ACF Fellowship: Interview process and tips

What should I expect?

Once applications close, ACF will be conducting a brief phone interview with short-listed candidates in mid November. Following this, a small number of successful candidates will be progressed to an online interview on the following dates:

If you are selected for an interview, you will be interviewed by a panel of three people. We will send you an email with all the details, including a Zoom link to join the interview online. If you don’t have a computer you can use, just let us know! You will need to allow approximately 45-60 minutes for the interview. You will be asked to give details of your work and volunteer history, capabilities and interest in the program. You will also be given the opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

How should I prepare?

We conduct behavioural interviews. This means that we will ask you to provide specific examples from your past work experience that demonstrates our key selection criteria. For example, good organisational skills are important for all Fellowship roles. So be prepared to talk about a specific time when good organisational skills have been important in your success. You could use examples from a previous job or volunteer position, from a sports or social club, from school or university. Make it as relevant as you can to the role you are applying for at ACF.

It will be helpful to prepare examples for each of the key selection criteria, because it can be difficult to think on the spot when you are nervous! The more prepared you are, the more likely you will appear calm and confident in the interview and be able to showcase your skills and abilities.

Also be prepared to tell the panel why you want to volunteer at ACF, about your passion for our living world and addressing climate change, what interests you about the stream you have applied for, and what abilities you possess that will be useful for ACF.

Practice, practice, practice

As with any interview, the more practice and preparation you put in, the better you will do on the day. Consider using the STAR technique when you give your answers. This will help you ensure you provide all the necessary information to the interview panel. STAR is an acronym that stands for:

ST = situation/task (tell a little about when/where the example took place, to provide some context for your behaviour)
A = action (explain what you did or said, and why)
R = result (what was the outcome of the situation/task)

What should I wear?

While it is not necessary to wear formal business attire, we would recommend that you come to the interview well presented in clothing appropriate to an office environment.

What happens next?

Once we have interviewed all the shortlisted candidates, we will be making decisions about who best fits the available roles. You will hear from us by 3 December 2021 if we are offering you a position in the program.

Will I receive feedback?

The interview process will be part of the learning journey in the ACF Fellowship. In order to help you develop your interview skills, program participants will receive structured feedback on what you did well and what you could improve upon for future interviews. We will also do our best to give brief feedback to candidates who are interviewed but are unsuccessful in securing a place in the program.