DWP Assessment Day in Dundee

heathertheblether

Hello everyone. I am new to this site and would like some help from anyone out there who knows what happens at a DWP Assessment day (run by Capita). My interview is on Tuesday and I am freaking out. I dont understand what all the "competency" stuff is - it seems so complicated. I am being interviewed for a position as a Customer Service Advisor. I haven't worked for 18 years, having been a full time mum raising my four kids. When I DID work, I was a Legal Secretary. HELP!:eek:

cheekyweegit

Hi and Welcome to MSE Heather,

My son did the tests at the Apex hotel last week, and the staff from Capita were lovely from start to finish.

When you go in, he asked at reception where to go and was shown to a room where a group of people were doing their registrations. Here all the documentation you are asked to bring is checked before you can sit the tests. Unfortunately for my son, his photo ID was not suitable so he was asked to come back in the afternoon after getting his picture signed and a letter from our local Doctors Surgery.

He is only 17 and every one was older than him - at least in their 30's he said and older so please don't worry about your age.

Once everyone had been checked off so to speak and documents checked, you get taken into another room where you sit your literacy test first (you get 8 minutes for this to find 15 spelling / grammatical errors in a passage) and then your numeracy (18 minutes to do 20 questions.)

Once you have done this, everyone's papers were marked and if you passed you got invited to interview there and then, although if you read the other threads on DWP interviews some have to wait on test results and get invited to interview on a different day. My son got 20 out of 20 :j for his numeracy but had mental block through panic on the literacy so never made the requirement for this. (I'm still really proud of him though !:D:D:D),

As he never passed both he never got invited for the interview, but the experience was worth it for him as it was his first proper step in the job market if that makes sense since leaving school in the summer.

His job was for the Administrative Officer (AO) if that helps and I'm not 100% sure if it will be the same for your role.

From what I have gathered from others with experience is, the Capita staff are lovely even doing the interviews. Don't be scared to say your nervous and take your time. Take notes in with you to prompt you if need be and you can take in examples of your work if it helps for illustrations purposes.

The notes you are given in your invitation email are a god send for helping with scenario's to match the skills. My son was able to use a diabetic dogs' needs from a weeks work experience at a vets for one of his. This was customer focus and communication if that helps.

Lastly good luck. I'm routing for you and everyone else in the same situation.

venus_in_furs

heathertheblether wrote: »

Hello everyone. I am new to this site and would like some help from anyone out there who knows what happens at a DWP Assessment day (run by Capita). My interview is on Tuesday and I am freaking out. I dont understand what all the "competency" stuff is - it seems so complicated. I am being interviewed for a position as a Customer Service Advisor. I haven't worked for 18 years, having been a full time mum raising my four kids. When I DID work, I was a Legal Secretary. HELP!:eek:

If you have worked as a Legal secretary then you should have plenty of experiences to relate the questions too. Mostly the questions will be based on your ability to work in a team/organise or prioritise your workload/dealing with customers etc. I just read through my competencies list and thought of work related things i have done to display that competency (although you can use examples from anywhere, personal life, charity work, collage etc). They don't need to be complex. I even used organising a filing system as an example!! As long as they hit the bullet points and you show them that you can handle the situations they present you well, then you should be fine. You can bring notes in to the interview if you wish also.

I got great advice on on thread telling me to answer the questions with the STAR method. For example, they say 'Tell me a time you prioritised your time well?'

S- Situation you were in- i.e. Where you were, work or Home etc
T- The task you were doing.
A- Actions you took- how did you organise that time appropriately? What did you do?
R- The end result you got from task and your actions. Was it positive? Did you learn from it?

I hope this helps. Just relax. My interviewers were lovely and everyone else said theirs were too. Just be confident and you should do well.

Good luck