I applied online. I interviewed at Daly City Fire Department
Interview
Typing test was pretty straightforward. Multiple-choice exam had English and math questions; they tested your accuracy and comprehension. Oral exam and panel interview were mostly behavioral. They open up the employment list every two years.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How familiar are you with Word/Excel/Powerpoint/Access? Describe one way you dealt with a difficult situation. Describe one achievement on the job.
I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Daly City Fire Department
Interview
There were three parts (i.e. keyboard, written, oral). Keyboard and written were both straightforward and easy. Oral exam was the one where I was taken aback with.
Reason is because when I enquired with HR dept. if the oral exam would be behavioral I was told it would be based on job description only. Six questions asked by a panel of three people with only one question asked about computer program knowledge; the remaining five questions were all behavioral.
Also nowhere on the job description did it mention needing to know not only Excel but also Access and Power Point so it was quite disappointing to me to find out right then and there during the oral exam that I only had 1/3 of the required computer skills named. Then nothing else asked had anything directly to do with the job description. It was all behavioral after that. It was not fair as I did enquire but was told something totally different. Plus the entire process was too time consuming covering three months of mostly waiting.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
All questions were unexpected thus difficult. If they had at least given some sort of a faint idea of what the actual questions would pertain to then it would have been more fair to the candidate.
Generally the questions concerned how one handles employee conflicts, time pressure, name an accomplishment on the job, etc.
