OCS Interviews

[Robert Allen]

I would like to make a great impression to the 3 officers interviewing me for my OCS Pilot Package.

Maybe I am overpreparing, but is there something I should be studing or preparing for before I do my interviews? Will they ask me current events, military or national threats, chain of command, are there any scenarios I should prepare to answer?

All help, tips and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[BackOrdered]

Focus on poise and confidence if you don't know something. On murder boards for senior officer STA-21 interviews, that was one of the biggest issues we tried to weed out.

 

[Robert Allen]

So it's less about how much & what you know and more about how you present yourself?

Would you say its closer to a Sailor of the Year Board vs a Plane Captain and Warfare Pin Board or neither?

 

[BackOrdered]

So it's less about how much & what you know and more about how you present yourself?

Would you say its closer to a Sailor of the Year Board vs a Plane Captain and Warfare Pin Board or neither?

By all means study. I had a guy not know where the Mediterranean was.

No one expects you to be a complete expert. That is what the training pipeline is for. What I found was regardless of what style of interview was given, everyone likes the interviewee to demonstrate they know how to handle themselves when they don't know the answer.

The interviews themselves depends on who is giving it. I would make sure I studied the interviewer's billet, who they report to and their duties. Again you don't need to know his/her favorite breakfast cereal, but yes you should know the basics about the individual's job.

 

[Robert Allen]

I work with alot of reserve Captains and Commanders.

Does it matter if the officers interviewing me are reserves or active duty? Would it be valued more for active duty interviewers?

 

[Beefalo]

Do some research into whatever designator that officer is such as career milestones, PQS qualifications, duty stations, etc. Agree with TIZ in that most of it is board confidence and presence more so than knowledge. They are looking more so in how you carry yourself rather than your technical knowledge about anything. All my interviews were very different and I got all 10 and PROREC for IW.

First interview a SWO LT would not do it because I was not in dress blues. I showed up in NSU aka peanut butters. All my other interviews I showed up in NSU.

IW CDR mostly just gave me tips on how to make my package better. Didnt really ask me anything.

SWO CDR did pretty much the samething. Just gave me some insight on SWO and great advice on how to make the E to O jump since he is a Mustang.

AMDO CAPT asked me some scenario based questions. What makes you a great leader, what is AMDO career path, tell me about yourself, etc.

My OIC did the same and gave me some good advice to.

Make sure you give them your package a day or two prior to the interview.

 

[Renegade One]

Do some research into whatever designator that officer is ...First interview a SWO LT would not do it because I was not in dress blues. ...

Well, yeah, there's always that. Sounds like the rest went well...

 

[Beefalo]

He actually was a BM LDO with a SWO pin. He kept asking me if I had a college degree since he thought I was going for LDO. In reality he was completely clueless about commissioning via OCS and kept thinking I was going for LDO since I am a First Class PO. Overall he was a really nice officer but well...he was a BM. I contacted him about rescheduling the interview in my dress blues but never heard back from him.

Im not sure what paygrade you are but if you a First Class almost everyone will assume you are applying for LDO. Big difference is LDO interviews the command keeps, OCS interviews are given directly to the member. My OIC was going to give my interview to the CCC until I told him the OCS interviews didnt work like that. Respectfully of course.

My command also wanted my CCC to setup all my interviews. CCC was a nice guy but kept getting me interviews with LDOs and not URL/RL officers. When it got down to the wire I told the CCC I was going to schedule the interviews and would back fill him to give the front office a heads up.

Point is you will run into people above you who are clueless about OCS, so do research and be respectful, but firm about anything you know you are absolutely correct in.

 

[Robert Allen]

I would like to make a great impression to the 3 officers interviewing me for my OCS Pilot Package.

Maybe I am overpreparing, but is there something I should be studing or preparing for before I do my interviews? Will they ask me current events, military or national threats, chain of command, are there any scenarios I should prepare to answer?

All help, tips and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

a reply to my orginal post: no questions where asked about current event, threat, chain of command
All questions were about who I am, some addressed low grades from when I firsted started college, and a few scenarios on how I would handle situations.
Also there where alot of tips on how to improve my package.

I hope this helps someone!

Thank you for all replies my questions.