Florida Guardian ad Litem Program Interview Questions
& Process

I did a phone screening first. Then I met with a supervisor once. Then I met with her supervisor once. Next I met with the director of the program. Lastly, I met with a panel consisting of a regional supervisor, local supervisor, and a State of Florida attorney.

Honestly, it was a lot but I did it because I HAD to get a job. The first step is applying online at PeopleFirst. The trick is you can't submit online, you have to print it and fax it. If you submit online, they won't look at it. Then they'll email you about a phone interview. Once you give them your availability, they'll call. They includes the Immediate Supervisor, Assistant Director, and Executive Director. If you pass the phone interview, you'll be called in for an interview and a presentation. The interview is with the same people from the phone screen. For the presentation, you need to research the program and give a 10-minute max presentation to their staff to try and get them to volunteer. It's never easy and some great candidates have failed because of it. My presentation had everyone in the office there. Whoever is around gets asked to join the conference room to watch your presentation. You're supposed to be recruiting them. And it's hard since you might not know much about the program. Then you leave and they discuss. They can't offer you the job until you get your fingerprints done and approved, and until they talk to all your references. So I interviewed in mid-November, was told they were very interested in mid-December, and started in January. It's a long process but you'll get through it if you do everything right.

We had a panel interview with the supervising attorney, circuit director, and some attorneys from other offices in the region. Everyone on the panel asked a question, going through their list. The questions weren't really about my experience, but seemed more personality-based and designed to draw out more than what I'd already said. After that, I was taken to an office to draft a motion, and they gave me a fact pattern and some legal authority to work with.

It was a long interview process. First, I met with my potential manager. Then, I had to write a short paragraph about my role model. The third round was with the attorneys and the regional manager. They wanted me to talk about what I would do in a worst-case serious situation and express my passion for the job, acknowledging that it's not easy.