Civil service interview - glaring error

[PriOn1]

I had a civil service interview recently, mostly with technical questions.

It mostly went okay, but there was one question where we were supposed to be in a scenario where we were dealing with a member of the public.

The interviewer asked me a question about something and I didn’t know the correct answer. If I was really in the scenario and dealing with a member of the public, I would have answered that I didn’t know, but would ring them back.

But I forgot the scenario and said that at a guess, I thought such and such.

My answer was way off and, had I really been in that scenario, I have enough experience to know I would never have guessed as the answer as gave was actually unsafe. If I were to give that reply in real life, I should genuinely be in trouble, but I know I wouldn’t.

Is it worth contacting them to tell them I know I cocked up, or should I just leave it? The only reason I am considering it is that I have read that the interviews are point based and that you can fail if you get below a certain mark on some questions and I think an unsafe answer might potentially put me in that category. I really want this job, so is there anything I can do now?

If any civil service interviewers, past or present, could give advice, I would really appreciate it.

Two biggest issues here are:

1. Your score is based on your performance in the interview. Phoning up to say you know the answer in retrospect is like going home from an exam and wanting to phone up the examiner to change your answers.
2. If there are any ‘civil service interviewers’ on here, they’d be wildly unprofessional to answer a potential employee’s questions about their interview on a public forum. Of course, general questions about a profession are ok to answer but I don’t think this one is appropriate.

I’m sorry your interview didn’t go as well as it could have. If your answer was dangerous then they shouldn’t give you the job. Put it down to experience because you can’t change anything now.

There is nothing you can do, please definitely do not ring.

One low score does not mean you will fail the whole thing if you did well on others.

It must be stressful knowing you made a mistake but they will be used to it. They know people will be nervous. Even if it was part of the skills assessment I don't think you should assume it would ruin your interview.
I definitely wouldn't contact them about it.

Good luck! Can you update us 😁

Definitely don’t ring, that’d just make you look very unprofessional.

My answer wasn’t actually dangerous because I was giving it in an interview and had forgotten the scenario element. As AWhaleSwamBy suggests, this was down to nervousness.

My query was about whether you could potentially fail an interview on one question because of the points, because I read on a non-civil-service site that it was possible. I don’t see why it would be unprofessional to reply about the technicalities about how such interviews work. It may be that the site I read was nonsense and it is a general question about how interviews work. Of course different interviews might have different weightings, in which case there is no straightforward answer.

It would be genuinely frustrating to fail an entire interview, for a job I know I am wholly competent to do, based on one stupid error I made when nervous. I was asking for advice and thank you to all the people who have replied that I shouldn’t get in contact without being arsey about the fact I asked the question.

And yes, AWhaleSwamBy, of course I will update, though it may be a few weeks.

No don't ring, if they call you to talk fine mention it

They usually (not done it for a couple of years) have a minimum score for each question (so at least 4 out of a possible 7 for behaviour questions and 3 for the strength ones) as opposed to a minimum overall score.

It's rare to fail the strengths but the rule used to be that if you failed to meet the standard in any question then you couldn't pass overall.

I wouldn't phone them because they can only go on the interview performance out of fairness to all candidates. You probably did better than you think and they may have seen, even within your weaker answer, the right level of skill and understanding to give you the minimum. It's stressful waiting I know but good luck.

I guess you live and learn. Every interview I have ever had, or given has involved a question where the answer is " I would ask/escalate If I didn't know".

My experience has been different to NashvilleQueen, as when I’ve interviewed or been interviewed the scores have always been across the entire assessment - so a low score on one can be cancelled out by performing well overall.

Don’t ring, they won’t be able to change anything.

Good luck, making a silly mistake in an interview is very common and good interviewers recognise that!

@ANewAdventure that's really interesting as I'd assumed it was all standardised across the CS but it looks to be by department. This article https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/civil-service-interview-scoring-sheet]] suggests you can have a blended score or a minimum across each question. So it will all depend on which dept the OP has applied for.

Yes, I think we often fall in to the trap of assuming too much uniformity across the civil service!

I know! It was a complete brain fart. It’s a long time since I’ve had this sort of interview. Had the interviewer reminded me we were role-playing, I would absolutely have given the correct answer.

It wasn’t a behaviour or strength question, it was a technical question, if that makes a difference.

I was, very kindly, also prompted in a later question, when I had given a broad outline answer when they wanted some very specific evidence of knowledge on something that was so basic to me that I hadn’t even thought to mention it!

Anyway, hopefully they will overlook it and I will get the job and can then joke to them about how nervous I was about my brain fart interview moment!

And thanks to everyone. I really appreciate your responses. I currently work overseas and the rules of engagement around job applications and interviews here are entirely different, even for the civil service. I really had to adjust and now I have to readjust back.

Had the interviewer reminded me we were role-playing, I would absolutely have given the correct answer.

What? You were in an interview and were asked what you would do in X scenario. What exactly did you think you were doing if not role playing?

I don’t really understand what actually happened.

Let’s say the job is for wheelie bin coordinator.

In the role play you are answering the phone to Mrs Smith on 1 Main Street. She wants to know when her recycling bin goes out, you don’t know the rota so you blurt out Tuesday instead of saying you will check and let her know?

Ex CS senior manager. I've conducted more CS interviews than I care to remember and can't see why it would be unprofessional to answer this question here. It is very general. 'I made a silly mistake at interview, should I leave it and hope for the best or try and amend it?'.

Are you sure it was such a bad answer or was it just not quite what you would have said/ done if you'd not been nervous and you've extrapolated a risk of harm from that? Assuming it really was, it depends how the scores are counted i.e. cumulatively so you can get away with one dodgy answer or everything has to be at least a 3/4, as to whether you might get away with this.

If you're absolutely certain it was that bad and would have been dangerous to the public then I might go against the grain here and suggest emailing.

You could thank them for the interview, acknowledge that they may not be able to take this update into account for that application but say that nerves led you to lose sight of the question. Say you realised later that what you actually answered could have been a risky suggestion if in real life and you just wanted to let them know it was interview nerves rather than genuinely believing that was correct and you would have done XYZ in real life. You could imply this is in case you work with them in future.

I don't think this would do any harm. The angle is more about your reputation (not saying they would remember your answer forever more if you don't get this and reapply so don't worry!). It's a different approach to asking to change your answer after the fact. If they do consider the scores cumulatively then it may work in your favour if they have to choose between two very similar performances as they know you're not going to be a danger.

Of course it's a strictly auditable procedure but interviewers are human too and if you did well/ were the best candidate otherwise then it could help alleviate any concern. Email better than phone if you can as they have a paper record if they do decide to take it into account.

I would bet that your answer wasn't as bad as you think. Good luck either way!

No, you can't ring them. Sounds like this one might not go your way- put it down to experience. You can always reapply if you are very keen on the CS. Might be worth doing some practice before then about how CS interviews work- there are lots of videos on Youtube that can help.

I wasn’t asked what I would do in X scenario.

I had given a presentation in which I had to imagine the interviewers were members of the public.

There were questions at the end and the very last question asked was one about something technical that required a specific answer. I forgot we were role playing and said that I didn’t know, but if I had to guess, I would say probably around X (X being a figure that was way off).

Obviously I shouldn’t have guessed, but guessing an answer to an interviewer is very different from giving the same answer to the general public. I’ve worked with the general public for thirty years, including under great pressure, and I would never have said that if I had really been in the scenario.

It was the very first part of the interview and I’m fairly sure I performed well for the rest of the question.

This section from the article quoted by @NashvilleQueen was the one that worried me.

• Three marks: Three marks indicate a mixture of positive and negative evidence, with interviewers finding moderate positive evidence but a bit of negative evidence too.
• Four marks: Four marks indicates adequate positive evidence. Any negative evidence that the interviewers identify doesn't really pose a major concern.

I thought that perhaps a single piece of negative evidence might pose a major concern if it was considered I might actually have answered as I did to a member of the public. However, equally they might assume it was just an interview error and not mark me down to a failing level. I hope that is the case.

Tbh I don't get the impression she is a dangerous candidate, just buggered up an interview.