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Interview Techniques: A Case Study

Decent Essays

My choice for interviewing was Manuel Gomez, Director of The Public Works Department for the City of Irvine. The department is responsible for developing, building and maintaining the City's infrastructure, which include streetscapes, open space, city parks, athletic fields, eucalyptus windrow trees, bike trails, roadways, traffic signals and fleet services. I choose the director because my career is in facility maintenance, unfortunately my interview was reassigned to Jay Ponce, Senior Management Analysis for the department, who reports directly to Director Gomez. While I was looking forward to an interview with Mr. Gomez, I was not disappointed with Mr. Ponce as he turned out to be an interesting person with an interesting public service …show more content…

Ponce attended trade school where he received an accounting certificate and later an associate's degree. He started his public service career in accounting with city of Santa Ana. Mr. Ponce didn’t set out to be a public servant, his career began at the urging of his sister-in-law who worked for the city of Santa Ana at that time. His career with the City of Irvine began in June of 2007 as a Management Analyst I to assist with the implementation of the City’s new Computerized Maintenance Management System. He was subsequently promoted to Management Analyst II in 2010 and In July 2013, he was promoted to his current position of Senior Management Analyst, where he interacts with the city’s finance commission on behalf of the Public Works Department and is responsible for the finances of the department’s ten divisions. Jay states that he provides a monthly report identifying our financial status in terms of where we are in truth to where we budgeted and what our projected expenditures were (personal communication, April 5, 2016). Mr. Ponce is also responsible for new employee recruitment for the department. His leadership responsibility includes one-part-time employee that assist with budget preparation and day to day paperwork. He has no direct interaction with the city council, but responds to official business through the council member’s commissions. Although his normal responsibilities does not require him to work directly with the citizens, there are occasions that …show more content…

Ponce takes pride in his role along with the department’s role in the success of the city. He feels that the department plays a vital function in the aesthetics, operations, and adherence to the city’s master plan. Although Mr. Ponce has been able to navigate public service from certificated accountant to Senior Management Analysis, reporting directly to the public works director, he regrets that he never attained a bachelor’s degree and contemplates where his career would have taken him had he done so. Mr. Ponce is fifty-five years old and looks forward to retiring in the next five to seven years. He made note that although he takes pride in the city he is not a resident, he and his partner of thirty-one years owns a home in nearby Laguna

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