Interview (Access Program Specialist- Admin)

Tell me about yourself.

I’m a senior double majoring in psychology and communication arts, graduating in the Spring of 2027. I consider myself to be very empathetic and I care a lot about helping other people. I have done a lot of volunteer work, especially with the National Alliance on Mental Illness at UW-Madison, working to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and the mental health struggles that people go through. I also worked in a psychology lab, the Development of Intergroup Social Cognition Lab, in which I did research; planned, scheduled and conducted studies with children to see how they think about different social groups; and communicated with members of the community and community partners to inform them about our research and interest families in signing up. I have a lot of experience interacting with people in the community as well through customer service-oriented jobs like my past retail job at Ragstock and my Assistant Manager position at Escapology. In these jobs, I have been highly praised for my skills in customer service and customers have mentioned this as a highlight of their experience. I am also currently in a Student Ambassador position at UW-Madison in which I interact with interested prospective students from all over to explain to them what it is like to go to UW-Madison and address their questions and concerns. I am excited about this Program Specialist position because I am really enthusiastic about helping members of the community and I think the mission of access to provide affordable healthcare to everyone is very honorable, especially today. I would love to be in a communications-oriented position where I know that I am contributing to a good cause and part of a larger team whose main goal is trying to make such a positive difference in the lives of others.

Tell me about a time you went through a challenge.

I used to work at an escape room, and there was a time when the other person I was supposed to work with that day had to call in sick, so I was the only one working. Normally, you need at least two people working there at a time, so someone could watch the rooms and give them hints and someone else could host them— check them in, take them in and out of the room and explain rules. I had multiple rooms going on at the same time, and they all had staggered start and end times, so I had to manage that all at once. In order to do that, I had to think creatively, and weigh my options of certain things I had to sacrifice or change. For example, I realized sitting in the room with the cameras to monitor the rooms the whole time would be impossible, so while I had to host groups as other groups were already in the rooms, I used an iPad to follow along the best I could on the site that showed which puzzles each group was on. It wasn’t ideal, because I couldn’t see or hear them, but I was able to efficiently host the other groups while being sure the people in the rooms weren’t completely left alone. I also had the idea to turn the volume up in the room where I’d normally be watching them so that I could still hear a chime if they asked for a hint. Because I was thinking outside of the box and trying to attend to all the customers at once instead of leaving anyone out, I was able to make it through the shift all by myself without any unhappy customers or problems.

Tell me about a time you worked with a team./Tell me about a time you acted as a leader.

I’ve had many group projects over my years in college, but in my most recent one I really stepped up as a leader in order to get the work done. I didn’t want to wait for my group members to contact me because I wanted to get a head start on the project, so I decided to reach out to them because I knew it was time we should start working together on the project. I planned a meeting so that we could brainstorm together and all get on the same page, and we made a plan to assign everyone a certain part of the project. I also made sure we had time during the meeting to begin researching our areas of the project, so we could discuss ideas with each other and collaborate across our different areas. After this meeting, I got to work right away on my section and also checked up on my group members to make sure they were doing okay on their own sections. I also gave them helpful tips and advice that I was learning from working on my part of the project that I could pass along to them so they’d have an easier time as well. When the time came to practice our presentation, I scheduled another meeting so we could all do so, and by the time our real presentation came around, it was flawless and we received an A on that as well as the other parts of our project. Essentially, I took a leadership role in my group in a way where I not only took initiative and guided the others in what they should be doing but I also helped every group member out and took responsibility of communication so we’d all consistently be on the same page.

What are some of your strengths?

Clear verbal and written communication, problem-solving and critical thinking, teamwork and collaboration, time management, active listening, creativity,

What are some of your weaknesses?

I’m a perfectionist, I tend to try to make small things really perfect instead of looking at the big picture.

(If need more than one): Sometimes I don’t seek out advice and try really hard to figure things out on my own. I tend to figure out a solution on my own, but it takes longer than if I had just asked someone how to do what I was trying to do.

Why are you a good fit for this role/What can you bring to this role?

First off, I have a lot of knowledge about organizational communication through my psychology and communications degrees which I think could be vital to the Program Specialist position. I have taken classes on organizational communication in the past, and I am currently in a psychology capstone class on Industrial/Organizational psychology that gives me a great deal of experience in coordinating the activities of an organization. Essentially, I believe my educational experience is tailored very well to this role. I also have plenty of experience with organization, Microsoft Office, and coordination and planning of meetings, projects, and other events such as research visits through my position in the UW-Madison Development of Intergroup Social Cognition Lab. This position gave me a lot of experience with research and data gathering and analysis as well, along with the careful handling of confidential participant information through HIPAA procedures. In independently handling all of these different duties, I was able to effectively multitask and complete projects and duties for the lab in a timely manner while still being attentive to detail and making sure my work was thorough and effective. My position as Assistant Manager at Escapology additionally involved a lot of multitasking and problem solving in order to allow the business to run effectively despite timing constraints, involving duties such as interacting with and directing other employees, managing bookings, speaking with customers over the phone, through email, and in person, helping customers out while they were in escape rooms, guiding customers in the rules and procedures to follow, and thinking quickly and adaptively when potential problems arose.

Why do you want this job?

I was drawn to Access’s booth at the UW-Madison career fair because I had heard a bit about you guys before and your mission of providing affordable healthcare to the community, and this is really what piques my interest in this position. A lot of organizations seem to always be on the hunt for financial gain and improvement in that area, but Access is entirely focused on the needs of people in the community and how they can help them out to the best of their ability. This really struck a cord for me, and I think it would be amazing to work for an organization with such an intentionally positive impact on the lives of others. I think the mission of access to provide affordable healthcare to everyone is very honorable, especially today, and I would love to be in a communications-oriented position where I know that I am contributing to a good cause through my work and part of a larger team whose main goal is trying to make such a positive difference.

What can you gain from this job?

From this job, it will be great for me to gain even more experience in the administration of a larger organization. I have practical experience with and knowledge of elements of administrative practices through my other positions and my education, but it has been on a smaller scale, and this job will allow me to contribute to something even bigger. I think it will be a great way for me to expand my skills in this area with the motivation of supporting a larger cause that I am really passionate about.

How do you handle deadlines?

I keep everything that I need to get done at the forefront of my mind (or I just write it down) and I get it all done in order of importance as soon as I have the time to. I’m not a procrastinator, because even if I tried to be one, all those deadlines would just weigh at the front of my mind and I’d constantly be thinking about them so I’d end up getting them done anyway.

Do you have any questions for me?

What would my typical day in the role look like?

What skill do you expect me to grow at the most throughout my time in this position?

What’s your favorite thing about working for Access?

Tell me about a time when you failed.

When I was working in the psychology lab I was in, there were rare occasions where we would have to conduct our studies out in the children’s museum instead of the lab. We were looking at how kids think about different social groups, so our tasks essentially involved reading stories to children and having them answer questions about them. When we did these studies at the children’s museum, we had to bring a portable camera along so we could record them. It was my job to do this that day, and I had never used the camera but I had seen others use it so I assumed it would not be that difficult and that I could figure it out. However, once it was time for me to use it, the video was blurry and no setting I tried to fix it worked. I messaged my lab manager about it after I had tried everything I could think of, and they didn’t know the solution either. I ended up recording with the blurry footage, so I could at least get the sound out of it. I got back to the lab and put the video into our lab files like usual, and investigated the camera a little more and still could not figure it out. I felt like I had failed at my lab duties that day, so I decided from then on to make sure I had a full understanding of each task I was doing and the equipment involved before jumping in and doing it. This ended up giving me a more thorough understanding of all the workings of the lab and allowed me to be truly confident in my abilities as a research assistant.

What specific goals, including those related to your career, have you established for your life?

I would say one of my biggest goals is growth. I would like to do everything, whether it be my career or something outside of work, with the idea that I can always be improving at it. I want to know as much as possible about whatever task there is at hand, long-term or short-term, so I can put my best effort into it and try to learn and become even better at it. Essentially, I would like to look at myself a few years into the future and truly appreciate how far I’ve come and the hard work I did to get me there.

Another goal I have is to find success in a position that contributes to a good cause in the world, rather than organizational or personal benefit. Of course, I would love to see the organization grow if it means it can better contribute to the world around it. I am always striving for my work to have meaning and for what I am doing to genuinely feel important.

What will it take to attain your goals, and what steps have you taken toward attaining them?

It will take me constant reminders to myself about my goals and why I am striving to do what I do, and efforts to push my willpower when I need to. I need to be able to motivate myself when things get hard, and especially when things get hard, so I can keep growing and gaining success in what is important to me. I have to not lose track of that.

One step I have taken is trying to only apply to jobs that really mean something to me. If I am able to find this meaning in my work and push myself to apply and interview and really give my all to getting where I want to be, I will be able to take pride in my efforts and feel accomplished both in the sense that I am putting good out into the world and that I have learned and grown from the process. I have also tried to exercise my willpower in everyday life and do things that I know will be difficult or that I know will take a lot of effort and strength to do. I think this has already allowed me to grow significantly, and has given me the mental capacity to tend to do what I believe is right.

What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?

I think something it will take will be a sense of humility. I would love to learn and grow throughout my time in this position, and in order to learn I have to have an understanding that I do not yet know everything, I can’t walk into this job and think that everything I am doing is always right without input from others or the awareness that I have things to learn that will make me ultimately better in this position. I need to be open to accepting feedback and understand when there is something that I need to change or improve at, and I have to accept this rather than showing reactance to it or resisting it. Success, to me, is ultimately growth, and I won’t be able to grow without understanding when I have made mistakes and being able to adapt and be flexible in order to do things better in the future.

What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?

I would say the growth I have displayed throughout my time in college. I was very afraid and unsure of what I was doing as a freshman, but throughout my time I have grown into myself fully and I have been able to see who I truly am and improve at my strengths as well as my weaknesses. I have been in many academic organizations, I have received multiple academic awards, I have been in a psychology lab at one of the top research universities in the country, and I have grown more confident in myself both inside and outside of my education. I think that my younger self would be immensely proud of all the growth I have shown and the journey it took me to get where I am now.

How would you describe yourself in terms of your ability to work as a member of a team?

I do not shy away from getting things done and letting others know when it is their duty to do something as well. I know the dangers of social loafing and the diffusion of responsibility and I do everything in my power to know what I am responsible for and what others are responsible for and make sure all of those things get done. Essentially, I tend to take a lot of initiative in beginning projects and seeing to it that they are on track, and I stay in constant communication with group members to ensure this. I am able to push myself and others towards success and keep everyone in constant awareness of what our goals are.

How would you evaluate your ability to deal with conflict?

I do not try to avoid it or brush anything under the rug. I make sure it is fully addressed and I make sure to get a full understanding of each side of the issue, whether it be talking to everyone involved and getting them to see each other’s points of view, or generally analyzing the situation. My main goal during times of conflict is not to move past it but to make sure everyone has a clear understanding of every side of the issue and there are no information gaps.

How do you deal with multitasking?

I make sure to have a clear understanding of what the most important tasks at hand are, and I dedicate the most effort to those while still having an awareness of other things that are going on. I know from a psychology standpoint that no one is able to completely multitask, so I kind of plan out in my head beforehand what I will do in order to efficiently handle multiple tasks at once to the best of my ability. For example, I used to work at an escape room where multitasking was a huge part of the job. When I was monitoring many rooms at once, I would make sure ahead of time to know which puzzle each group was on, what time their clocks were at, how good they generally had been doing on their own so far, things like that, so I could weigh my options and maybe turn the volume up louder on rooms I thought would encounter more difficulties or focus my visual attention more on those rooms while still hearing the other groups in the background.

What steps do you follow to study a problem before making a decision?

I make sure I have an understanding of all angles of the situation. I recognize when I may need input from others or when it is a swift decision I must make on my own, and I take all the information I need to take into account and really think about it. A big thing I do as well is make sure to separate my personal beliefs and opinions from the genuine facts of the situation so I can think rationally about it and reason about what the best solution is overall for everyone involved.

What strategies can be effective to persuade someone to do something?

A big thing is to go at it from a friendly point of view rather than trying to oppose them. Make it be known that you see their side of the situation and even acknowledge when you might agree with some things they are saying. Really let it feel like you understand where they are coming from and then provide evidence as to why the alternative might be worth considering. Keep an open mind to their side of the issue and the factors that are important to them, and then they will be more open to what you have to say as well. Treat it like more of a civil discussion rather than you thinking you are better than them and shutting them down.