Interview with UK civil service

[MyLoftyTiger]

Hello

I have been shortlisted for a job interview with HMRC and there was three dates to pick from and each date had three different times. Could anyone tell me how many candidates they think there is or does anyone on here work with the HR UK civil service.

No way of knowing, there could be three people being interviewed or 50, with different interview panels and availability. Just do your best, good luck

I’d imagine 9.

Congrats! There'll usually be as many appointments released as candidates, but there's no real way to know how HR have notified candidates or how many slots may have been already booked before you logged in to chose your slot. HR may have released all invites to book the interview in one tranche, or in several groups with different days/times offered. At least 9 is the best answer you'll get, I think!

Sproufortheelf would there be 50 candidates for one role?

Depending on the role, there could easily be 30+ in my experience. Different interview panels, different availability offered to each candidate. No way of knowing at all just based on that. Good luck!

No. You wouldn't have a shortlist of 50 for 1 role.

I recruit in the civil service and the last mid level job we advertised 25k had over 700 applicants, 50 sifted for interview, 3 vacancies. There's no way of knowing from the slots you've been offered. As PPs have said there may well be multiple panels overlapping, at the same time, or other slots you've not been offered

Depends if they're looking for a merit list

Got an interview this week with Ministry of Justice. There are 28 positions available! If you go back onto your civil service job (MoJ is on separate website) login, you will see how many positions there are going at the top of the listing.

Whilst on the subject of interviews, does anyone know the types of questions asked for an Admin Officer position? Thank you

outingouting could it be three? Because with all the three dates. The times were same. For example times might have been 12:00, then 2:00 and 4:00. The dates were 20, 21 and 22 of August

I have literally never seen only 3 people interviewed for a genuine CS post- unless it’s a role where someone internal is already going to get it & they just have to be seen to do interviews to be following fair process in which case they may just choose a few.

The job I applied for excluded a lot of people who have degrees. When I selected my interview there was only three dates but the three dates had three different times which were the same.

I work in MOJ and there were 1800 applicants, 138 interviews for 34 jobs of the same role. Our interview time slot releasing was similar with more released once some got booked up.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles/success-profiles-civil-service-behaviours

For an AO grade there are likely to be three behaviour questions which should be identified in the job advert and probably three strength questions too. The behavioural ones are along the lines of ‘tell me a time when…’ and you are expected to use the STAR format, with an extra R on the end for reflect. They could ask you follow up questions on these; the strengths are more straightforward and you won’t have to elaborate on these.

I work in HMRC and I’m interviewing people at the moment. There are lots for every vacancy. What’s the job? If you email the mailbox they might tell you.

This will solely be related to availability of the interview panel. If there's 9 slots, there'll be 9 candidates to fill them. It wouldn't be standard to offer additional slots beyond the number of interviewee's/interviews.

Just be the best you can be. The CS is very competitive in terms of getting in. Focus on speaking your answers well and really listen to the questions to answer. That sounds super obvious but really, they will grade each element of what you say, so it’s about marks awarded, not a “fit” or “we like you”.

Usually the same, or a couple fewer than the slots offered.

Rule of thumb where I've worked is 3-4 interviews per role to allow for candidates dropping out or not being good enough at interview.

This will be the times of the interviews, allowing a space between each interview for the panel to discuss and also take a break. The panel needs to allow time for checking ID, any assessments (if required for the role) and breaks. There are usually 3 people on a panel.

So three days, three interview slots per day - likely 8 or 9 candidates invited to interview. Though when a slot is booked, it is removed from your view as the candidate on civil service jobs.

I was wondering because I was guessing it was three candidates because what are you meant to do if 8 people take all the slots and you end up with a date and time you can't attend.

But there could have been slots already taken by the time you looked. There won’t be a fixed number of interviewees(ie top 12 scores), all those who “passed” the application sift will be interviewed. Agree with those who suggest focussing on your behaviour examples and responses.

The CS is very competitive in terms of getting in

Not at AO grade, it isn't.

I've seen it a few times. Very niche job, pay not great. Sometimes only 1 or 2 people have been interviewed.

Even admin jobs haven't had that many applicants because its NMW more or less.

I applied for higher executive officer but it's apprenticeship and you can be excluded from it, if you got a degree.