The Interview

November 9th - Contacted to set up an interview

My new recruiter from the Midwest office contacted me to set up an interview. Because my school was in a small town in Iowa with no Peace Corps office of its own, I had the option of interviewing over the phone, or going to Iowa City to meet with University of Iowa's Peace Corps representative. I chose to go to Iowa City and received instructions to contact my interviewer.

November 16th - Interview time and date selected

After my interviewer selected the time and date, I scoured the Internet for indications of what might be asked at the interview and I found the list of questions at the Peace Corps Wiki (not affiliated with Peace Corps). In a journal, I wrote down each of the questions, leaving spaces in between. For the next week and half, I went through it and wrote/reviewed key words that I had written down for each question, but did not write out answers. The night before the interview, I asked one of my smartest friends to conduct a "mock interview" with me and give me feedback on my answers.

November 29th - Date of interview

The woman who conducted my interview was a returned volunteer who served in Botswana. The questions asked were identical to the ones I found on Peace Corps Wiki, except for the one I found to be the most difficult. On the Wiki, it is listed as, "Tell me about a time when you had trouble following a rule." The question I was asked at the interview was, "Describe a time you had trouble following a rule you disagreed with." I decided that there were three ways to answer this question: 1.) I had trouble following a rule, but I went along with it anyway, 2.) I had trouble following a rule, so I didn't, but then learned from the experience, or 3.) I had trouble following a rule, so I didn't follow it, but did so in a way that didn't compromise the "spirit" of the rule. I decided to go with answer format 2, and chose a time that I disobeyed my parents' wishes, but then realized that I should have followed their advice and why.

In retrospect, the one thing I could have done to be more prepared would have been to think of a joke, or something that would have made my interviewer laugh, because one of the expectations that was emphasized to me early in the interview was the "importance of having a sense of humor". No pressure, or anything...

Over the course of the interview, I made two very happy discoveries: 1.) I will not necessarily have to cut my hair; it depends on where I go, and 2.) All volunteers have a "primary" assignment, which is like your job title, but volunteers are encouraged/required to have secondary projects as well. She said a typical secondary project would be beekeeping, community agriculture, and the like. I was very happy to hear this!!