Upcoming interview advice

[inquisitivejobseeker]

I've named changed so as not to out me, for obvious reasons.

I have an interview this week for an Information Governance role. No experience is necessary and I do have a little, learned in my current role. I am extremely nervous because I would really like the role and I think I'm very capable but the last time I had an interview (my first in 8 years), I froze up and couldn't answer questions to things I know!

For example, I was asked to explain the UK General Data Protection Regulation which I know and work to the legislation daily but I could not explain this at all.

Any tips please? Anyone know what I can expect from an IG interview?

I would have thought an IG interview will be a mix of technical/knowledge questions, the standard interview stuff about why you want the role and then some more skills/competency based ones. I think it's important to have in your mind that they'll not only want you to show you know the legislation, guidance and best practice but also be able to apply that to their business in a sensible and practical way. As someone that works in a different part of corporate and frequently interacts with IG, the type of IG officer/advisor that simply spouts statute at you and threatens you with dire consequences for non compliance but can't give any useful advice on how to actually make it work in practice is about as much use as a chocolate teapot IMO (although these people seem to somehow keep being hired so maybe the managers of the service don't think so!). As you say no experience required is it an entry level IG role in a bigger team where they'll train you or a standalone job in a small company? A virtual interview or face to face?

Either way for the more technical questions I'd help yourself out by jotting down key bullet points to prompt you if you go blank - if it's a Zoom/Teams interview you can have these on your screen so easy to access, if face to face it's still OK to take some flashcards or short notes in IMO so long as you don't spend the whole interview loudly rustling them or looking down and reading from your paper in a robotic voice, do still remember to make eye contact and smile! Then have a think about how you can demonstrate some of the skills and qualities they'll be looking for in the job, like I say good IG is all about translating technical concepts to understandable advice, persuading people it really is important even if inconvenient, having problem solving skills, being able to risk assess situations and advise accordingly, implementing change, that sort of thing, which even if you haven't worked directly in IG you should be able to think when you have shown that skill? Prepare examples in the STAR format.

Good luck!

Thank you for responding. That was an extremely helpful read. It's via Teams and the advert states that not experience necessary as full training will be given.