Department of State Mock Interview

Practice 30 Department of State interview questions covering diplomacy, security clearances, and foreign policy expertise.

Question 29 of 30

How do you manage up?

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Example Answer
Community Answers

Kevin Downey

Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.

Managing up has nothing to do with micromanaging, or second guessing your manager. Rather, it is having a broad scope of the big picture, supporting the vision of your managers, and performing your job in such a way it makes your manager's job, and yours, easier.

Kevin Downey

Try to think of the ways in which you actively try to go above and beyond in supporting your leaders. Think of how the occasions when you were the go-to-clutch-player. What did you do, and how did you go about it? Use these points to formulate your answer.

Kevin Downey

"By being the most effective employee I can be. By building relationships with my leaders, and being transparent with any feedback. By being an objective set of eyes and ears for them, enhancing communication by adapting to and anticipating their needs. Assisting them in reaching their big-picture goals, maintaining a high EQ, collaborating towards innovation, valuing their contributions, and supporting them in delivering our mutual success. The meeting, maintaining, and help enhance systems and standards towards mutually assured success, and working towards and sharing in the broader vision of working towards the team's goals on the horizon."

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30Department of State Interview Questions & Answers

Direct

1.Give me your elevator pitch.

Discovery

2.Tell me about your background and experience.

Discovery

3.List three features your colleagues consider valuable in you as well as your three strengths.

Discovery

4.What would you consider your biggest weakness?

Discovery

5.Tell me about an accomplishment you're proud of.

Behavioral

6.Tell me about when you worked well in a team.

Behavioral

7.Are you a better team player or prefer working individually?

Behavioral

8.How well do you perform under pressure?

Discovery

9.What makes you stand out from the rest of the candidates?

Discovery

10.What do you look for in a workplace?

Discovery

11.How does this fit in with your future career goals?

Discovery

12.What's your preferred method of communication?

Discovery

13.What is your writing experience?

Discovery

14.Can you tell me about your favorite writing piece?

Behavioral

15.How comfortable are you with working under high-ranking officials?

Situational

16.Describe a situation in which you had a different opinion, and you had to defend it.

Discovery

17.Have you spent time abroad? If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?

Discovery

18.How comfortable are you with your foreign language skills?

Discovery

19.Describe a situation in which you did something voluntarily.

Behavioral

20.Could you describe a time when you did work that you did not necessarily want to do?

Discovery

21.What is a challenge you’ve overcome?

Behavioral

22.Tell me about a time you experienced failure and how you recovered from it.

Behavioral

23.What do you do when someone has a different communication style from you?

Operational

24.Describe a situation in which you had to prioritize your tasks.

Operational

25.How would you approach the everyday mundane activities involved in this position?

Behavioral

26.Tell me about your attention to detail.

Discovery

27.What are the two most pressing foreign policy issues? Talk about one of them in depth.

Discovery

28.Do you have experience organizing and managing meetings?

Discovery

29.How do you manage up?

Discovery

30.If you were with someone in the public outside of work, and they asked you for help with a service request during a social visit, how would you handle the request?