Civil Service interviews any tips?

[soisolated]

I have been offered an interview for a job I would love, professional field within the civil service. I have to complete a presentation and the interview is around an hour all over teams. Does anyone have any advice or tips?

Go through the behaviour framework and prepare several examples for competency based questions that fall under each category.

I have a link somewhere with a really helpful guide I'll see if I can dig it out

files.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/admin/fairs/apptrack/download.cgi?SID=b3duZXI9NTA3MDAwMCZvd25lcnR5cGU9ZmFpciZkb2NfdHlwZT12YWMmZG9jX2lkPTg0NDkxMSZ2ZXJpZnk9ZGU4M2U2MGZhZTkwMmUyYTk5YmI4MjRlZGRmZjcxM2M=

Sorry that's the wrong one!

www.interviewskillsclinic.co.uk/civil-service-interview-questions/

This is the one you want

Check out the organisations core priorities and make a reference to one or two when you can to show you’ve researched them. Good luck!

I’ve just done a week of interviews as a hiring manager.

Interview structure will be along the lines of introductions, housekeeping, a warmup question, presentations behaviours and strengths (might be as two different sections but sometimes they alternate, closing questions/comments, what happens next.

They will tell you which behaviour they are testing (eg this is about making effective decision) but they won’t tell you which strength. Aim for 5 mins for behaviours and1-2 mins for strengths. They might ask follow ups for behaviours (don’t worry either way, it’s not a good or a bad sign!) but won’t for strengths .

Some tips based on the good and bad interviews I sat through last week:

Familiarise yourself with the job description
Prepare a good answer to “why do you want this role”
Look at the civil service behaviours and strengths dictionaries so you understand what you’re being tested against
The link given in the post above gives good structure for behaviour answers
Don’t just give rehearsed examples - make sure you answer the question asked. Eg when they say “this is a question about leadership” don’t just regurgitate your leadership example, listen to and answer the question.
For the presentation, practise it beforehand and time yourself (usually it’s 5 mins). Timeliness is important - over running gives a bad impression.
Presentation should be verbal only unless they specified otherwise
Have a good question to ask at the end - something like “what will be the initial priorities for the successful candidate?”
Don’t be that candidate who takes the “any questions” opportunity to ask loads and loads about the role and the civil service and the kitchen sink!
On that note, see if you can have a quick chat with the hiring manager before your interview, that always goes down well.

Many thanks for all those tips everyone!