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My advice
to potential applicants is two-fold. One, trust the interviewer and
second, be HONEST and open with the interviewer.
-Mary Margaret Stadler, Jesuit Volunteers Corps: East
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Know
your motivations for service at this time in your life.
-Sr. Mary Montgomery, Providence Volunteer Ministry
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THINK
POSITIVE!! Keep your ideas in focus. "The world needs the
gift of youth."
-Sr. Elaine Betoncourt, CSJ Volunteers in Mission
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Can
they (applicants) put aside their expectations and listen to what they might
be getting into? The volunteer might feel every time there is a
conflict we will assemble to pray and discuss!! Or that there is a
white picket fence around each community house??
-Maureen McGowan, Good Shepherd Volunteers
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When the
volunteer director sets up the interview, it really is a two-way
process. The volunteer should look upon it as a time for him/her to
ask questions about the program i.e.:
-what problems has the program encountered with community
living?
-tell me what the last renewal weekend was like.
-who else is joining the program?
I tell prospective volunteers that I prefer to have several phone or email
conversations before THE BIG INTERVIEW because by then I already know the
person and can talk with them on a deeper level about their spiritual and
personal growth, why a particular placement would be good for them,
etc.
- Sr. Mary Catherine Dunn, Vincentian Service Corps Central
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I would tell
the applicants to be themselves and to be honest.
-Brother Jack Flaherty, Irish Christian Brothers
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My
advice would be: Be yourself in the interview. It is the best way for
you and the interviewer to determine whether or not the volunteer opportunity
will be beneficial to you.
-Ed Brink, S.M., Lalanne
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EVERYONE
gets nervous. Once it passes, just be yourself.
-Joyce Platfoot
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| Be sure to read thoroughly any
information the volunteer program has sent you and to have questions
prepared. This will demonstrate your commitment to the program's
mission and values, help you in discerning if the program is the right one
for you (there are hundreds! Take time to find the best fit), and your
questions will help the interviewer to become familiar with what is
important to you.
-Pam Krinock, Jesuit Volunteer Corps
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| Be prepared to discuss
the challenge of learning how to problem-solve in community and on the
job...for many volunteers, their experience of living in community and
working in a nonprofit setting will be the first where they do not
experience immediate positive results with clients and where they will have
to learn to be assertive with community related problems...not passive or
aggressive.
-Thomas Gilardi, Mercy Home for Boys and Girls
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| "Is there anything
else you'd like to tell us?" usually gives the interviewee an
opportunity to open up and talk about things he or she did not feel
comfortable putting in writing.
-Fr. Michael O'Donnell and George Sullivan, Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps
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| One thing that I
find more and more attractive with interviewees is a degree of openness to
discovery, learning, growth. I don't know if I am just getting older,
but, I find that those who interview now -it seems more than ever- are so
focused on EXACTLY what they want. That is good to some degree (they
have done their homework, are sincerely interested in the best program for
them, etc.) but it makes me feel at times as a program director that we are
becoming a job placement organization. If someone is open to
discovery, learning, growth...they come in less with an attitude of
entitlement (I deserve and have the right to have things exactly as I want
them). They are interviewing not JUST to get job experience, but also
for what the program offers them as a person and how they can develop as a
person and as a leader through the experience (through community, faith
components...)
-Mark Laboe, Amate House
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| My advice for
interviewing would be to risk sharing your vulnerabilities, limitations, and
fears in the interview-not just trying to "sell"
yourself. It's not a job interview. Long-term, faith-based
service invites people to a life-changing experience. Approach the
interview with the same openness to transformation that you hope to bring
to your volunteer experience.
-Courtney
Carlson, Mercy Volunteer Corps
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| RE:
Interviewing...tell them that the interviewer should not talk too
much. Leave lots of time for the interviewee to talk (the only way to
get to know the potential volunteer) try to find out how they use their
leisure time; get the person to speak about his/her family relationships.
-Sr. Francis Joseph
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| I'd say to be themselves
and to be honest. Trying to say the "right" thing won't help
any of us.
-Cathy Manderfield, Mercy Volunteers Corps
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