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DCO Panel Interview Gouge

bubblehead

Registered Member
Contributor
Seeing lots of questions around this. Attached is what we use during the panel interviews and below is the guidance given from COMNAVIFORESINST 1120.1B. As others, including myself, have mentioned. This interview is extremely important to your selection.

Do whatever you have to do to complete the interview in person. Four of the last five people I interviewed all lived within 4 - 5 hour's driving distance from me. Guess how many went out of their way to drive to my location for the interview? Zero... No excuses. If you want it bad enough, you'll make it happen.

Standard interview etiquette applies:
  • Do not get chummy with the interviewer
  • Dress professionally (suit and tie). I don't care what anyone else tells you about you not having to wear a suit and tie. It will set you apart. If you are an Enlisted Reservist applicant, your uniform better be squared away.
  • Be within standards (haircut, facial hair, height/weight)
  • Have your sh*t together and do not waste my time
Remember, there is a line of people a mile long who are willing and able to do whatever it takes to make things happen.

1. The goal of our IWC Direct Commission Officer (DCO) program is to commission those promising Officers having the highest potential to effectively lead tomorrow’s Reserve Information Force. We are looking for Candidates who bring leadership and talent, and if possible meaningful experiences from their civilian careers. The inherent difficulty is identifying strong Leaders, an attribute that is not easily quantifiable. Your job as an interviewer and board member is to accurately evaluate leadership potential, technical expertise, and raw talent, all without discriminating against youth.

2. You are not identifying Candidates for a promotion board, but instead for an accession board - you must judge the Candidates’ potential for future success, from basic qualification training to Senior Officer status. More than anything, you must identify those select Candidates whom you believe are Leaders. Those selected should become Officers who would motivate and inspire you.

3. Overstatements of abilities are misleading, so be discerning in your grading and comments – not everyone is a 10. You’re not performing this vital task to be friendly or to avoid disappointing the good people you interview. Your interviewer grades and comments must be objective, reflective of reality, and be yours and yours alone. You should not discuss rankings of Candidates with other panel members.

4. Always remember that your Interviewer’s Appraisal Sheet is for the Board --- not the Candidate. It is a vital tool for board members to assess and make a professional recommendation on each Candidate. It is your responsibility to provide the clearest picture of the Candidate to the Board.

5. The priorities for DCO professional recommendation are:
a. Potential for success during initial obligation to include qualification (designator and IWO) and mobilization.
b. Leadership potential (demonstrated through a variety of means; College Clubs, sports, Civic involvement, community events, and civilian jobs).
c. Retention and career progression potential (to CAPT/O6 and beyond).
d. Relevant civilian experience and education (we do not expect someone newly out of college to have their Masters; PhDs do not guarantee success in the Reserves).

6. We are counting on you to shape our future Officer Corps. Appraise all Candidates fairly, accurately and thoughtfully. Thanks for taking on this seemingly minor, yet vital task.
 

Attachments

  • DCO INTERVIEW APPRAISAL SHEET 1131_5.pdf
    1.4 MB · Views: 253
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sub7hax0r

New Member
Thank you @bubblehead ! This is great prep material. Really appreciate it! If we don't pass the interview is there a way to get feedback on how we can improve the next time around?
 

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
Seeing lots of questions around this. Attached is what we use during the panel interviews and below is the guidance given from COMNAVIFORESINST 1120.1B. As others, including myself, have mentioned. This interview is extremely important to your selection.

Do whatever you have to do to complete the interview in person. Four of the last five people I interviewed all lived within 4 - 5 hour's driving distance from me. Guess how many went out of their way to drive to my location for the interview? Zero... No excuses. If you want it bad enough, you'll make it happen.

Standard interview etiquette applies:
  • Do not get chummy with the interviewer
  • Dress professionally (suit and tie). I don't care what anyone else tells you about you not having to wear a suit and tie. It will set you apart. If you are an Enlisted Reservist applicant, your uniform better be squared away.
  • Be within standards (haircut, facial hair, height/weight)
  • Have your sh*t together and do not waste my time
Remember, there is a line of people a mile long who are willing and able to do whatever it takes to make things happen.

What’s it with O-4s being the worst Interviewer’s for DCO programs? Seems like higher the pay grade the more chill they are.
 

bubblehead

Registered Member
Contributor
What’s it with O-4s being the worst Interviewer’s for DCO programs? Seems like higher the pay grade the more chill they are.
What part of what I said leads you to believe that I am a poor interviewer and am not chill? These are all things that are relevant in the private sector.

In-person interview. Extenuating circumstances aside, if someone is not willing to drive a few hours to have an in-person interview then I seriously question their motivation. When I was applying, I drove to every interview, one of which was a 500 mile round trip.

Getting chummy with the interviewer. Self-explanatory.

Dressing professionally and being within standards. Self-explanatory. You are interviewing for an extremely competitive job interview. What does it say about an applicant that shows up without a shave or hair that is out of standards, or is out of height and weight standards? I had a suit on every time I went to see the recruiter or any time I interacted with anyone during the process.

Have your sh*t together and do not waste my time. Of the last packages I looked at, four of the five all had issues. The packages were either incomplete and missing relevant information (no copy of college transcript where updated education was noted on a resume or in the NAVCRUIT 1131 remarks; an out of date resume for a repeat applicant who had new work experience noted on the NAVCRUIT 1131), grammatical errors on both the NAVCRUIT 1131 and in applicant resume, program choice on NAVCRUIT 1131 had X, but recruiter mentioned Y in block 21 of the NAVCRUIT 1131. In one, case the NAVCRUIT 1131 was filled out incorrectly. One of those five people I interviewed could not even speak to the specific program for which he was applying. In some cases, applicants' written "themes/story/reason for joining" from their NAVCRUIT 1131 motivational statement were not consistent with what they were telling me during the interview.
 

bubblehead

Registered Member
Contributor
If we don't pass the interview is there a way to get feedback on how we can improve the next time around?
The panel interviews are not pass or fail, per se. And no, you will typically not receive feedback.

Check out the appraiser form on the last page for recommend descriptive words.

22375
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Seems like higher the pay grade the more chill they are.
I have observed this, too. While I benefitted from it, I also wonder what the unintended outcomes are. It is a very different experience if you are finding one-off 18X5 interview appraisals outside of the construct of the regional OIC and panel interviews.
 

Hail_HYDRA!

One more question...
Do whatever you have to do to complete the interview in person. Four of the last five people I interviewed all lived within 4 - 5 hour's driving distance from me.
Even then, you may get all 10s and still not get selected. I drove a few hundred miles, spent the night, hit the NOSC first thing in the morning, knocked out my interviews and headed home. Yes, the next go around I got selected (3rd try), but I wanted in and wanted in bad. I still keep in touch with that OIC. In that regard, I passed my interview and such with all 10s but it was me and x-hundred other people trying to get in as well into less than 10 available slots at the time. At that point you have understand that it just a numbers game and like what @bubblehead was saying, if you want something bad enough you'll do whatever it takes to get it.
 

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
I have observed this, too. While I benefitted from it, I also wonder what the unintended outcomes are. It is a very different experience if you are finding one-off 18X5 interview appraisals outside of the construct of the regional OIC and panel interviews.

While I can’t control IWC interviews all other DCO I had a slew of captains and some CDRs who my applicants interviewed with.
 

fieldrat

Fully Qualified 1815
#variations.on.a.theme

Why do you want to be a naval officer?

What do you think qualifies you to be an officer?

Describe a time in your life (personal or professional) where you faced adversity, and tell how you dealt with it?

Speak on an issue that interests you, that's relevant to the Navy today.

What are you reading to stay current and up to date on world/geo-politics?

If you can't comfortably speak on these, don't bother applying
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
Seeing lots of questions around this. Attached is what we use during the panel interviews and below is the guidance given from COMNAVIFORESINST 1120.1B. As others, including myself, have mentioned. This interview is extremely important to your selection.

Do whatever you have to do to complete the interview in person. Four of the last five people I interviewed all lived within 4 - 5 hour's driving distance from me. Guess how many went out of their way to drive to my location for the interview? Zero... No excuses. If you want it bad enough, you'll make it happen.

Standard interview etiquette applies:
  • Do not get chummy with the interviewer
  • Dress professionally (suit and tie). I don't care what anyone else tells you about you not having to wear a suit and tie. It will set you apart. If you are an Enlisted Reservist applicant, your uniform better be squared away.
  • Be within standards (haircut, facial hair, height/weight)
  • Have your sh*t together and do not waste my time
Remember, there is a line of people a mile long who are willing and able to do whatever it takes to make things happen.

The NRD I was at would arrange the panel interviews with the panel members, then the applicants would have to arrange to be there, in the years I was at the NRD I don't think I saw anything other than Captains and CDR's doing the interviews.
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
The NRD I was at would arrange the panel interviews with the panel members, then the applicants would have to arrange to be there, in the years I was at the NRD I don't think I saw anything other than Captains and CDR's doing the interviews.
I don’t think these panel interviews are the issue, and I don’t think the interviewer rank matters for these “blind” interview panels.

If you put 20 applicants through the same DCO interview panel of 3x CAPTs, and another set of 20 applicants through a different panel of 3x LCDRs, both panels will naturally rack ‘n stack their 20 applicants against one another in a way that conveys their assessments to the national board in Millington. And each panel’s average scores will be transparent to Millington, so any “grade inflation” would get noticed and factored-in.

If, however, a DCO applicant is proactively seeking out 1-on-1 interview appraisals from a CAPT or a LCDR, it sounds like the argument is that the CAPT interviewer tends to grade more leniently than the LCDR.

@bubblehead did I capture that correctly?
 
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exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
I don’t think these panel interviews are the issue, and I don’t think the interviewer rank matters for these “blind” interview panels.

If you put 20 applicants through the same DCO interview panel of 3x CAPTs, and another set of 20 applicants through a different panel of 3x LCDRs, both panels will naturally rack ‘n stack their 20 applicants against one another in a way that conveys their assessments to the national board in Millington. And each panel’s average scores will be transparent to Millington, so any “grade inflation” would get noticed and factored-in.

If, however, a DCO applicant is proactively seeking out 1-on-1 interview appraisals from a CAPT or a LCDR, it sounds like the argument is that the CAPT interviewer tends to grade more leniently than the LCDR.

@bubblehead did I capture that correctly?

The IWC that covered the NRD I was at didn't do 1 on 1, they all knew the OIC did a panel interview. The panel interview was the scheduled close to the deadline date, when the panel interview was done those items were uploaded and the application submitted within days.
 

bubblehead

Registered Member
Contributor
Some regions do not perform 1-on-1 interviews. Frankly, I wish they would all move to panel interviews. If the candidate is not willing or able to travel to a panel interview, then so be it. There are plenty of other candidates who are willing and able to do it.

I would disagree that an O6 is more lenient than an O4. The demeanor may be different but the standards and expectations are the same.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
Some regions do not perform 1-on-1 interviews. Frankly, I wish they would all move to panel interviews. If the candidate is not willing or able to travel to a panel interview, then so be it. There are plenty of other candidates who are willing and able to do it.

I would disagree that an O6 is more lenient than an O4. The demeanor may be different but the standards and expectations are the same.

Good point, if a person is in the final interview for a job most of the time it is an in person interview.
 
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