To ask about Civil Service interviews - using non-work examples in strengths answers?

[Cellardoor7]

Posting for traffic, if that’s okay.

I recently had an SEO interview where I scored well on strengths (3s for each question) but didn’t get the role.

I then had a feedback chat with the vacancy manager who recommended I use as broad a range of examples as possible in my strengths answers. She recommended using non-work examples, which she says she often uses.

As I’ve heard mixed views from others on using non-work examples in strengths answers, I’d would be keen to hear your thoughts. Is it okay to use a mix of work and recent non-work (eg volunteering/playing in an orchestra/learning a new skill) examples in my strengths answers, or best to stick to work examples? Thanks!

I would say absolutely fine to use non work examples if they are you strongest. Certainly will be more likely to sound enthusiastic.

Have you read the guide to Strengths? On gov.uk
"There are three elements which determine whether something is a strength:

Performance - you can perform an activity/behaviour to a high level of capability
Engagement - you feel motivated, enthused and empowered when doing the activity.
Use - you do the activity regularly and as often as possible."

I would say using non-work examples are fine, and I have used them in previous (successful) interviews.

My son got on fast track civil service, on milk round. He wasn’t even 21 when he started work there

im used to STARs based interviewing , we did a lot of prep developing stars from university experiences and outside of uni. He’d not done anything frightfully exciting (we were not wealthy), so it took time to really draw out what he had achieved and how form experiences he had - in the end we got a good range of STARs pinned down and ready that covered all basis of competencies they said they needed

yep, he’s bright, very articulate, which was just as well as he was in comms stream. And that was all that was required! He got an offer, took it

so yep, you can use whatever experiences you have. Prep is really the key here. Practice your stars over and over.

Defra. I recently gave a job to someone whose experiences as lifeboat crew.

Im an existing CS and ive often used my volunteering roles outside of the CS in interviews for new positions or promotions. It gets dull just talking about work experiences otherwise!

I would never use non work examples and I would assume anyone using them (aside from students/new graduates) was resorting to them because they didn't have strong enough examples from their actual job.

Haha. I'd put wanking and eating cake. 😂

I agree with this. I’d be wary of internal candidates in particular using non-work examples.

I'm in the CS and also interview. I would be fine with non-work examples but for me they would really need to be quasi-work- so if you're a charity trustee or run a club outside work then great. Obviously not examples of you being decisive and efficient doing the big shop 😂 I'd also suggest only including one non-work example- makes you look rounded but not inexperienced. Agree with PP that lots of non-work examples might suggest you don't have work examples.

Behaviours I would be more wary of non-work examples at higher grades/ non entry level, unless they were pretty chunky. Strengths are different. They are looking for enthusiasm and fit. The guidance specifically states not to rehearse them. As far as I recall job ads don't explicitly state which strengths will be tested.
I really don't like them.
When I did the interview training we were told to ask a baseline question that is unmarked to establish how animated the candidate is about something and then the real questions are compared to that. So subjective. Especially hard to score on Teams.

The key here is that they are strength based questions, these are different to behavioural (competency) based questions which you would usually expect to be work based.

Strengths are used to understand your softer skills, what motivates you, this is why non work based answers can work well. If you want to demonstrate that you’re an excellent multi tasker for example, it would be entirely acceptable to talk about how you balance motherhood, your PTA role and hobbies etc. They will be assessing how animated you are in that response.

two pick you brains i did a civil service interview the interview video part i got 2 2 3 how good or bad was it ? as it was some questions using the star method to answer them

It’s out of 7 for the behavioural questions, you need a 4 to pass. 3 is usually ‘moderate’ demonstration of whatever they’re assessing, 2 is something like ‘limited’.

so basically scaping the average line with my answers, the thing that puzzled me unless i missed it was that in the guide they give you i just read to use star examples ?

So if it’s a competency/behaviour based question yes you use STAR format and one good example of that behaviour. If it’s strength based (which are marked out of 4) you don’t use STAR based usually, 2 minutes isn’t really long enough and you tend to bring in a breadth of evidence as opposed to one solid example.

If it was a behavioural question your answers were relatively far from the mark (the 2s at least), people who are successful will have all 4s minimum, but potentially into the 5s and 6s depending how solid they are.

Did you get any feedback?

it seemed to be competency/behaviour based it was for the hmrc customer service advisor role if i remember it was around 3-4 mins on each question for the time limit

@ThatPearlkittyso I’ve been interviewing SEOs and G7s this week and here’s some observations on what I’ve experienced this week in relation to your feedback:

1. do not use a script. I know we say you can use notes, but this week I’ve just had people reading off of a screen. It’s not engaging, it doesn’t show personality, and in the world of AI it makes me curious if the example is even real if it’s being read out and not naturally delivered, because they’re not making me believe it if there is no natural language and gestures to go with it. Notes should be prompts, not full answers.

2. If you don’t give enough detail as to the context of your example and your specific role within it, it’s very hard to follow. Please do name the organisation you are working in, the project, the tool, all these things help create more of a story which is more engaging and easier to follow.

3. Make it VERY clear what YOU did. Women in particular are bad for saying “we did this”, “we did that” it makes it really hard to discern if you took the initiative, or were just following a crowd. We want to know what your specific decisions and actions were.

thats much appricated, all examples i used i can 100 percent say they were my own,

i use the script because i waffle and lose track at times of the points im making and yes i need to use more of the i did this etc

the notes thing and the star method i know it may seem daft but why dont they detail just how much detail you need because then i could of maxed my star examples ?

plus how can personality matter if you have to read from a script or be focusing on remembering specific details or is it more the manner you answer the question ?

How do you mean detail? Ultimately you have 4 minutes (you mentioned 4 minutes):

S - describe the situation (about 10% of the time)

T - describe what your task/role was in this situation (about 5%)

A - This is where you will spend the time. Talk about the actions you took, and the impact it had. List them clearly.

R - Remember to round off the result, what happened, did you learn anything? About 10%

So if you look at the success profile for the behaviour and level, and the time you have, you should be able to discern the level of detail required.

When I am interviewing myself, I have notes like this

S - name of project

T - DD tasked me to do X because Y

A - 1) one word prompts of each action
2) x
3) Y

R - a quick prompt of stats etc.

I rehearse quite heavily because I am a pretty good orator and can talk quite naturally without sounding overly rehearsed, this depends on the individual. If I don’t rehearse, I waffle.

Personality matters because you’re going to be going into a team and in your case a customer facing role, they need to be able to picture you doing it, how you will interact with people. If you are reading off a script at best you will come across wooden, worst case, you could sound a little incompetent. You shouldnt need to read off a script to describe something you have done, especially for only 3/4 minutes. Unless of course you declare you have additional needs in which case we would of course assess more objectively.

thats perfect thank you i think i got confused because i did star with the example but i should have added in more detail on the options i could use rather than just foucsing on the situation and the method i did use to get the achievement and result

It’s very easy to spend too much time on the situation. You need to make sure you cover it as it’s very hard to follow without a good background setting, but this can usually be done in a few high level sentences.

fair points, and much appricated with that i can understand better, for me the reading part was so i didnt waffle and so i kept on topic in order of the star method