INTERVIEW PREPARATION

TEAM 7563
Answer the questions using the criteria! The questions are a waste of time unless you can hit the Dean’s List criteria.
Know your essay and the criteria like the back of your hand. There are usually two judges that will interview Dean’s
List Nominees at the event your team selected to have your submission reviewed at. They do not know anything about
you besides the information your essay has provided them.

DEAN’S LIST CRITERIA

1. How is the student a leader?

2. How has the student helped increase the awareness of FIRST?
3. Describe the student’s interest and passion that demonstrates their long-term commitment to FIRST.
4. Describe the student's technical expertise.
5. Describe the student's entrepreneurship and creativity.
6. What are the student’s individual contributions to outreach or fundraising efforts?
7. What are the student’s individual contributions to the team?

INTERVIEW TIPS

 Show do not tell! Anyone can say, I am a leader. Give a specific story to prove it. Include names, feelings and
an impact statement.
 Shake hands with your judges before and after, thank them for their time. Proper interviewing etiquette,
please. Always tell the truth and ask the judges questions.
 Avoid one word answers. Answer questions with a response that will help leads into another topic for the
judges to ask you about.
 Have a good understanding of what information is in your essay so you can elaborate on it in your interview.
Be able to answer standard job interview questions.
 Do a few practice interviews with the questions below with a variety of people so you get comfortable with
answering questions about yourself.
 Me, myself and I. This is an award about you and your accomplishments, not about your team.
 If the judges are writing stuff, that is generally good. Their notes are used to judge for the Dean’s List
Winners. You might consider expanding more on a topic they are writing about, but don’t get too caught up
on that topic either.
 If they ask you Is there anything else, you have extra time and you might be missing something. Remember
the criteria, and ensure that you hit everything. Remember what you practiced, and ensure that you said
everything you wanted to say. If you did, expand on criteria that might have been weak. You have a limited
amount of time, use it all.
 Give answers that will give the judges a look at who you are as a person beyond your essay, explaining the
why behind your answers will provide that to them.
 Write down or at least think about the things that you believe are important for the judges to know about you.
Talk it over with a mentor because often they know stuff about you that you didn’t think is important. Then
 make sure that you hit all these points in your interview. This is your brainstorm for the Tell us about yourself
question and allows you to tailor your answers to hit everything in the event they don’t ask that question.
 Answer the whole question that is given to you and focus on what they’re asking. after you’ve done that you
can segway into other things you want to talk about
 You are allowed to bring in documents, such as a resume or technical documentation that you made, to help
supplement your interview. This does not apply to virtual interviews. You can not send documents to the
judges for additional review.
 If you are comfortable, bring a mentor along. They can not say anything during the interview, but that
experience can help them better prepare future nominees for your team and they can give you feedback that
will help with future interviews.
 Remember that your mentors nominated you for a reason. They believe in you, so believe in yourself!

FOR VIRTUAL INTERVIEWS

You can have notes or an outline. Just make sure you put it near where your camera is. Remember, just because you
are looking at the judges on your screen does not mean that you look like you’re looking at the judges. Looking into
your camera means looking at the judges. So move your windows around.

POTENTIAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

(THE BOLDED QUESTIONS ARE THE BEST ONES, TRY A FEW FROM EACH CATEGORY)

OPEN AND ENDED:

 Tell us about yourself

 What makes you an ideal Dean’s List candidate?
 What do you think is the biggest issue you or your school or the world faces right now?
 Do you have anything else you want to talk about?
 What would you improve in FIRST?
 Who is a role model in your life and why?
 What do you think is the biggest issue in the world?
 Why do you deserve this award?
 Why do you do FIRST?
 When did you start FIRST? What caused you to join?
 Do you have any interaction with other FIRST programs (FLL, FLL Jr., FTC)?
 What is your favorite part of FIRST?
 If you could change something about FIRST, what would you change?
 Why are you in FIRST?
 Do you have any questions for us?
 W+hat's something not in the essay that you want us to know?

LEADERSHIP:
  How do you motivate students to do jobs that aren't fun?
 What is a challenge that you or your team has faced and how did you overcome it?
 What does it mean to be a leader?
 What does leadership mean to you?
 How do you inspire others to be leaders?
 How do you show leadership on your team?
 How do you motivate your team during the build season?
 How do you work with people on your team?
 How do you demonstrate leadership?
 Have you seen a difference in your team because of your leadership?
 How do you resolve conflict?
 When things go wrong, how do you keep your team motivated?
 Give me a time of when you had a conflict on the team and how did you solve it?
 How do you motivate and lead fellow team members
 How would you describe your leadership style?
 What leadership positions do you have on the team?

OUTREACH:

 What have you done with other FIRST programs?

 What have you done for the FIRST community?
 What do you do for the broader FIRST community beyond your area?
 What things have you done outside the season to spread the message of FIRST?
 What is the most impactful outreach you’ve done?
 How do you approach outreach?
 How do you demonstrate the FIRST ideals?
 How do you increase awareness of FIRST in your school and community?
 How do you describe FIRST to those who haven’t heard of the program?

FUTURE:

 What are you planning on doing later in life? How has FIRST influenced this?
 Where do you expect to be in 10 years?
 Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
 Have you applied for FIRST scholarships?
 Do you plan to stay involved with FIRST after high school?
 How do you plan to continue with FIRST?
 Mentoring another team after graduation?
o What are your goals for this?
o What would you want to teach people, what knowledge would you want to share?
 o Why do you want to return?
o What do you envision yourself doing as a mentor?
 What are you thinking about for your career?
o Where do you want to be?
o What do you want to do?
o Cool projects or research you want to do?
 What are your future plans?
o You’ve got at least one more year, what are you going to do with it?
o Long-lasting projects you want to do? Plans for those?
o Ensuring that you pass down knowledge/skills?
 What will be your legacy leaving the team?
 What do you want to be remembered for?
 How do you see yourself contributing to FIRST after you've graduated?

TEAM CONTRIBUTION:

 Why did you join your team?

 What do you do on your team? Why do you do what you do?
 What is your role on your team?
 How did you find the role on your team that was right for you?
 What technical skills have FIRST taught you?
 How are you a leader on your team?
 What’s your niche in FIRST, or, what is unique about your role?
 what do you think your biggest contribution to the team was?
 How do you inspire others to be leaders?
 How have you contributed or made a difference on your team?
 What is the most creative thing you’ve done for your team?
 What technical expertise do you offer your team?
 What relationships with mentors, other teams, sponsors do you have?

PERSONAL GROWTH:

 How did you get involved with FIRST, and what made you stay?
 How has FIRST impacted you as a person?
 What does FIRST mean to you?
 Tell me about the people you’ve met through FIRST. What have you learned from them?
 Who is a role model in your life and why?
 How has FIRST impacted your life beyond technologies during your high school career?
 What is the most important thing you have learned from FIRST?
 What does Gracious Professionalism mean to you?
  What are you most proud of or what is your greatest accomplishment?
 What are your Core Values?
 What does FIRST mean for you?
 How would other people on your team describe you?
 What is your super-power?
 What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
 When is a time you used Gracious Professionalism outside of FIRST, and how did it affect you and those
around you?
 What excites you most about FRC?
 What is the most important thing about part of FIRST?
 What gives you the confidence to do all that you do today?
 What do you do outside of robotics?
 Describe a time you asked for help, how did it go?

COVID-19:

 What have you done during this COVID season to further yourself? Your team?
 How have you kept students engaged during the COVID season?
 How has the pandemic caused you to change your leadership style with your team? Have you seen any new
opportunities emerge?

APPROACHING THE TRICKIER QUESTIONS

The important part about these questions is bringing them back to yourself. These types of questions help the judges
see how you think on your feet.

 Who is a role model in your life?

o Share what you admire about the person, and then talk about how you emulate those things, share
specific stories.
 What does Gracious Professionalism mean to you?
o Define what gracious professionalism is in a sentence or two, and then spend the bulk of your answer
talking about HOW you exemplify that definition. Share specific stories.
 How would you describe FIRST to someone who hasn't heard of it before?
o You're not explaining the program, but saying what you love about it, you're selling the program. So
share your experience and how it has impacted you.
 Is there anything else you would like to say?
o You have to answer the question. Try something that's memorable so that when they're running down
the lists of candidates, they go, Oh! It's Bruno! He is the person!.
 What do you think is the biggest issue you or your school or the world faces right now?
 Who is your hero or favorite writer or actor and why?
 What is your favorite food, color or movie?