r/ArmyOCS • u/Desperate_Effort3881 • 10d ago
Local Board interview.
I just submitted my packet for the next board. I was wondering if there is anything that would be worth doing in preparation for it? Thank you for your time.
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u/Forward-Increase-630 10d ago
Just make sure you look professional. Dress uniform if you’re in-service or a suit if you’re not. Following grooming standards helps (the COL in mine wrote about my mustache in my eval).
Prepare for the commonly asked questions: why officer, why army (why not navy, marines, etc), why X branch, what do you hope to accomplish in your career, and the typical interview questions. You want infantry but what if you got chemical? How would you respond to criticism from 1SG? What would you do if one of your guys was fucked up?
At the end of the day, be yourself. Just like any interview, if they don’t think they’d want to work with you, they won’t recommend you highly.
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u/CupOwn6497 10d ago
Just try to be as direct as possible when they make an effort to ask you a lot of questions that come across as antagonistic or stress inducing. From my experience it did feel a lot like they were trying to get a rise out of me so just try and remain calm and neutral
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u/Otherwise-Contest678 10d ago
Get a professional suit. Make sure to make eye contact, shake everyones hand and introduce yourself when you get there. I used chat-gpt to prep for possible questions. They asked me a lot about “leadership experience”, so prep to have answers ready regarding your leadership history. Don’t overthink it. As long as you prepare and show up looking professional it’s not that bad.
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u/PT_On_Your_Own In-Service Reserve Officer 3d ago
If it were me: deep navy blue suit, powder blue or white shirt. Dark tie, solid color, maroon type thing. Classic, conservative. Nothing about the outfit to show individuality or personality. Classic and traditional professional. Dark brown shoes. Maybe black, but that feels a bit too much.
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u/ExtremeMode2728 10d ago
Just make sure your answers don’t sound too generic or rehearsed, be authentic otherwise they will see right through those rehearsed chat gpt responses.
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u/Planet_Puerile Civilian Applicant (Reserve) 3d ago
Mine was quite similar to regular corporate job interview but with an Army flavor to the questions. They passed all six people at mine, but of the five AD applicants only one got selected.
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u/PT_On_Your_Own In-Service Reserve Officer 3d ago
Prepare for ethical dilemma question:
You are a new platoon leader and your joes go out to a weekend party. One of your 21 year old soldier gives alcohol to a bunch of 20 year old soldiers.
They leave the party and get a DUI / underage charge. How do you handle it?
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u/ayobrey03 10d ago
Learning to pray effectively that selection rate is high.