Web-Based Conflict Research Tutorials

The Job Interview:

Imagine that you are a recent graduate and are seeking an internship with a group that is committed to social justice. After sending out your application to a diverse selection of organizations, governmental agencies, and other policy research groups, you receive a letter offering you an interview with an organization called Jobs with Justice, an organization dedicated to protecting workers' rights. Of late, several areas of the country — Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Denver, among others — have experienced a growing conflict between service workers and their employers. They are seeking someone with your background and expertise to work on a public policy campaign called "Justice for Janitors", to help service workers in these areas better understand and utilize their rights.

Before the interview, however, you must find out as much as you can about Jobs with Justice as an organization, some of their recent projects, and their mission or values. Since you know very little about the organization, its history, who they represent and why, and how their work has changed or influenced social policy, you must seek out as much information as you can find about the job and the campaign on which you will be working before your interview.

But wait a minute! Although there are campaigns going on in your local area, you read in the fine print of the letter that they want you to move to the East Coast. As a result, you must find out about the areas in which you will be working, as well as the conflicts themselves. What types of housing are available? What kind of weather or climate should you expect? What types of jobs are available after completing the internship? What is the current state of the conflict between the workers and employers? It looks like you have your work cut out for you!

To adequately prepare yourself for your trip and the job interview, it is important that you "ask the right questions." First and foremost, it will impress your prospective employer if you have "done your homework" and found out a little bit about the organization (its goals, values, and objectives), the conflict (its history, context, and current status), and the region or setting of the conflict (the region's history, demographics, economy, and culture). This research will also allow you to investigate whether the job is the right one for you, whether you are prepared to confront the unique challenges of the conflict site, and whether your participation will help or hinder the conflict situation. The following list is a sample of the types of questions you may want to ask yourself and others about ongoing conflict resolution efforts surrounding workers' rights. (See Table 1.)

• Go to Google, Yahoo!, or a similar general search engine site.
• Begin searching the Internet to find Web pages and websites that will assist you in answering some or all of the questions listed in Table 1.
• Are these general search engines useful in finding the information you are looking for? What types of problems did you encounter in your search?

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