To ask for your Civil Service Interview tips

[antisupermum]

I have an interview next week for a Civil Service role. Won't go into specifics but its mainly admin based, leading a large team of people. I apply for jobs occasionally on the Civil Service Employment site - the applications themselves take a fair amount of work, but this is the first time I have been invited for interview.

Based on the job role and how detailed the application is with the behavioural questions/ personal statement etc, I am more than a little nervous that the interview is going to be a horror.

Has anyone experienced a CS interview and can enlighten me how they tend to go? Is it "give us examples of a time when" type questions or "talk us through your CV" type thing - or neither! Arghh! The worry about it is actually enough to make me not bother and just stick where I am.

Anyone?

Don't they do that stupid "STAR technique" thing? You can basically learn your answers to the likely questions off rote in advance.

Give me a time when you had to manage a difficult situation /messed up / did something in a team / worked alone blah blah blah

i.e. basically it enables them to tick a box and doesn't really give anyone any clue about the person.

Wss. Google “competency based interview questions” and work out what you’ll say for each and how you can use them to demonstrate your suitability.

They are more likely to ask you for -
Additional examples / evidence of core and key competences.
About yourself and your views on current affairs etc. Eg is Boris truly the great leader and why?

Basically study the competences, look at the news and consider what they might be asking to stretch and test you. Eg What do you think will be the biggest challenges facing this department in the next few few years and how do you think you could support senior colleagues in addressing them?

Good luck

Thanks all. I have had competency based interviews before so I will dig out my old prep for that to jog my memory.

I haven't heard of the STAR method before but hopefully Google will enlighten me!

STAR - situation, task, action, result.
Also does the job mention/have you familiarised yourself with CS success profiles? They're the "new" CS competencies.

In my experience, at the end, just when you think you've made it safely through all of the competency based questions and it is all over they will pull out one last question about the organisation. e.g. "Oh one last thing - what can you tell us about..."

Sometimes it is something quite broad or something rather obscure. I never know if they are looking for the correct answer or just to see how you handle an unexpected curve ball.

What they said. Less like the old civil service competency type interviews in that there is also more of a focus on behaviours now via the success profiles. Good luck.

Everything that's already been said. Make sure you have a variety of different roles/projects to use as examples so that you don't end up referencing the same piece of work for every different competency.
Make sure your examples are demonstrate what you contributed/achieved individually even if you were working as part of a team.
They'll probably ask what you like doing with your leisure time.
Expect the questions to be very generic as they have to ask all the candidates the exact same ones.

I have never heard of success profiles - will googling provide me info on that?

Oh and make sure you say "I" rather than "we". They'll mark you 0 to 4 depending on the level of evidence in your answers.

OP - I’ve been involved as an interviewer on several CS recruitment campaigns recently, both under the old system and Success Profiles.

If you want to PM me for a bit more info feel free.

What grade is it for? I’m an SO.

The process is all competencies-based in my department , we're not allowed to ask anything that doesn't relate to a competency or skill listed in the person spec.

Person spec should list the relevant CS behaviours at the bottom, so you can look them up and get a good idea of what they are looking for. Have them in your mind when you answer - so, if they want someone who can operate effectively in a busy business environment then read up on 'working at pace' and have a couple of examples ready of what you did and how, how this shows your skills and competencies, and how this benefitted the organisation etc.

Favourite 'standard' question at our place is "tell me about a time something went wrong/you missed a deadline /a stakeholder was unwilling to cooperate " or similar. Maybe have an example of this, of course with an explanation of how you turned it around and improved processes to prevent it happening again.

In my organisation interview questions are scored numerically. So if I ask you a question about your project management experience I need a relevant example that touches on your skills and relevant competencies, if i am to give you a high score. Interviewees are ranked according to overall score at the end, so even if I really like you, if you've given wishy washy answers and not answered the actual question, you're probably not going to get a high score. Always worth checking "is there anything else you'd like to know?" if you're not sure you've nailed the question - gives the interviewer chance to rephrase if you've misunderstood or to ask a follow up question for more clarification etc.

Any experience they ask for that you don't have, just fess up but enthuse about the opportunity to learn (after all it can't be an "Essential" skill if you have been invited for interview). Last interviews I did, 5 people looked me in the eye and assured me they knew how to analyse data but when I then presented them with a simple 1 page analysis and asked them to comment on what they would conclude from it, only one could actually put a sentence together. The job ended up going to someone who said right away they only had limited experience in that area but would love to learn. And 6 months in, they're doing very well.

In the event you are unsuccessful, ask for feedback. Don't know if this is the same across the board, but we are required to share our scoring sheets and comments with unsuccessful candidates on request, and it may help for the future.

Of course, I hope you're successful and wish you all the best!

Oh, and Willowkins is right - they'll want to hear what "you" did, not your team. So use "I" all the way. If you worked as part of a team, then what was your personal contribution to the success of the team and so on.

Feels a bit unnatural, but it's the only way to get those high scores!

I interviewed a few months ago for what could be a similar role in a part of the civil service that deals with science and technology development. There was definitely a focus on competency and I found it difficult to answer in the way they wanted me to. I would say you definitely need to focus on your own personal contribution to each example you give. The STAR approach would work quite well. I found the whole interview quite unsatisfying, but was ultimately successful (though I didn’t go because they wouldn’t negotiate on pay). A lot of my answers were based on examples of how we do things in my current team (which I also lead), but they definitely were only interested in what I do.

Reuse terminology used in the job description and buzz words around competencies. You get points for just saying them (in the right context of course!). Also think of lots of examples of stuff relevant to the job and competencies. All CS interviews I've been in have asked for examples of when you've done something. If you get stuck and can't think of an example, say you can't think of one but then say what you would do in that situation. Good luck!

Less like the old civil service competency type interviews in that there is also more of a focus on behaviours now via the success profiles.
What's the difference between "behaviours" and "competencies" (as a non civil servant it all sounds a bit confusing)

@goodtoseeyou It's an SEO role, grade B. Swahili to me, I'm afraid! If you can tell me what that means in real terms it would be appreciated.

@Calic0 That's very kind thankyou. I have sent you a message

I am watching this thread with interest as I have a CS interview next week...good luck OP!

Competency based and specific examples of how you used those competencies and the result.

It all depends which department it is as mine now uses success profiles but others still use star.

I had an interview under the 'star' competencies - total waste of time, they were so busy sticking to a script they had no sense or me, or indeed my skills by the end. It was so rigid, no chance to elaborate. I didn't get the job.

Three months later had interview for almost identical (SEO) role, with the same department, via success profiles, best interview I've ever had. Totally different experience. I got the job

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717274/CS_Strengths_2018.pdf

The competencies you will be asked about will be the ones specified in the job advert. So gen up on both of the documents In links above and prepare answers to: tell me about a time when you’ve (e.g. made an effective decision). Question will usually not be exactly as simple as that so could be ‘tell me about a time you’ve made an effective decision with conflicting/incomplete evidence’. Make sure you focus on what you did and your thought processes rather than the too much about the minutiae of explaining every detail of the situation. Make sure it’s ‘I’ not ‘we’. Make sure the examples as far as possible link to the skills and experience required in the job spec.

If you feel that the competency questions haven’t allowed you to tell your story ( you can provide a great ‘seeing the bigger picture’ answer but not in the specific way it was asked) then in the have-you-got-any-questions/anything else you’d like to say stage Of the interview I’d say upfront something along the lines of I found that specific competency question difficult to answer but I think you are looking for....job specific outcome (e.g. someone who is skilled at seeing the bigger picture and understanding his organisational goals fit in with my work and the wider sector) and so i can tell you about a time when I did....(your perfect answer)!

I have to say I haven’t had huge amounts of experience with the new success profiles but quite familiar with the competency stuff.

Good Luck!