WRP Student Registration and Application

Workforce Recruitment Program: Recruiter Interview Process

Table of Contents

Preparing for Interviews 1

Important Information for Candidates 2

Informational Interview Structure 3

WRP Job Preference Descriptions List 5

Talking to Candidates about Requesting Job Accommodations 7

Preparing for Interviews

1. Make sure you have thoroughly reviewed all the student’s application materials, particularly their resume, in advance. Come to the informational interview prepared with suggestions, questions, and ideas specific to the candidate.

2. Have a contact plan for how you and the candidate will connect. Also make sure you know how to reach the School Coordinator if you are unable to reach the candidate.

3. Understand the structure of the information interview. See page 4 for more information.

4. Here are some guidelines to follow when conducting the interviews:

   • Engage the student and listen to them actively. Ask them questions about their experiences, and future career goals.

   • Share your career experiences and encourage the candidate to ask questions about federal service that you may be able to advise them about.

   • Meet the candidate where they are; understand that candidates come to WRP with different levels of career and educational experiences, and may be more or less prepared for the informational interview. Do your best to be patient and persistent to allow them to get the most out of learning from you.

   • Develop and maintain a non-patronizing attitude – see the person and his or her abilities, NOT the disability.

   • Do not make assumptions about a student's ability to perform a certain job based on your knowledge or ideas about the student's disability.

   • Ensuring you have strong communication is important. If you are having trouble communicating with the candidate, take the time out to try to fix the problem together. Listen, be patient, and be willing to repeat or rephrase questions. Reach out to WRP staff or the School Coordinator if you feel the candidate was not able to fully benefit from the interview due to communication or connection issues.

5. At the end of the interview, provide some action steps that the candidate can take as they begin their career journeys. Make sure the candidate understands how the process works, and that they should review the student resources on the WRP Website.

6. You should write down the action steps you provided to the student at the conclusion of the informational interview. You may take additional notes during or after the interview, but that is not required.

Important Information for Candidates

Thank you for interviewing with the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP). Here are some important items for you to remember about your participation in the WRP:

• Employers will begin contacting candidates about jobs as early as mid-December, and will continue through June for summer jobs, and up to one year later for permanent jobs. Neither your recruiter nor the WRP office will be tracking your application. Employers will contact candidates directly without going through the main WRP Office.

• Your application will remain active in the WRP database for one year. To be part of WRP in future years, you must reapply with WRP each fall, as long as you still meet the WRP eligibility criteria.

• The WRP is not a guarantee of employment, though it improves your chances of receiving federal opportunities. WRP candidates should continue to pursue other opportunities in addition to WRP.

• Please ensure that all your contract information is up to date on your resume and application on the WRP website so that employers can reach you. If you need help updating your information, please contact WRP for assistance at [email protected]

• Employers will contact candidates directly. Please respond to employers promptly, meaning no more than 48 hours after an email or phone call is received. If you have already accepted a position or are not interested in the opportunity, respond ASAP to let them know. It is important to be courteous and follow up with an employer even if you aren’t interested in a position. This will allow other candidates to receive the opportunity, which might be lost if you take a long time to respond. Additionally, it is always important to be responsive to emails from potential employers even if you are not interested in the position; you never know how you might end up interacting with them in the future!

• If you are contacted with a job offer or interview opportunity, be sure to get the name, phone number, or email address of the person contacting you. This is the only means of getting back in touch with that person. In addition, you should also ask about the location of the position, the job title, and job duties.

• If you have accepted a job from an employer, be sure to request confirmation of the job offer in writing and contact information for the employer. Stay in touch regularly with the employer after you have accepted a job to ensure that you have submitted all necessary materials to them, including information on your job accommodation needs.

• Refer to the Resources on the WRP website or reach out to your WRP School Coordinator if you have any questions.

• If an issue arises that will prevent you from keeping your commitment to a job you have already accepted, immediately contact the employer to inform them.

• Do not accept jobs from more than one WRP employer at the same time. If you receive multiple job offers, keep all of the employers informed about your situation and come to a decision as quickly as possible. Holding on to job offers from two or more agencies wastes federal money and resources, denies your fellow candidates those job opportunities, and discourages employers from using the program in the future.

Informational Interview Structure

Below is the recommended structure for the interview

1. Introductions

2. Career Advice and Federal Service

3. Resume and Application Review

4. Reminders and Close Out

Introduction

Share your name, agency, and a brief description of your job. The student should share their name, major, school, and their career goals.

If the student needs additional prompting to share their introduction, you may need to ask the candidate follow up questions like:

• Why did you choose your major?

• What do you hope to do after you finish your degree?

• What type of job would you like to have in 5 years?

Career Advice and Federal Service

Share brief highlights of your career or types of jobs you have held. Let the student know why you wanted to work in Federal Government. Then, give the student time to ask questions about federal service and other aspects of your career. Some topics for discussion in this section could include lessons you learned at the beginning of your career around topic areas like:

• networking

• communicating effectively

• working with a team

• finding mentors

If the student needs additional prompting to share their interest in WRP and federal service, you may need to ask the candidate follow up questions like:

• Why might you be interested in working for the Federal Government or another sector?

• Are there particular agencies you would be most interested in working for?

• What would you like to learn if you received an opportunity through WRP?

Resume and Application Review

The goal of this section is to provide advice or ask the student questions that will help them communicate their accomplishments, career goals, and academic and workplace success more effectively to employers. Their goal should be to demonstrate and highlight the skills, talents, and abilities that they would bring to a workplace through their resume and application.

Prior to and throughout the interview, ask yourself the following questions:

• Does the resume reflect what the candidate has communicated in terms of their interests, skills, and abilities during the informational interview?

  • If not, how could you help the candidate communicate those better?

• Does the resume demonstrate what the candidate did and learned in their academic, extracurricular, and work activities?

  • If not, what advice would you give to the candidate to highlight those accomplishments in their resume?

  • If yes, is there anything else the student can do to improve their resume or application?

• Does the application accurately reflect their job and location preference?

Reminders and Closeout

1. Review the Schedule A Hiring Authority. Make sure they know what the Authority is and why it is important to acquire a Schedule A letter. This is covered in more detail in Part 4 of the training.

2. Explain that once the database is published, employers will contact candidates directly using the contact information listed on their application or resume. Neither WRP staff nor recruiters will be tracking those contacts, so candidates should make sure to save the contact information of any potential employers. Review the Important Information for WRP Candidates flyer with the student. Make sure he or she clearly understands that this is a program for students with disabilities. Emphasize that you are solely there to provide career and resume advice and not the person to contact about job inquiries; your involvement with their application ends when you conclude the informational interview with them. Job offers will come directly from employers.

3. Remind students that it is critical that they keep their contact information, resume, and other details on the website up-to-date. They can continue to log in and update their application until August of the following year.

4. Go over any action items that you gave to the candidate during the course of the interview, such as having a resume review with career services, acquiring a Schedule A letter, researching federal agencies, or having additional informational interviews with individuals in their field.

WRP Job Preference Descriptions List

Accounting

Positions involving work related to accounting, budget administration, tax examining or auditing, or related financial management.

Administration and Program Management

Positions related to areas of program management or administration, including public administration, logistics management, program analysis, program management, etc.

Administrative Support

Positions related to general administrative, clerical, and office services, such as secretarial work, correspondence, mail and file work, operation of appliances and communications equipment, etc.

Arts

Positions involving the arts, including general arts, industrial design, interior design, museum studies, music, audiovisual production, photography, illustration, theater, etc.

Business

Positions related to business and trade practices, industry and commerce, economics, and production methods and processes.

Communications and Language

Positions involving communications, including areas that require writing, editing, and language ability, such as public affairs, public relations, outreach, editorial work, technical writing, and publications; or positions involving foreign languages, such as translations and interpretations.

Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement

Positions related to inspection, investigation, enforcement, or compliance work concerned with alleged or suspected offenses against the laws or regulations of the United States.

Education

Positions involved with administering, managing, or performing education or training work.

Engineering and Architecture

Positions related to engineering, architecture, or drafting.

Health Care

Positions involving work related to medicine, surgery, dentistry, nursing, dietetics, occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy, health science, and related fields.

Human Resources/Equal Employment Opportunity

Positions involving work related to the various phases of human resources management, including recruitment; training and development; compensation, performance, and compliance management; benefits administration; employee-labor relations; etc.

Information Technology

Positions related to information technology (IT) systems and services, including computers, network components, peripheral equipment, software, firmware, services, cybersecurity, and related resources.

Legal

Positions involving legal work, including general legal administration, claims examining, copyright, patent, and trademark work, etc.

Library and Archives

Positions involving work in history, library, and archival sciences.

Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Positions involving work in mathematics, statistics, or the study of inanimate natural objects, including physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc.

Natural, Biological, and Veterinary Sciences

Positions involving work in the biological, environmental sciences, ecology, animal science, veterinary science, agricultural science, botany, forestry, geology, geography, etc.

Policy

Positions related to areas of policy, including policy strategy, analysis, and development.

Social Science and Social Service

Positions involving work in the social sciences, including psychology, sociology, social work, vocational rehabilitation, recreational activities, or administering public welfare and insurance programs.

Supply, Equipment, and Quality Assurance

Positions related to supply, inventory, distribution, equipment, facilities and services, quality assurance, inspection, or grading.

Trade, Craft, or Labor

Trade, craft, or labor positions involve the performance of physical work and require knowledge or experience of a trade, craft, or manual labor nature.

Transportation

Positions involving work in transportation, including transportation service, utilities, programs, or research and development projects.

Note: This list was developed based on the job series listed by USAJobs, but some series were modified, separated, or combined to better match WRP student and recent graduate job areas. You can find out more by going to https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/search/filters/series/

Talking to Candidates about Requesting Job Accommodations

As part of the WRP interview process, candidates may have questions about how to request accommodations in the workplace. You should not bring up the topic of accommodations with the candidate, unless they ask you direct questions about it. You may not discuss or ask questions the nature or severity of disability with a candidate under any circumstance.

Requesting Accommodations

• If a candidate receives an employment opportunity by utilizing WRP and requires reasonable accommodations to perform their job successfully, the candidate should request an accommodation through the official department or agency where the position is located when they receive a job offer or interview opportunity with that employer.

• If that accommodation involves equipment or technology, such as a screen-reader or standing desk, candidates should let human resources or the hiring manager know after they have accepted the offer but prior to their start date, so that the agency has time to order or request the technology or equipment in advance.

• While students can choose to list electronic or equipment accommodations in an optional field on the WRP website, they will need to make an accommodation request through the agency that has made them a job offer

• You can also remind candidates that WRP is a program for students and recent graduates with disabilities. Government agencies have a strong interest in hiring people with disabilities.

• If the candidate needs more support in addressing disability accommodations in the workplace, you can refer them to the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) at askjan.org. JAN is the leading source of free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues, and is funded by the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.

11