California Common Sense interview questions

CACS requests a special 250-word writing sample in addition to resume, cover letter, and additional writing samples are welcome as well. Turnaround on written application materials is fast, at which point the director will request a phone screen (it's a very small organization, there is no HR). If you pass the phone screen you will be invited for the in-person interview at their Palo Alto office. I interviewed with the director and another staff member at that time. I found the phone screen and in-person questions to be very similar, in fact many questions were literally taken verbatim from the phone screen. I would advise focusing less on specific behavioral prep questions (i.e. what was a difficult time you did X, when did you take leadership, etc.) because the questions tend to be very open ended and somewhat vague at times (i.e. "Tell us a little about yourself" or "Tell us about your professional experiences"). They don't seem to be that well targeted so practice those "elevator" style pitches because that appears to be critical. Some other questions seemed a bit tricky, like "Do you live by a personal motto?" or "Use three-only three-words to describe your weaknesses." It's a bit confusing because the director may start to ask a question but will then revise it halfway through asking it; it was difficult for me to track what the interviewer's strategy or thought process was with the questions. When you start asking questions and discussing the organization's role, the director can get a little long-winded in talking about the organization, it won't leave you all that much time to say a lot about yourself or how you understand CACS's goals or work or how you would facilitate CACS's projects over your time there. I received an email form rejection about a week and half later; they won't respond to any emails after rejection so don't try.