U.S. Department of State Interview Questions

After applying they reached out via email asking to schedule an interview. I completed the interview over the phone and later was offered a position at the interviewer's office. The interviewer was nice and none of the questions were particularly difficult.

Filled out the long Application online and then I was called for a phone interview. I received a call for an in person Interview about a month later. Didn’t hear back for a while, but was then offered the position.

I got an email asking to schedule a Monday interview on a Friday. I accepted and interviewed virtually online with three people from the office. The interview was semi-casual and only lasted around 30 minutes.

Brief phone screening, standard interview questions, little back and forth. Asked some questions about the organization and role at the end. Total lasted around 10-20 minutes -- all behavioral. Interview process varies by office applied to.

The interview process is exactly like what they tell you in the Information Sessions the Dept. of State conducts each month. If you get waitlisted for an interview or schedule an interview, you should get invited to this and attend. The process took me 6 hours, and although they say you can bring food, they don't tell you when you are allowed to eat the food, so take initiative and eat when you have a few minutes between the different parts of the interview. Otherwise, you might starve and do poorly on the interview.

Very easy and straightforward -- about yourself, sample scenario about working with students, and discussion about skills and qualifications. Time for interviewee's questions at the end. Two people conducted the interview.

had a panel of five managers and supervisors and they all took turn asking questions and was a comfortable experience. I was prepared for the types of questions that they would be asking and related them to my experience.

I received a few informal phone calls from different embassies/departments who were interested. The calls were conversational, about 15-20 minutes just chatting about my interests, background, and questions. The interviewers were very kind and open to talking about the position as well. Only thing to note is that you don’t get notice in advance of which departments will be calling you or when, so you don’t know who to be looking for on caller ID- make sure to pick up the phone in case!

After setting up a call time via email, I spoke with the person who would be my direct supervisor. There was no second interview and I received my internship offer shortly afterwards.

I submitted my application through USA Jobs the evening of the seasonal deadline, more to be able to tell myself I'd checked all the boxes and given it a try than with any expectation of making it to an interview. Within a week, one of the offices I'd applied to reached out to me for a phone interview. Applying the last week an internship is accepting applications doesn't necessarily mean you won't get in. I learned later that I was called so fast because the intern they'd previously accepted made different summer plans. Similarly, if you're thinking about doing an internship through VSFS, there will often be new listings that pop up in the last couple of weeks before the season's deadline, and applying to those will mean you have less competition. The real bear with State Department internships isn't the interview, so long as you can justify everything on your resume and explain how it makes you a good fit; the big issue is that you still have to pass a background check before you're officially accepted. This will take months of uncertainty and requires you to dig up acquaintances' contact info from everywhere you've ever lived, so your life will be much easier if you get that information together before your interview.