Awful civil service interview!!

[OneDaringReader]

I need a bit of a handhold and some advice.

The interview was a total dumpster fire! I honestly felt like ending it after the first 10 minutes to just save us all the embarrassment. It's my first ever zoom interview which didn't help. I prepped but I found the questions very hard (one was telling us about a time you had to change your communication style - I think instead I answered talking about a time when I gradually handed a project over to someone else). I started answering and for each about half way through I wasnt sure that I was answering the question at all! I'm waiting for an autism diagnosis and I'm wondering if I didn't give myself enough time to process what they were actually saying and just started talking.

One follow up question I was so confused by ('how did you track the project') as I had already explained the form we used and what it showed.

Is this normal? Is it worth trying again?

Even this post I feel is waffling!! 😂

I had a similar interview, desperately wanted to press the Red 'Leave' button, I've been in that role for 18 months now 😂

Next time, ask them to copy the question into the chat box and take a sip of your drink to buy yourself some processing time before answering. - A tip given by an ADHDer senior civil service manager doing a talk on interview skills for ND staff but all the tips were useful for any/everyone.

They may not have heard what you said about the form as they were scribbling notes so mentioning a Gantt chart / planner / to do / internal process what ever you use gives you chance to expand on it and gives them more evidence for a particular question they may not have noted down the evidence at the time.

I feel your pain OP, I did 3 civil service interviews before I got my current role and there's definatley a knack to them. Chalk this one upto experience, next time you'll feel more comfortable on a zoom interview. What helped me was to jot down a couple of examples for each competency. Also, don't be afraid to say you have notes with you and take a minute to pick your best example.

I have been listening to a frirnd go on about how appalling a civil service competancy based interview was for 2 months - how it was awful, she couldn’t remember any of her examples, she wakes up at night feeling humiliated about it, how did she think she could go for that promotion, how will she ever work with the interviewer again….

she heard last week she got the promotion 🤣🤣🤣

Competency questions are a skill you need to prep really, when I'm interviewing I show them on screen and let the candidate have some time to think and jot down some notes.

Have you ever looked at the Goblin Tools website it is brilliant.

1. Breaks down tasks
2. Formalizer - You can change the tone of a passage of writing, make it more polite, more professional, more sarcatics etc just remember to de-Americanise it
3. Judge - if you aren't sure of the tone of passage of writing copy it jn and it'll break it down and give you a response.
4. Professor - If you receive something really technical copy it in and it gives you the plain English and an example.

You could use it to help you practise answers to questions before hand and help you become more concise

OP, I'm an HRD and interview a lot of senior roles. EVERYONE decent I've ever employed has been nervous at interview (also, some of the best interviews have turned out to be due hires but less on that...!).

Online interviews are hard for both sides - a blip in the connection and you miss a point so they may not have heard you first time round.

Never be afraid to stop mid-waffle to say "sorry, I'm not sure if I've got carried away with myself. Could you repeat the question?".

Good luck with your job hunt

I was in the same boat last week OP and I'm NT - it was excruciating and I wanted to slam the laptop shut!!

I haven't heard yet but there is no way I got the job!! However, I did another one today (different role) and came away feeling okay, not confident but not cringing in horror about it either.

They're tricky. The jobs I am going for are less responsibility and lower than my current salary and I am confident I could carry out the roles well, but the whole process is unusual and I think it takes some getting used to.

Good luck and I am sure you'll get there!

Civil Service interviews are awful. I hate their competencies and never know what I should say to score highly. I’ve used the same example for the same competency in two different interviews and scored 6 in one and 3 in the other. The people interviewing might not have understood project work hence the follow up question.

Ask for them to put the question in the chat bar so you get a minute to think. I find it helpful to use the STAR model when answering a question to keep me on track but I cannot remember a single interview where I haven’t waffled. I remember walking out of one wanting the ground to swallow me up thinking I’d come across as a waffling, incoherent disaster only to get the job and be told I far surpassed other candidates so it may not be as bad as it seems.

When do you find out the results?

Thank you. I was worried about pausing before answering but clearly taking a moment would have been the sensible choice.

Frustratingly I can now think of (coherent) answers to each one 😂

The examples I prepared (one was talking about launching a marketing project) were based on the professional successes I was most proud of but I wonder now if it is more about thinking about my every day work and times when I had to adapt, fix an issue etc.

I find out within a week but I'm not holding my breath...

Did you do some mock interviews? It can feel uncomfortable and you have to be open to feedback, but it can be really worth doing. I also was recorded doing a mock promotion interview and although I didn’t like watching the recording, it was helpful.

It’s because they’re crackpot questions that are really hypothetical and mostly only have hypothetical answers, so they require metal gymnastics to actually answer. I bet they were lapping it up OP!

I do CS interviewing. We had one poor woman who had a full on panic attack and sobbing episode and wanted to leave. We said to take a minute and rejoin and various calming things. She got back on track and of course, (usual punchline), She got the job.