Interviews after 12 years

[lifeisacat]

I have decided I need a change in work, I'm unhappy with my job and have been working for same company for 12 years.
I'm struggling with interviews. So many "buzz words" or wording of things I'm not used to
Using. I currently work in education sector but do very little teaching but more of an advisory role. Jobs I'm looking at are sideways steps, so into the NHS or Local authority.
I have an interview next week for a role I really want and think is perfect for me.
How do I ensure I'm well prepared? It's a role that doesn't come up often, and is fairly new with government pushes in that area.
Any help or advice?

I’ve mentioned this before because it helped me so much to prep for interviews, but these sisters have a great podcast that’s about more than Interviews. Listen to the advise around knowing your ‘Best Bits’ and also see the interview as you’re interviewing them also. Really helps to have some great questions ready.

Break a leg! Best advice I ever received was to think of competency based examples for each of the requirements/skills/tasks listed in the advert so you have an example for all potential "tell me a time when..."

Also think of these topics for a time when or example of the skill - depending on the job level.
Prioritise
Proactive
Working under pressure
Attention to detail
Communication
Adaptable
Any other skill that's required such as hunter/farmer sales, customer complaint management
Something that went well
Something that didn't

Answer all questions with STAR. Situation, task, action, result.

Good luck

Unfortunately anything can go on.

Attended interview yesterday, got there half hour early as wasn’t sure on actual location but that ended up being the only high five.

The person quoted to ask for wasn't ever the person interviewing on interview confirmation from ‘recruitment team’. No explanation, nothing.
one competency based question, the other 10 were scenario based and very samey having never seen the policy of the organisation.
Driving appears twice in the job description which would have someone think is this role mobile based. I asked as soon as I got in the room no not driving, half way through I am told oh you do have to travel to other sites.
I seemed to be interviewed by two interviewers who hadn’t ever seen my CV. Not present throughout, they asked me how I’d prioritise tasks to which I said I currently receive inbound calls back to back, making priority lists isn’t a feature!
They seemed to dislike I had a months notice to serve (even from a current ftc) and I even checked this when I got home I would have told them before as it is one of their indeed applicant questions.
Did not like the day before I was interviewed I was reminded about my ‘first stage interview’ (news to me when 7 days ago asked to book an interview stages didn’t come into) when I enquired what does this mean I was told it depends on how other candidates answer 🤷🏻‍♀️
Very odd never asked where I lived or what I knew about the organisation.

Fed up of wasting annual leave in current role to attend interviews.

Is there a link? Or a name?

That's really good advice, that has come up in last 2 interviews, but also had the dreaded, "tell me a time you had to make improvements" 🤦‍♀️

That sounds awful and very frustrating. I had one on my arrival ask if I knew it was shifts, which I did. I explained I couldn't do one certain morning and one evening from 7-9pm. And that was the end of the interview

I have done lots of local authority interviews, both as candidate and recruiter. We use SAOR rather than the more commonly quoted STAR, and I think it's good: Situation, Action, Outcome, Reflection.

Don't be afraid to refer to notes - I distill my prep down to a list of the competencies each with a word to signal a good story I can tell about my experience; I leave the other page blank for jotting down the questions as they read them out. I hate losing track mid-answer. You can also write STAR/SAOR at the top of the page to remind yourself!

Go over the role profile and take out all the essential characteristics, weave them into your prepared answers making sure to hit each point.

Remember that competency based answers need to be all about you - don't use 'we' even if the reality was a team effort. Keep bringing it back to you.

Just wanted to update to say I got the job!!
Thank you for all the advice

Amazing!!!! Well done

That’s fantastic news 👏

When do you start?

I started a role recently after 16 years out of the corporate world! I’ve hit the ground running and it’s going really well

I hope you have a great start too.

Congratulations.

I have an interview next week.
What were some of the questions?

I'm in education to (primary) but the role I'm interviewing for is as an assessor at a local FE college

Questions were mainly about the role which I had researched. They also asked for examples of when I had a difficult situation, and student. I had gone though and written down some examples that might come up in reference to the job description.
They asked about my career plans.

I start in January