are there any good websites with advice on preparing for tests and competency based interviews

[zippitippitoes]

..not that i have any interviews but I'm approcahing the task with determination anyway!

what do you really say when asked to give an example of when you did any of these.... analysing information, showing good judgement, persuading and influencing,managing conflict, developing good working relationships etc?

Use the STAR technique:

Situation: What the situation was
Task: self explanatory, the task at hand
Action you took
Result of the action

So for analysing info for i.e. you'd say
S: In my last role the company were concerned about the level of phone calls made
T: I was asked to come up with a plan blah blah to achieve blah blah
A: I did abc with the figures/stats to establish xyx and analysed them xyz
R: They realised some lazy old cow was spending all day filing her nails and blah blah. As a result of my report blah blah profitability/time wasted/whatever was increased/decreased by

Competency based interviews are great, because they ask very specific questions to which you need to give v specific answers. For example, "tell us about a time when you managed conflict and the outcome" and what they want is an example. Competency based ints are all about the view that how you behaved in the past is a good indicator of how you'll behave in the future and so if you've got experience you'll translate it to a new role.

They're MUCH easier than the vague 'tell me about yourself/talk me through your cv' types imo.

thank you

I found some useful stuff on the kent university site and have started geekily making up examples

I have applied for a job where they use this interview style. Would you mind telling me the address of the website you found?

Thanks!

here kent university