A RED LETTER DAY – I PASSED – I PASSED – I PASSED — FBI Interview

RECEIVED 6-25-20

Carole,
Add me to your list of successes because I totally passed.
THANK YOU CAROLE!

I doubt I could have done with without your help.

—————

Carole,
I just wanted to let you know that I received an email from the FBI this morning saying I passed phase II.
Thank you for all the help and candid feedback you’ve given me, I don’t think I would have passed
without it. Hopefully the rest of the hiring process is smooth sailing.
Thanks again

————-

Carole,
I received the “good news” today. I passed Phase II!
Obviously I cannot disclose much of anything due to the NDA, but
here is what I will say:

I remember going in there, all smiles, and cool; calm; collected, as
you advised. The agents were very nice and welcoming. I thought
alright, this won’t be so bad.

The first two questions went great, then the next 11 came. Almost
every single felt like a curveball. I kept thinking, I had the perfect
story for that but I already used it.” I had that thought for almost
Every. Single. Question.

So what did I do? I took a minute to think,

I morphed,
I drank some water, I laughed to myself,

I thought on my feet. I answered the question. Even if it was with a
story I had not prepared…which happened a lot.

I took a solid 30 seconds after each question was asked to identify
the factor, then pick my story.

Or at least I tried to. Sometimes I was like, well I have no idea
what the factor is, but I have an answer!

I walked out of there thinking well, I made them smile and laugh,
got a lot of nodding, and most of all: I answered the questions.

Here’s what is even funnier: I used just over half of the stories I
had prepared. The rest I pulled from the depths of my long-term
memory storage, on the spot. This, I will say, is necessary to pass.

You HAVE to be able to think on your feet.

I am also proud to say — I did not skip any questions, and even
when I did not have the “perfect” story for a few of the questions, I told myself, “Just give them a dang story.” And I did. And it worked!

At the end of it, I could tell they liked me. I was 100% myself, I
did not try to tell the stories perfectly, I tried to tell them like I
would tell them to my coworkers. I fumbled, I was awkward, but I
was me.

And that was good enough for them.

Thank you Carole for all of your encouragement, for telling me to
not be a perfectionist in the interview, to not overthink.

That was the best advice, and I truly needed to hear that
constructive criticism.

I truly felt prepared, relaxed, and ready to let these Agents get to
know “me.”

All the best,

—————

NOTICE RECENTLY RECEIVED FROM A POSTPONED
“MARCH” INTERVIEW CANDIDATE

You will be invited the next time we are interviewing in your region.
Please continue to be on the lookout for an invitation in the upcoming months.

Thanks for your patience.

————–

FEEDBACK FROM A CLIENT

And yes, I listened to the recordings as you suggested. It really
helped me “massage” my stories. Your 5 points were the key
where i used the finger method you taught. The other thing is try
not to “memorize’ the stories. It definitely flows better when you’re
telling it from your feelings.

The other key thing is to relax. The agents saw how nervous I was
and repeated emphasized that they understand the feeling I’m going
through, they were once in my seat too.

A funny thing happened on the way to the FBI interview.

If you have your interview scheduled in a hotel –BEWARE – the Agents are staying in the same hotel!

Funny story and a piece of advice to your future candidates when going into Phase 2.  

On the day of my Phase 2, I got dressed and went down to the lobby to get some breakfast before the big day.  

On my way down, I ran into a woman in the elevator that was in a T-shirt, sweatpants, and looked like she just woke up 2 minutes ago.  She obviously was going down to get some breakfast and go right back to sleep.

I greeted her in the elevator and let her leave first when it was time to exit.  As I suspected she was going down to get breakfast as well.  We were both in line and she was indecisive on what you wanted to eat and almost ran into me with her food getting real close to spilling her food on my suit.  She apologized for almost running into me but instead of me getting mad at her or telling her to be more careful, I smiled at her and told her don’t worry about it she is totally fine.  

She thanked me and asked my name.  I told her and said it was great to meet her and we both went our separate ways.

As the seven of us Phase 2 candidates had just got done with our writing portion, we were asked to wait in the lobby while we were assigned our panel rooms in preparation for the interviews.   She asked us to line up and head to our panel rooms.  

I get to my panel room, knocked the door to be let in and sure enough I was greeted by the lady that I ran into in the elevator and at the breakfast line.  This time she was dressed up and I now found out she was the special agent that wanted to interview me.  

She smiled at me, told me I conducted myself this morning just like she would want an FBI agent to be with the public and we went about our interview.  

I would like to think that I passed my Phase 2 interview because of all the preparation I did and not how I acted before the interview but I’m sure it didn’t hurt either.  

Although my behavior wouldn’t have changed the way I normally treat people regardless of this situation or who is watching.

 

My advice to any candidates going into the interview, is to treat everybody kindly, respectfully and professionally from the minute you board your plane to when you get back home because you never know who you will run into throughout the Phase 2 process and how your behavior could affect the opportunity of a lifetime.