Couple of questions about a Civil Service interview

[magicmole]

Apologies in advance if these are stupid questions but I was hoping someone in the know might be able to give me a little help as I prepare for interview.

According to the job ad they're looking to assess several behaviours (for which I'm trying to think about a few examples in a STARR format that hopefully match what's expected at the grade) as well as technical skills.

There's no technical test, presentation or anything like that. There's just a short interview of only 30 minutes. This surprised me a little as the last time I had a panel interview (public sector but not civil service) it took 1hr 30!

Given the short interview time, I was wondering if I will only get "behaviour" questions or am I also likely to get some "strengths" questions? I ask because I've never had an interview where you wouldn't also get that kind of question but there's nothing about them in the advert for this particular role. In some other civil service job ads I've read it's clearly stated that "strengths" questions should be expected. And they want to cover a lot of ground in only 30 minutes ...

Also, for the technical skills part, does anyone know if that's more likely to be a "what would you do if..." situational thing or purely a test of knowledge? Or could it be either?! It's a role that requires specific legislative knowledge (KIM) if that makes a difference. I know I'm overthinking it but I'm just trying to get an idea of how much time the panel will be putting aside for that part of the interview so I can try to make sure I don't overrun on the other parts.

Any help gratefully received so I can rein in my nerves a bit!

I've only ever known civil service interviews to be 45 mins long - but I've only worked in one Department so I don't know if it varies in different ones? I have a technical job and tech skills in my area are tested by a presentation usually. There are also standard qualifications that would be listed as 'Essential Criteria' in the job advert if they were required.
Your best bet is to contact the Vacancy Holder and just ask how the technical element will be tested, if at all.

Thanks for replying @emsyj37. The whole recruitment process is so alien to me that it's thrown me a little and I'm second guessing the simplest things. My qualifications are listed in the advert as "Desirable" rather than essential but realistically I'm not sure how someone could do the role without either the qualification or some fairly niche experience. But rather than guess how they'll test it and get it badly wrong I should probably take your advice and just ask!

The desirable part could be because the pay is low for those qualifications so they're hoping for some applicants but know they might not get any, but would take people who don't have the qualification but could gain them while working at a trainee level?

When we've interviewed for technical roles that require knowledge of legislation, the interviewers have shown a powerpoint with a photograph and a few words illustrating a situation then asked the candidate how the law applies to the situation.

If they’re going to ask strengths questions this would need to have been mentioned in the advert, so it doesn’t sound like they are.

Technical questions will depend what specialism they are in. For project delivery they align (somewhat) to the behavioural framework and you can find details of both online

@Wolfcub I went hunting online and found the training framework for the specialism so now have a clue what knowledge is expected at different levels which is really helpful.

You never know how these things will turn out but if it doesn't go well it won't be for lack of preparation!

Do appreciate the replies - thank you all.

Good luck 🤞🏻