Communications 1010

Professional Career Interview Project

Austin Clark
10/18/2015

My contact for my interview is Angela Stefanie who works for the Utah Office
for Victims of Crime (UOVC). Angela was very willing to be interviewed and I set a
date to meet with her at her home in Clearfield Utah 10/18/2015 at 6:30pm.
In preparing for my interview I structured my questions around my interest in
the UOVC. The topics to be covered are as follows:

In my research it appears there are three main departments within the

UOVC. There is the Crime Victims Reparations (CVR), who work with
victims of crime by supplying needed financial assistance that come from
criminal offenders who get fined. Victim Assistance Grants (VAG), who
help victims gain more long term assistance with available grants through
various agencies. Lastly, Utah Council of Victims of Crime (UCVC), a

group responsible for victims rights.

Employment opportunities within these departments above and benefits
the state gives to employees. Discuss the pros and cons working for the

state of Utah.
What is the most rewarding part of Angelas job?
What helped Angela prepare for her employment at the UOVC?

My plans for opening the interview are as follows:

o

Give a brief background of myself and my future plans to Angela so

she is aware of my interest in working for the UOVC.

The body of my interview:

o

The sequence of my questions will start with Why did Angela

decided to work for the UOVC then lead into her experiences with
her job and develop a pros and cons list moving forward to achieve
my quest to know as much as possible to help me make decisions

or find more questions for someone else.

The questions I plan to ask during my interview will be as follows:
1. Before you started your job with the UOVC, what

interested you in this profession?

2. How much preliminary training did you have or need to

get in order to be considered for your job?

3. Once you knew you had the job, what were you feeling?
4. Did you have somebody you networked with to help you

get the job or did you get the job solely on your own?
5. On the job your first week, month, and or year, did you
feel like you were making good progress toward your

departments goals as well as your own?

6. If you could have done something different during your

employment period with UOVC, what would it have been?

7. At the UOVC, which of the three sub departments do you

work in, CVR, VAG or UCVC?

8. If you wanted to change sup departments can you or does

it require special training that the UOVC would pay for?

9. Can you give me a quick rundown on the benefits offered

by three sub departments?

10. What are the pros and cons as you see it working for the

UOVC?
11. Is the UOVC a career you would recommend?
12. What advice would you give someone who was truly
interested in your profession?

I want to ask these questions above because I believe they will lead
me towards a better understanding of the requirements for a future job
working at the UOVC.
My interview with Angela took place on Sunday 6:30pm 10/18/2015 at her
home located in Clearfield, Utah. I went dressed business casual, showered and
well groomed. Before the interview, I practiced my questions looking in the mirror
and noting possible body language that might show how nervous I was going to be.
I feel all the preparations I did helped me get myself in a better mode to come
across to Angela that I was being very straight forward with my questioning. I did
not want to waste her time and wanted her to come away knowing she had really
helped me.
In the interview I was very nervous but was able to get the answers I needed
to form a better opinion about wanting to work for the UOVC. The best part of the
interview was working with Angela. I found her to be very informative and
professional. I thought Id stand and ask the questions but that did not work well.
Maybe if she were standing also, that would have worked. You need to be eye to
eye to be comfortable. I felt more comfortable as the interview went on. It lasted
30 minutes and I was successful in not showing how nervous I was and found that
my style for giving and interview needs work. Especially in how I had arranged my
questions. The question I asked were good as well as the answers but it was a bit
scripted and sometimes I felt if I knew what I was after the questions would take
care of themselves. Next time, I will work harder to structure my question so I can
adlib more in areas where more information might spill out that would give me more
insight than a scripted over structured format. I think people in general can see
through you when you over think something.

Today 10/19/2015 I sent Angela a hand written Thank-you letter in the mail.