I have 2 EO Civil Service interviews this week. What more prep can I do?

I feel like I should be doing more but I'm not sure what. I've made a list of about 20 questions per competency that could be asked. Some I'm more confident with than others. I keep rehearsing them to myself.

I'm feeling so nervous for these interviews - more than I usually am. I'm really worried it's going to affect my performance :( I know I have good examples for all of them but I don't know if they will come across as well once I'm there. I hate trying to guess what's going to be asked :(

Any advice? My interviews are tomorrow and Thursday. Exact same job, exact same competencies, just a different location.

Comments

  • AlexMac
    AlexMac Posts: 2,979 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post Combo Breaker
    I only stumbled on your Q, as I'm not usually on this forum, but, albeit now retired, I have a lot of experience in this area; so here goes.

    You have done all the right prep in terms of the job, the competencies, your fit with their requirements and the likely questions...

    So now, you have to step back and address the more psychological elements of the interview experience.

    It's a cliche; but true, that many interviewers make their minds up when you walk into the room; in other words, that first impressions count! So, while you have to walk in feeling relaxed, confident, with good eye-contact, easy body language and all that, so they think you are someone who can fit, there is a brillant self-help trick to achieve that

    I always used to promote what I called the "Robert De Niro" or the " Merryl Streep" approach to interviews. They were "method" actors of the late 20th Century, who achieved immense success by immersing themselves in their film roles.

    So do it! Go into role on the day. Imagine as you walk into the interview, that you are not begging for a job from these unknown powerful strangers...

    ...you are already in the job! So you are meeting a couple of peers (nor superiors) for a discussion about a job you already have.

    Go into role (like Streep or De Niro) on the morning of the interview. Get up (in the role of HR director, or sales manager, or admin assitsnt or whatever it is you are going for) and have the breakfast that the (HR director, or sales manager, or admin assistant) always have. Put on the outfit that the (HR director, or sales manager, or admin assistant) usually wears to work. Get the bus/ train /tube that the (HR director, or sales manager, or admin assistant) always takes

    So by the time you walk into that room, you are that person.

    Don't laugh; it works. A colleague of mine, a young Afro-Caribbean woman, went fo a job with the EC in Brussels. She took the advice so literally, that when she left the hotel hat morning, she didn't even let her aunt (her chaperone) say "good luck", (because she psyched herself up to know she already had the job. doh!).

    I was delighted, because although I didn't even really know her, she phoned after to say she got the job!

    BUT ALSO

    do one bit of basic prep. Rehearse a simple one or two sentance summary of why you fit the job; a short summary of how well your skills match the job-spec. Rehearse that in case they ask that as an opening question. And if they don't, but if they do ask you at the end if you have any Questions, you can say something like;

    "I don't have any questions, but I'd like to stress that I have the right skills and experience for this job; my work as a (blah blah) and my skills of (blah blah- just 2-3 words). !

    You'll get there; good luck
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