Interview Civil Service

SandA

Hello

I have an interview next week for a civil service administration role. I am very nervous already.

I know it will be a competency based interview, and I intend to use the STAR's method of answering. I also plan on having lots of examples in mind but hopefully I dont get caught out by having an unexpected question!

At these interviews, do they ask other questions.. i.e why do you want to work here, tell me about yourself etc?

Thank you x

Denning.

Questions will be the same as everyone else for the role, will be the competencies only.

There might be some small talk which isn't officially apart of the interview, but IMO it plays a huge part even though it isn't meant to.

There won't be any questions which will catch you out, they won't have 'Tell me a joke' or 'If you were an animal what animal would you be'.

You are pretty much given the questions in the form of competencies already, so make sure you hit them spot on, don't be coy 'Oh they won't believe that so I’ll pad it abit'.

For my interview confidence was key, I spoke to my interviewer the other day and the reason she gave us the job (a few of us) was because we came across as confident and talkative, which makes me think the small talk is key.

SandA

Thank you for getting back to me.

I have identified the competencies and there is a few I am unsure of.

These being:

Delivering at pace & Changing and improving.

I am more confident on the latter.

However delivering at pace I do not really understand the sort of questions I could be asked.

thanks

Denning.

Delivering at pace = deadlines. Think of a the when you had a hard seemingly impossible deadline. What did you do to meet it? You improved the process allowing for time edficiencies, foreseeing potential issues and solving before they arose and caused delays etc.

Continuous improvement is just about reviewing what beenndone before to see what was good and bad for future use. All about best practice. So give an example of where you improved on a process.

Yorkie1

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Civil-Service-Competency-Framework-July-2012.pdf

This is the draft CSCF but it hasn't changed much.

It gives examples of behaviours for each of the competencies.

Yes, everyone will be asked the same questions but I would prepare for a few like why you want to work there etc. Have a look also to see whether the particular department has published a vision or values statement - this may be tied into some of the questions.

Kathy535

This link is useful, it gives more of the detail underlying the competency broken down by grade.

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Civil-Service-Competency-Framework-July-2012.pdf

Eta - I didn't see that yorkie had posted the same link, I'm an idiot! Sorry.

SandA

Thank you both x

National_Careers_Service

Some great ideas there and congratulations on getting through to interview! Just to take a slightly different angle on this, I wonder if you’ve thought about the information you’ve given them already. Think about the application process, the hoops you’ve had to jump through so far. I imagine they have details of where you might have worked before, the qualifications you have and one or two other things that they might want you to expand on.

We can spend a lot of time preparing, making notes, coming up with examples to match competencies; all good stuff, but how about the nervousness? Job interviews and nervousness come hand in hand; they’re par for the course and only become a problem if they prevent you from giving your best. Feeling nervous can be a good thing but when it starts having a negative effect you need to nip it in the bud straight away!
What are you nervous about? Is it something that you can do something about or is it something you have no control over? For example: If you’re not sure how to get there then do a dummy run beforehand. If you’re not sure what type of interview it’s going to be then contact them and ask. If you’re not sure where to start then talk about it! Off-loading your anxieties can help to put things into perspective. A National Careers Service adviser could act as a sounding board and can offer tips and hints, but more importantly can lend a non-judgemental listening ear. It certainly helped me when I was due to attend a panel interview!

Good luck with your interview SandA and don’t forget to let us know how it went!