Civil service interview

[marleysmum3]

Hi
I have an interview with the CS next month. national insurance team. Apparently there will be behaviour and strength questions as well as competancy ( or is that the same as the behaviour/ strengths ?? ) I've had a look at their successful profiles but that just confuses me. Can anybody give me any indication on what questions may be asked ?? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Hi @marleysmum3 - we're just giving this thread a bump for you.

Best of luck for your interview.

Hi OP,

I started a similar thread a couple months ago and got some invaluable advice. I have linked it below. Give it a look; some very helpful people gave me links to the Behaviours & Strengths etc in there. Good luck!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3724260-To-ask-for-your-Civil-Service-Interview-tips

Thank you very much Jo. I appreciate that. Happy xmas 🎄

Thank you super mum xx

I’m
Not sure about behaviours / strength but the competency based questions will be, for example if the job spec ask for a team worker - ‘tell me about a time you worked as part of a team’
And if possible answer in the STAR format:
Situation (what was happening)
Task (that you had to do)
Actions (that you took)
Result (how you solved the problem / whatever).

Practice out loud before you go - I am rubbish at remembering my examples and tend to blather

I used to be a senior manager in the Civil Service and did a lot of interviewing, though before they brought in success profiles. I can't speak for everyone but, on the whole, we wanted candidates to do well! We had a vacancy that needed filling with a really good candidate and we wanted a selection of candidates to choose from - so we worked really hard to give everyone the best chance to shine.

Don't be afraid to ask for clarification if you need to and take a few moments to think before you answer. I was always very happy for people to bring in notes and use them as well. Essentially - I wanted people who were doing all they could to excel at the interview and I wasn't interested in trying to trip them up or make it more stressful than it needed to be.

Good luck!

Thank you both. Appreciate all the help. My trouble is , as soon as I walk in and see a panel of people I fall apart. I find that really stressful. It's a ' blended interview ' ... does that mean anything to any of you ?