To hate competency based interviews!

[TheDairyQueen]

I had an interview today for my dream job.

Firstly, they say you should never meet your idols. This could never have been truer than it was today - it turns out that they are, after all, just people with the same failings as everyone else. It was so disappointing to see a disinterested face sit across the table from me when there was one person I've always been keen to impress.

I couldn't have done better on the technical questions, it's the one thing I am confident about. However, for me, the killer has always been the competency based questions, the real fucking difficult ones that I always find myself stumbling over. I always end up thinking my examples are so stupid and before I know it, I'm blethering a load of shit to fill the silence.

I miss the old days when the technical knowledge alone was enough, without the HR box-tickery of "can you give me an example of...?" No, I bloody well can't. I'm going to be unreasonable, I am unreasonable and I'm unreasonably unreasonable about reasoning.

Ah fuck it, I just wanted a moan about my own interminable stupidity.

Ah now bialy, if you could see the big picture you wouldn't feel like a wanker talking about it You could in fact become quite enthusiastic talking about it.

YANBU OP. I really don’t think they are a good way of assessing how well a candidate will perform in the actual job. As others have said, all it shows is how good someone is at giving interview answers.

I’m really sorry about the interview OP. I’ve seen a job in the civil service that I’d like to go for, but part of me thinks there is no point trying as I’m rubbish at those sorts of questions.

I give up on the application form when it wants competencies, it's not that I haven't done anything in my 46 year working life it's just I can't relate what I've done to the question, I just get a mental block, it was so much easier when you filled in what you had done, got an interview and did a test.

An enthusiastic wanker then passport

I agree, I hate them. Free flow conversation is so much better but less possible now due to claim culture in a large part I think.

I used to love doing interviews for my old company & never selected a bad candidate, although a couple were nervous & didn't come across well at interview initially.

It is incredibly off putting when trying to talk enthusiastically about work while someone opposite is sitting with an expectant poker face.

thedish that's exactly it. I've had 20+ years of experience, why can't they ask me something relevant to the actual job like "how would you approach [particular relevant situation]" rather than "how have you demonstrated [generic] value"? Much more meaningful!

"It is incredibly off putting when trying to talk enthusiastically about work while someone opposite is sitting with an expectant poker face."

This sounds like a perfect way to filter out any candidates with any social sensitivity at all. I imagine it's great if you want people who love the sound of their own voice so much that they don't care if anyone is actually listening.

Dairy, I think the poster is referring to disinterested (good:) being used instead of uninterested (bad)

Sorry, no idea where the smiley came from.

“I’m really sorry about the interview OP. I’ve seen a job in the civil service that I’d like to go for, but part of me thinks there is no point trying as I’m rubbish at those sorts of questions“

Coffee: Don’t worry, I don’t think you with your common sense approach to interviews would be a good fit for the Civil Service anyway. Let’s face it, it’s one of the daftest, most bureaucratic organisations in the UK, and this will never change while their interview processes are designed to pick out those candidates who will be the future inventors of bullshit bingo buzzwords.

In fact that would be a great way to weed out the bullshitters at interview who can talk the talk but may not so great at the job. Give them a list of bullshit bingo phrases and ask what each one means. Give the job to the person who knows the least.

"Civil Service Framework : seeing the big picture, building capability for all, managing a quality service. I certainly don’t sit at my desk thinking how I am going to demonstrate those values. Load of crap really."

Yes, especially at a lower level.

My Grandad was an EO for Customs and Excise (as was). He died in early 70s and I bet he’d be turning in his grave to see how much the Civil Service has changed.

Curly - I have zero time for bullshit bingo! Maybe I would be a really bad fit . Funnily enough, all my friends in the civil service say exactly the same as you.

Worrying I may have interviewed Squishy! I interviewed in the civil service recently to see how it felt on the other side of the desk (much better!) We got given a question for each competence and were allowed to ask a couple follow-ups with examples given.

What was interesting is it basically boiled down to "see the Desirable behaviors for this grade? Explain how you have met them all." - we couldn't remember the exact question either! It would be fairer I think if they just said "tell us how you gave displayed this competence. You have four minutes." The candidates who did best mainly brought notes in, or at least a copy of the framework.

It's an arcane system which I hated when trying to get back to work after a career break, but is I think better than the cosy chat.

I have to go to a 'filling in an application form' session at the job centre, I am hoping they can help on the competencies questions. Otherwise we will just eat beans on toast till I retire in 4 years. Sorry for the sarcasm I'm just pissed off with jobseeking 😁

I wouldn't hold my breath for good training at the Job Centre.

I recently applied for a job and the online application was 9 x1000 words competency questions 😕