CANDIDATE PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

Candidate Name:	Interview Date:	Interview Time:
Position: EHS Environmental Programs Programs Operations Specialist	Interview Team:
Evidence of Skill
Technical Skills to be evaluated	Absent	Emerging	Competency	Mastery
1	Experience profile (public/private, federal; academic)
2	Compliance/regulatory operations knowledge, experience
3	Pollution Prevention knowledge, experience
4	Water Quality Program knowledge, experience
5	Program development, monitoring and roll-out
6	Project management knowledge, experience
7	Process Improvement knowledge, experience
8	Metric-based performance monitoring
9	Strategic Resource allocation experience
10	Presentation, training , outreach skillset
11	Hazardous shipping, PEAT or Emergency Preparedness experience
Performance Skills to Be Evaluated
1	Alignment with mission, service(s) profile
2	Capacity as point of contact; knowledgeable, trusted resource
3	Customer relationships/client service culture
4	Ability to work independently; self-directed
5	Ability/affinity for team work and collaboration
6	Supervisory/leadership skillset
7	Analytical/critical thinking skills
8	Workflow management and style
9	Capacity for cross-functioning; learner mentality
10	Communication skills (1:1, group, remote)
11	Integrity, discretion, judgment
Recommendation	Hire	No Hire	Call Back

Technical Skill Questions: Group
Tell us about the types of organizations you have been involved with throughout your career. Explain how these organizations contributed to your approach to workflow management.
How do you learn about an organization’s subject matter, operations and relevance to the organization’s mission?
If offered this position, where do you anticipate your steepest learning curve to be?
Describe what you consider your best moment in outreach or education? How did you decide the execution strategy? What worked well and less well?
Can you cite a situation where you wish you would have handled an environmental program work challenge differently? What did you learn from this experience?
Which element of process improvement work do you enjoy the most and why? (Technical: routine process review, strategic process or system improvement ; Human: employee interaction, supervisor training, problem solving)
Describe the difference between working in a group of 20 people versus a 200-person organization. Which would be your preference?
When developing or reviving a Pollution Prevention Program for the UW, what would be your first steps and why? How would you communicate or promote this to EH&S and UW partners and stakeholders?
Tell us about your experience and/or involvement with professional industry organizations?
How would you approach a Principal Investigator who may be at conflict or approaching non-compliance due to evolving expectations and slipping deadlines? How would you communicate your solution and progress to your supervisor?
Can you describe your experience managing or supervising people in various settings? How does that influence or inform your current work?
How would you approach PI/Lab manager who are reluctant to begin chemical treatment method when they are facing other urgent deadlines, budget shortfalls or priority events in their own department or lab?
Tell us about your technical proficiency. Which software applications do you find most useful? What specific review or project management software or systems do you use? Are any web-based? What is your ideal approach to project management involving multiple inputs and requirements?
What experience do you have with monitoring program performance? Can you describe the value of metric based process improvement?
Tell us how you would assist in this situation: it is late Friday afternoon and you receive a call from a research tech that needs to ship a lithium battery for a research instrument. You find out that they have not attended training. You attempt to reach our Shipping Coordinator but he is on vacation but don’t get an answer. What do you do? (Find out size of battery, find out if anyone in lab or nearby lab has had training, can shipment wait until Shipping Coordinator is available, contact your supervisor)
Describe your experience with State and Federal Hazardous Waste regulations – Explain why there may be differences. (States are authorized by the fed and state rules must be at least as protective as federal, but can and do have more protective rules.(Examples: tox categories, pcb categories, solid corrosives, persistence)
Please describe the principals of the Waste Management Hierarchy and your experience in Pollution Prevention.. (a. Source Reduction b. Re-use c. Recycling d. Treatment e. Disposal)
What steps have you taken in your personal life towards Disaster Preparedness? (Grab kit for car/house, stock water, strap hot water tank, Out of State emergency numbers to call, flashlights and batteries)
Can you give us an example of when you have had to respond to an incident outside of normal work hours and what were your responsibilities? Can you describe what type of circumstance would prevent you from responding to such an incident? (assess ability to critically think through emergency response plans, category of emergency, other restrictions)
You receive a call from a project manager for a large construction project on campus. They are asking to re-route some potentially regulated waste to a different disposal facility than was written into the project specifications. The General Contractor says it will save the project money. The facility they are suggesting is not on our approved list and has not been used in the past. What would you do?
EH&S is in transition. The developing strategic plan addresses some of these components: Organizational, Communication, Standardization, Quality Assurance and Team Building. Tell us where you feel you could best support and advance our progress.
From your perspective, what is the biggest obstacle to compliance for personnel involved in Water Quality or Pollution Prevention activity?
What is your favorite part of a project; planning, implementation, or follow-up? Why?
If you had 5 minutes to prepare a communication to your supervisor about a sensitive, time urgent incident that may involve unprofessional and possibly actionable behavior, what would be your first steps?
What kind of leadership motivates you in your daily work?

Performance Skill Questions
You have planned and are leading the roll-out of the new Pollution Prevention Program. Phase 1 involves hand selected units and investigators who have been champions of the idea. The week before the kick-off, you learn that an external department head has reallocated promised funding and personnel support for the new program. Proceeding with the time line as originally outlined is in jeopardy. Your supervisor has repeatedly reinforced that your roll-out is critical to the success and revitalization of these services. What do you do and how do you approach your supervisor?
Think of another project where there were many details to be tracked or documented and other team members involved; how do you set your priorities and follow through with the tasks? How did you manage the tasks of other team members and keep them engaged and compliant?
You are training a lab group to the principles and SOPs associated with the new Pollution Prevention Program. The Principal Investigator has rescheduled this training twice before and now only two of 12 participants have arrived for the training. The PI is aware that the training is required and requests that you start the training and others may join in progress. How do you respond to the PI and how and when do you communicate your status to your supervisor?
Tell me about your experience supervising or “leading” staff or a team—Give me an example where you were able to motivate others to perform well. What was your most challenging experience in managing staff, co-workers or student workers under non-negotiable deadlines?
Think of a situation where you needed to give critical feedback to a client or co-worker. How did you share that feedback? What was his or her response?
How would you approach a trend of non-compliance with project milestones and deadlines with an adult workforce? If you encounter resistance, what methods do you employ to overcome the resistance? What did you do when others did not deliver as expected?
Have you ever been in a work situation where you were faced with a significant ethical dilemma? Can you walk us through how you handled it? (If “no”, then ask candidate what they would do when faced with an ethical dilemma)
Think of a time when you made a significant mistake or missed an important deadline. Tell me what happened and what you did as a result.
Tell me about a time when you were uncertain about how to proceed on a project and needed to make a decision without all the information needed, a critical element was missing and your supervisor was on vacation. How did you handle it? What was the outcome?
Can you describe a situation where you needed to provide critical feedback to a supervisor regarding a project you were tasked with? How did you determine your strategy and how was it received? Did it make a difference in the course of the project?
How do you see your career path changing over the next five years?
Tell me about a situation where you conformed to a policy or procedure you disagreed with. How did you make that decision? Tell me another time when you didn't conform to standard policy or procedure. What's the difference in these two situations?

Call Back or 1:1 Questions
Follow up on issues, questions that arose in group interview. Introduce specific technical or industry jargon to test familiarity.
Address change management issues, strategic planning, importance and value of relationship-building in academic environment.
Compare and contrast work force and client demographic across EHS service profile and delivery range.