Peace Corps Response Interview Assessment 2015 May
Peace Corps Response Interview Assessment 2015 May
Peace Corps Response Interview Assessment
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Expiration Date: N/A
Peace Corps Response Interview Questions
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Where did the candidate hear about this position? (drop-down menu and text box)
Why are you interested in serving as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in this assignment?
a. Follow-up: How does this assignment fit with your personal or professional goals?
What are your expectations of the work you will be doing in this assignment?
Briefly tell me what makes you a competitive candidate for this assignment.
(For RPCVs only) What do you see as differences between service with Peace Corps Response and
your previous experience as a two-year Peace Corps Volunteer?
(For RPCVs only) Did you successfully complete your two-year service? If not, tell me more about why
you were unable to do so.
In this Peace Corps Response assignment, you and your counterpart will develop a work plan related
to your position description. How will you approach collaborating with your partner organization to
develop this plan?
a. Follow-up: Describe a time when you had to build trust by first presenting your skills and
resources to a client, customer, or employer.
b. Follow-up: What would you do if you did not feel that you would be able to complete your
work plan in the time available?
This assignment is scheduled to depart in (month) for (duration of time). Tell me about any
commitments that could interfere with your ability to accept and/or complete this assignment.
a. Follow-up: Have you had any major life changes in the past six months?
Working in a foreign country can highlight cultural differences that can be challenging to adjust to
and accept. Tell me about an experience where you worked outside your culture or comfort zone.
What are your strategies for dealing with stress, isolation, and loneliness?
Tell me about a situation where you were involved in a conflict or disagreement while at work. How
did you resolve this situation?
As a Peace Corps Response Volunteer, you will be a minority in the country where you are serving.
What are some opportunities and challenges of serving as a minority and how would you respond?
Peace Corps Response Volunteers live in urban and rural settings, and this can mean different things
from region to region, country to country, and site to site. Are there any living and working conditions
that could negatively impact your commitment to service?
Volunteer safety and security is the Peace Corps number one priority. Please tell me your approach
to staying safe in a new environment.
To help ensure safety and security during Volunteer service, you will have to follow rules and
regulations you may not completely agree with, such as notifying Peace Corps staff when you leave
your site. In the past, how have you responded to rules that you did not agree with?
Guidance on Scenarios
Applicants without previous Peace Corps experience: two scenarios
RPCVs who served over 10 years ago: one scenario
Recently returned Peace Corps Volunteers: no scenarios
Scenario #1 (Motivation in different culture)
It is early in your assignment and it is already obvious to you that your counterparts are not accustomed to
working at the same pace as you. People are often 45 minutes late to meetings and counterparts struggle with
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PC-2135
Peace Corps Response Interview Assessment
OMB Control Number: N/A
Expiration Date: N/A
what you perceive as easy tasks. You know you only have a few months to get a lot accomplished and you are
worried that your service could be a failure.
How would you respond to this situation?
Scenario #2 (Lack of work partner support)
You are provided with a specific position description about your assignment. The partners roles and
responsibilities are well defined, and so are yours. You arrive at your assignment and discover that your assigned
partner with the organization no longer works there and there is no one else at the organization to provide you
with more specific structure or support.
What do you do?
Scenario #3 (Gender)
You have been working in your assignment for about a month and everything has been going well. You get along
very well with the head of the office, Jacob, and the project manager, Beth, with whom you work closely. Youve
been invited to join them for a meeting in one of the villages where your project will be implemented. When you
all arrive at the meeting, you notice that Beth is mostly ignored by the village elders, while Jacob is treated like a
king. You know that Beth is really the one who is doing most of the work and is the best source of information on
the project.
How might you respond?
Scenario #4 (Diversity 1)
You are asked to attend a weekly religious practice. Your counterparts worship regularly together and repeatedly
ask you to worship with them; however, you do not practice their religion.
How would you manage this situation?
Scenario #5 (Diversity 2)
You are serving in a country that values a general set of social norms for all people. The people you meet are not
accustomed to large degrees of individual differences in race, religion, career options, family traditions, dietary
habits, dress, behavior, choices available to men and women, or the age at which people marry. They expect of
you as they expect of each other and are not anticipating your sense of individual choice.
How would you explain individual choices and differences to them as an American?
Scenario #6 (Global Health Service Partnership Only)
As a GHSP Volunteer, you will be asked to work in facilities with limited resources, students with a low knowledge
base, and local colleagues who have other demands on their time that may limit their ability to improve and
deliver medical education. Which one of theselimited resources, low student knowledge base, and colleagues
with other prioritiesmight be most difficult for you during your Peace Corps service, and what in your
background has prepared you to work effectively in spite of this challenge?
Wrap Up Information:
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PC-2135
Peace Corps Response Interview Assessment
OMB Control Number: N/A
Expiration Date: N/A
Passport information (type, number of blank pages, and date of expiration)
Home of record
Next steps in process (legal, medical, references)
Do you have any questions or concerns you would like to discuss?
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