preparing for an interview

eastmidsaver

so i've got an interview in a couple weeks times, which is for a promotion opportunity. 
however it is externally advertised so there will be a lot of competition both from internal colleagues, as well as people from outside the organisation.
is it me,   or is preparing for an interview very hard work these days?   and time consuming too?
my approach is to look at the competencies they looking for,  and then writing up an example for each one.  
any tips would be appreciated.

AskAsk

what job is it?  it may help if you tell us the actual job.

eastmidsaver

hi. it's a high end admin job within civil service,  executive officer.

lincroft1710

eastmidsaver said:

hi. it's a high end admin job within civil service,  executive officer.

EO grade is not particularly "high end".

lozzy81

Have a few situations prepared for each competency,  you can reuse these for every job depending on what they ask so you don't need to re write each time as you can tweak them to fit as most questions are standard "tell me about a time".....  make sure you say what you did, and then ask questions such as what is your biggest challenge? You can then say what you can do and contribute to over come this.

 Be honest about things you don't know or lack knowledge in, I look for people who are chatty and wil fit in the team.
Good luck with the interview!

MalMonroe

lincroft1710 said:

eastmidsaver said:

hi. it's a high end admin job within civil service,  executive officer.

EO grade is not particularly "high end".

Nasty. How do you know what is or isn't high end in the civil service? 

How has your comment helped in any way? Just trying to belittle the OP. That's sad.

MalMonroe

eastmidsaver said:

so i've got an interview in a couple weeks times, which is for a promotion opportunity. 
however it is externally advertised so there will be a lot of competition both from internal colleagues, as well as people from outside the organisation.
is it me,   or is preparing for an interview very hard work these days?   and time consuming too?
my approach is to look at the competencies they looking for,  and then writing up an example for each one.  
any tips would be appreciated.

To my mind, interviews are very intense these days, it isn't just you. I think that preparing for an interview can be very hard work and also time consuming but if you get the job, it's well worth it. And if you don't get the job, you've had the experience of putting effort in, I'm sure it won't be effort wasted. 

I think your approach is ideal, that's what they'll be looking for. They will also be looking for evidence that you've prepared well for the interview and hopefully be impressed. I think it's a great achievement to actually get an interview these days.

Don't forget that you do have an advantage over external applicants, use it wisely! I wish you good luck.

AskAsk

for my interviews, i tend to read up on the technical aspects as i don't always retain this information and can sometimes be tested on them.

but the key to an interview i think is confidence and belief in yourself.  try to engage/connect with the interviewer with eye contact and smile a lot if you can.

think of the questions that they may ask and prepare answers.  yes, they will most certainly ask you to tell them of examples that you had done where you have demonstrated certain competencies or how you solved/resolved a problem.

if you work in a team, they may ask about how you get on in a team situation and how you contribute to a team or lead a team.

take your time to answer questions so don't feel rushed.

benbay001

lincroft1710 said:

eastmidsaver said:

hi. it's a high end admin job within civil service,  executive officer.

EO grade is not particularly "high end".

Ive worked out how to get a high post count. Just post irrelevant junk on everything you see.
Heres my first attempt.

lincroft1710

MalMonroe said:

lincroft1710 said:

eastmidsaver said:

hi. it's a high end admin job within civil service,  executive officer.

EO grade is not particularly "high end".

Nasty. How do you know what is or isn't high end in the civil service? 

How has your comment helped in any way? Just trying to belittle the OP. That's sad.

It wasn't "nasty", it was the truth. I know because I was an EO in the Civil Service, it is  no longer high end. HEO and SEO are "high end".

lincroft1710

benbay001 said:

lincroft1710 said:

eastmidsaver said:

hi. it's a high end admin job within civil service,  executive officer.

EO grade is not particularly "high end".

Ive worked out how to get a high post count. Just post irrelevant junk on everything you see.
Heres my first attempt.

I was an EO in the Civil Service so it is not "irrelevant junk"