First of all, I have never interviewed for a government position before so I found this process a bit strange. I applied for a position online and once the closing date had passed I received an email telling me to show up at a specific date and time for an oral panel interview. No one ever called me or even asked me if this time was convenient for me. I made arrangements to be there at the time they gave me and then the day before the interview in the late afternoon, someone from HR called me and wanted to know if I could come in a couple of hours earlier. I told her no but I could come in at that time on a different day if that would help and her response was that day was the only day they could do interviews and left me at my originally scheduled time. I’m left with the impression that either you show up when they tell you to or you don’t get the interview. I show up for the interview and I’m given a list of the people doing the oral interview, three panels consisting of two people each, and I’m asked if I know any of the people. Since I didn’t know anyone I went to the next available panel – but not before I was told that the people interviewing me had not seen my resume and I couldn’t give them a copy either. I would have 30 minutes to answer seven questions and the interview would be recorded. As I’m waiting to be called in, another candidate checks in for the interview and is also asked if they know any of the six people on the panels. Well, the person knows all of them because they already work in the department! And they went ahead to be interviewed by people they knew and already worked with. Oh, and my note book was taken away from me before I was allowed to enter the interview room. I was expecting to be asked to empty my pockets and purse next to have a metal detector run over me! The interviewers introduced themselves (and came across very cold) and explained the process again and in front of me were the seven questions that I was going to be asked and the panel said they could not elaborate on them. They took turns reading the questions and waited for me to respond and took notes on my answers. Four of the seven questions were about specific knowledge about public policy/funds, investing, etc. However, this knowledge was not listed as a requirement in the job description. I did not have this specific knowledge but my interviewers wouldn’t know that because they had never seen my resume in the first place. I had to tell them that I didn’t have any knowledge and they stared at me somewhat puzzled and after that the one interview just dropped the pen and leaned back and didn’t take anymore notes. And this was only after the second question. I wonder if a person ever saw my resume or if a computer picked me? Once I found out there was an internal candidate I felt like the entire process was going to be a waste of my time and it was. It seemed like the agency was just going through the motions and getting outside candidates to make it look like the hiring process was fair when they are probably going to hire/promote from within. After all, the internal candidate is going to be able to ace all the knowledge specific questions because they already work in that same department.