HMRC AO interview

Kam1992

Hello everyone, this is my first post on here so bear with me.

I had an interview at HMRC in Washington yesterday for an AO position. I was told in the interview pack that the interview will cover the 3 competencies that were also on the application form; Delivering at Pace, Changing and Improving, Managing A Quality Service.

Once I discussed the first competency at interview (delivering at pace), the interviewers seemed quite impressed and said I had also covered the third (quality service) competency.

I then discussed the second competency, I was not asked to discuss the example I had provided on the application form for the third and final competency.

When I got the chance to ask questions the interviewer said I did not need to discuss the third competency because they were satisfied with everything I had discussed with them up to that point.

Anyone know what this means? Why wasn't I asked to discuss the third and final competency?

Something similar happened in my interview for Her Majesty's Passports Office, I was not asked to provide 2 examples for the fourth and final competency. I did end up getting that position.

Any advice would be great.

KiKi

Kam1992 wrote: »

Once I discussed the first competency at interview (delivering at pace), the interviewers seemed quite impressed and said I had also covered the third (quality service) competency.

I then discussed the second competency, I was not asked to discuss the example I had provided on the application form for the third and final competency.

When I got the chance to ask questions the interviewer said I did not need to discuss the third competency because they were satisfied with everything I had discussed with them up to that point.

Anyone know what this means? Why wasn't I asked to discuss the third and final competency?

They've already told you why - because you already covered it in the first example you gave!

They got what they needed from you in terms of evidence, so there was no point asking you again for the sake of it. If they hadn't got what they wanted they would have asked.

KiKi

Kam1992

Thank you for the reply! I was just expecting one question for each competency as you get scored on each competency. So not sure how they'll be scoring the third competency in this instance.

vegasvisitor

I would agree they got what they wanted and nothing you could have said would have improved it. I also think that could be fairly positive, as otherwise surely they would allow you to answer if there was a higher score available. So it sounds like you've answered well, so it's will be down to where you rank against other applicants.

Let us know how it goes.

TELLIT01

Kam1992 wrote: »

Thank you for the reply! I was just expecting one question for each competency as you get scored on each competency. So not sure how they'll be scoring the third competency in this instance.

The interviewer, and previous responses here, have explained that you effectively gave evidence for the third competency when answering previous questions. There was no need for the interview to basically ask the same question again. They are perfectly capable of 'scoring' the third competency from that information.
It's extremely rare in my experience for an answer to a competency question just to cover that one competency and not to incorporate elements of others. Competencies rarely exist in isolation.

Kam1992

Thank you for the responses, feel slightly better now. Just got to play the waiting game now!

Kam1992

lesley74 wrote: »

I would agree they got what they wanted and nothing you could have said would have improved it. I also think that could be fairly positive, as otherwise surely they would allow you to answer if there was a higher score available. So it sounds like you've answered well, so it's will be down to where you rank against other applicants.

Let us know how it goes.

Aye, thanks will do. I was told in the interview pack that the interviewer will ask lots of questions, not to trick me, but to get the best possible answer out of me. I think I was only asked 1 question in total while I was discussing my examples so hopefully that is a positive indicator.

KiKi

Kam1992 wrote: »

Aye, thanks will do. I was told in the interview pack that the interviewer will ask lots of questions, not to trick me, but to get the best possible answer out of me. I think I was only asked 1 question in total while I was discussing my examples so hopefully that is a positive indicator.

They tell you you'll be asked loads because often people give really short answers, or don't provide the right detail - the number of times I asked competency based questions and someone tells me something completely not related to the question amazes me!

People who answer competency based questions well, and cover all the detail I need, get asked hardly anything.

If I ask someone a question about their experience of designing assessments, for example, and then they also comprehensively talk about how they managed stakeholders in that question, then I'm not going to ask them a further question about managing stakeholders. Makes my job easy!

Let us know the outcome!
KiKi

qadsey

Hello kami I also have an interview for the same position in bradford on Monday really nervous about what they will ask.

Can you give an example of how they phrased the questions did they say can you give an example of a time when you delivered at pace or of a time when you managed a quality service??

Your assistance would be very helpful.

bingo_bango

It's not a trap. They will ask basically what you have outlined above qadsey. The trick is in providing the answer to ensure that you cover the points in the actual competence framework.

Luckily for you, there is a published document which tells you exactly what the key indicators are for each competence.

Good luck!

qadsey

ok in the framework do I have to meet all the points for each competency or are 1 or 2 points ok??