question, if you arrived at the scene of an accident, and your police chief was one of the people in the accident and you saw him hide a beer can under his seat and he was obviously drunk, what would you do.

First answer call supervisor, so they followed up, supervisor, LT arrived but it was also obvious he had also been drinking and you over heard him talking to the chief they had both been to the same party and that the LT was going to just blame the other driver,

What would you do.

They basically set up no win questions to see how quick you could think.

They may not do this at all but this is what they did for our police orals