Senior Interview Flashcards
What is your greatest strength?
Communication Skills - I think my greatest strength is the way I communicate. In order to protect public health and safety environmental health specialists must communicate effectively with the regulated community. I have found that I have developed great techniques in handling various types of communication situations. I find I do well with unexpected phone calls whether it be a regulatory questions I don’t know the answer to, or a member of the public complaining. I am able to pull one of my hats on and find the right way to effectively communicate.
What is one of your weaknesses?
Inability to Share Responsibilities - I take pride in my work and tend to prefer handling all tasks myself. Sometimes this results in becoming a little overwhelmed when I have taken on too much work. I have become aware of this weakness and have been proactively working to improve on my ability the share responsibilities and delegate work. To give an example I’ve had to work on task delegation since I took over as coordinator of the childhood lead program. In this program Its necessary that I assign work and deadlines to other staff in order to meet contract requirements.
Tell me about a time you made a mistake and how you dealt with the situation.
Rosecrest Story - When I first took over the water program and issued my first citation I received a call from the elderly woman who had received the citation document. She was upset that she received the citation and said she didn’t understand why she had to comply with many follow up actions. I was unfamiliar with the regulations still and was a bit caught off guard. I was somewhat straight forward in telling her that she needs to remember to collect the monthly sample and that’s why she got the citation. She was repeating her story of how she’s handled the water well since the 70’s and she’s never had a violation before. I think I may have cut her off a few times and she didn’t like that. She letter send me a letter saying that I was unpleasant to work with. This caught me off guard because I generally feel that I communicate well. I learned from the situation that sometimes it’s most important to let people speak. Allow them to say what they want even when you already know it won’t get them anywhere. They just want to be heard. I now use this technique often when dealing with the public and regulated communities. I listen to what they are saying and respond with phrases such as “I understand how this may be frustrating.” or “I realize the citation document my look overwhelming.” I work to assure that I’ve listened to their concerns now before redirecting the conversation to educating them on the problem and providing assistance to them to comply.
What is your career goal?
My current goal is to continue to learn more of the environmental health field and begin taking on leadership roles. I feel that the technical specialist position is great next step for me. With a good foundation in all of the environmental health programs the technical specialist position will allow me to grow and improve in a leadership role. The technical specialist is essentially the leader and advocate for the environmental health division in the land use planning arena.
Why do you think you would make a good senior REHS
Good Judgement
Solid Communication
Program Development Skills
Strong Networking
I feel that I have a well rounded skill set and have the qualities that you are looking for in a senior environmental health specialist.
I believe one of the main roles of the senior is to make decisions in complex situations. In order to do this you need to have good judgement. More often than now the codes we enforce are not specific to every situation that may arise. Therefore you need to take into consideration the factors of the scenario to determine the best course of action in protecting public health. I feel that I am capable of making sound decisions and have good judgement. I’ve demonstrated this skill as being the lead and only specialist running the water program. On a daily basis I am making decisions on how to apply the regulations to the water suppliers in the county.
Along with good judgement is good communication skills. In situations which may become sticky or political the senior specialist should step in to communicate and relay decisions and actions to be taken. I’ve had my fair share of complaint phone calls and difficult conversations in which I have been able to successfully navigate. Not only is communication important with the regulated public but also with the rest of the team.
Next up I would say is the ability to develop new programs. I believe the senior specialist should and will be instrumental in the roll out of the new programs coming our way. Whether it be microenterprises kitchens or float tanks I know that I am the specialist for this task. While I’ve only been on board here for four years I have taken the water program and completely rejuventied it to a well oiled machine. Likewise, I’ve taken our organized camp program from it’s primitive stage to where it is now. I am extremely creative and organized and these skills contribute to my success creating operating procedures, forms and policies when it comes to new programs.
Lastly I think that networking skills are an important skill to have as a senior environmental health specialists. When new regulations are rolling out or unique scenarios arise it’s important to network with other counties and industry experts. Networking within our department is also important. We all bring unique skills and talents to the team. Having open discussion with your colleagues will usually result in innovative solutions. I have demonstrated my ability to network by coordinating the drinking water workshop. I have participated in many trainings and events in the water world and through these events I have made connections. Through these connections I was able to gain many many experts throughout the state to volunteer their time to present at the drinking water workshop.
In the first 90 days as a senior how would you assess staff needs and approach your supervisor to relay necessary changes.
I would begin by reviewing our current procedures, policies and forms and discussing my findings with the other specialists. I would take a poll on everyone’s opinions of which areas need improvement and prioritize a task list. These items needing attention could be discussed in further during our consumer protection meetings and once a decision is made on a course of action I could help outline and facilitate achieving these changes.
To assess staff needs I would discuss workload, time management and training needs. With many new changes coming to the consumer protection program education and consistency will be the key to seamless transitions and program success. As the current CEU training coordinator I will seek out all possible continuing education and technical advisory group opportunities and make sure the other specialists are involved so we can work as a team and make sure we are all up to date.
What has been your biggest success at work?
Drinking water workshop - overall demonstration of networking, education, connections with the community,
Tell me about a conflict you had at work and how you resolved it?
A recent conflict at work is actually a current land use planning project I was assigned.
parminder singh
small lot, sewage defined, well defined.
learned about road widening
allowing variance with deeper seal well
collaboration with planning department for building envelope variance. working with property owner and looking for options that also meet our requirements and are protective of public health and protect future home owners of the property.
What’s a time when you exercised leadership
Drinking Water Workshop, CEU program.
Why should we choose you for the EH tech specialist
I feel that I have the exact skill set that would be required for this position. I would say the TS needs to have the following skill sets:
- Proficient environmental health knowledge
- Understanding of the types of applications and projects coming through the planning department
- Good collaboration and communication skills
How would your coworkers describe you?
organized, hardworking, creative, bubbly, good communicator, funny
How do you deal with pressure and stressful situations
to-do lists and prioritizing tasks. Going for quick walks. Consulting with coworkers for ideas.
What would you do first upon taking over the TS role?
- consult with planning department to get up to speed on various types of planning application and flow processes
- review placer county land development manual, county ordinances, general plans and community plans, CEQA process. Become familiar with phase 2 studies and environmental impact reports.
- review current EH flow and consider new organization methods such as spread sheet tracking and project checklists. Movement to electronic filing.
Do you have any questions for us?
How would taking on this role effect my work in other programs I am involved in such as the childhood lead program. How do you see the transition happening?
