YAI National Institute for People with Disabilitie Community Training Specialist Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jun 2011 in Brooklyn, NY (took 1+ week)

I applied using YAI's web site and was called in for a group interview on a Saturday. I was also asked to fill out their application form, which was very basic and just asked for my former employers, skills, and availability. When I arrived, I was directed to a large conference room filled with other applicants. We were called in groups of four or five to different rooms for group interviews.

The interviewer first asked us general questions about our attitudes toward developmentally disabled people. The topic then shifted to possible scenarios involving resident conduct at a group home. After that, we were interviewed one-on-one by the same interviewer, who asked me some perfunctory questions about why I wanted the job and what my availability was.

A few days later, a supervisor at one of YAI's day centers in Brooklyn called me in for an interview. The interview was over an hour long and involved multiple questions about my previous work experience, life challenges, attitudes toward the disabled, and personality. It also involved minor roleplaying. In the same interview, I was asked to come back and spend a day working at the day center to see how I performed and how well I fit in.

On the day I came in to work at the center, I was sent to a community volunteer site with one of the employees and a group of developmentally disabled people. The employee reported to the supervisor at the end of the day, and I was called into the supervisor's office and offered a job.