Im looking to talk to people who work for the council or civil service

[littlepigeon34]

Hi i have an interview for contact centre agent and its going to be competency based. Absolutely bricking this one, dont know whether to where a suit or a shirt dress, dont know if i need to research stuff on government policies or whether it is needed.

i feel that all my STAR examples are crap, im fed up of being told "you were very close" but the other person has more experience. Im fighting depression everyday and this would be an amazing opportunity.

Any help, pointers, words of wisdom?

Read the job description carefully.
If there's anything on there you're not sure about - look it up.
Be familiar with what the job is and have a look at the Councils main priorities.
Dress smartly even if you can dress more casually in the job.
Relax and believe in yourself.

I'm trying to gauge what competency areas they will ask questions about?

Do you think they will ask about equality and diversity, governance as i wouldn't have a clue

There would probably be something about equality etc and think about how you can demonstrate behaviours in line with the council values.

I would dress the smart end of casual.
And you really need to know your examples for behaviours inside out and how they meet the expectations of the grade you are going for.
Remember to say I a lot.
I use chat gpt for practice questions.

and it is hard out there. 100s of applicants for quite low level roles. If you are getting to interview you are doing well.
I would only read general background on policy, because too much reading could be misleading.

i have a colleague who took 20 years to get into the civil service.

Could you do a bit of reading on equality and diversity today?

You wouldn't need to know much, just the basics of what it means /what that organisation thinks about.

But they mainly want to know who you are , so focus on each or the skills listed as essential/desirable and how you can show you have them

If it's a civil service job the competencies they will be testing will be in the job advert/job description. Things like delivering at pace, managing change etc. hope it goes well.

The job description should list the competencies they will assess you against and a link to the competency framework to show what they expect at that grade.

my tips:

• Try to pitch your examples to the competencies of the grade above - it will help to elevate your examples.
• When doing your STAR examples, make sure you don't spend too much time on the setup (the situation) or even the task - get those really tightened down, and focus on what you did and why - and the result. Make sure you talk about yourself, your contribution and your role in the success - not just what the team did.
• Be prepared for folowups asking about what you'd do differently in hindsight or what you learned/took from it.
• Look at their values statements and figure out how you can weave demonstration of those values into your other answers. I think specific EDI questions are a little out of fashion at the moment but do try to have something ready if you're asked - either stuff outside the day job or ways that you've tried to make how you do the day job inclusive.
• even if it doesn't seem like a competency based question, make sure you answer as if it were - so go general, then give a specific example. So if it's one about high workloads, you talk about yourself approach to prioritisation and then give an example of when you put it into action.

I'm going to type out the competency areas from JD & PS in case anyone picks anything up from it: I understand them and get them but feeling overloaded and swamped with knowing exactly how to tackle all this. :/

Data Protection - confident, trustworthy and respect confidentiality.

Previous local government experience.

Organisational skills - the ability to multi-task and adapt quickly to changing priorities.

Understand our customers (internal and external) and deliver high quality services to meet and exceed their expectation.

Being clear about what you are expected to deliver in your job and have the skills, motivation, enthusiasm and commitment to work effectively.

Adapting to change and introducing better ways of doing things, through generating ideas and seeking out the best way to deliver our service.

Leads and motivates self and others to continually improve performance.

The job description/person spec will list the essential criteria for the job. You have obviously met the shorttlising criteria to have got an interview. List all the essential criteria and come up with examples of your experience in each area or prepare to show your understanding of a subject (lots of JD's will say your need either knowledge of/understand of and/or experience of XYZ, they are not expecting people to have experience of everything). .

Contact centre will be looking for good communication skills & customer service, ability to deal with difficult people (who can be VERY rude!) can stay calm & cope under pressure and treat people with respect.

Look on the LA website for their Values and think about what you could say about how you have demonstrated those or at he least understand them. The Nolan Principles (google them) are also useful definitions of public sector principles employees should adhere to - mainly used in the civil service but useful for councils as well.

What do you mean you don't have a clue about equality & diversity? For an LA it's all about their staff, residents and communities they serve. Have a look at ACAS or the Equality Commission website for definitions - you just need to be able to explain what it means in your own words and if possible provide an example from your own life. Governance is usually about good decision-making, responsibilities responsibilities, separation of duties to avoid conflicts of interest, openness and transparency, checks & balances in the system (especially for spending). Have a look on the Local Government Association website.

The important thing for an interview is to prepare, practice some answers (I write them down like a script them read them out to myself).

Perhaps if you give us examples of what you have for each of those we can flesh them out a bit?

I interview occasionally for local authority although for a different role. The compete y based interviews are scored and if you don't meet the minimum requirement for any of the questions then they won't be able to offer you the position. Often it can be as simple as making sure you mention a relevant bit of legislation e.g. GDPR so even if you haven't explained the ins and outs of it make sure you know all the relevant 'buzz words' for the area you are applying for. Also try and have as many examples as you can so you aren't stuck trying to come up with something on the spot. its also perfectly fine to go back to a question if you answered in a bit of a panic but then realise what you should have said. i always wish people would do that more you cam sometimes tell they knew the answer but were nervous.

When giving examples of good work in previous experience in jobs always say “I” and not “we” (even if it was a team effort). They may refer to the competencies on your written application. They’ll have keywords they’re looking for to score you. These are likely to be around diversity, pronouns, gender (sorry but they are). Private companies would be looking to see if you’re a good “fit” for the vacancy. The public sector, not so much.

ok guys, ive typed out a STAR response to each competency area. This is what i would potentially be responding with in the interview. If you think its wishy washy/flimsy/too vague please step in. I've really got to try and up my game with nailing this type of interview in general.

1. Customer Service - excellent customer service skills and a high degree of customer focus to ensure customer enquiries are answered with the aim of a first time resolution and complaints are processed effectively.

In previous jobs, for eg The Financial Ombudsman i was a call handler and complaints advisor. We had a lot of consumers calling in to register complaints, disatisfaction of a financial service or needing support. Many times these enquiries would require sensitivity, diplomacy, tact, and active listening skills. I would open the call by introducing myself, my name and role, and would allow the person the room to talk. I would ask appropriate open questions if i needed to glean further info and to carefully listen to vulnerabilities. At the RICS, i successfully and independently resolved many enquiries at the first point of contact through my use of documentation skills and being able to unpick enquiries. Customer service is a work ethic and is more than just answering enquiries, its about going above and beyond which i have proved to do with scoring 95% and above every month in 1-1s.

Data Protection - confident, trustworthy and respect confidentiality.

Data protection was a very important area especially at Financial Ombudsman and RICs, to ensure im speaking to the correct person. This is because sensitive and confidential information is being accessed, shared and logged - therefore co-workers may need to access the record as it is being set up. Consumers and members of the public were very anxious,worried, fearful of their situation upon first contact and a data breach would have serious consequences. I would also for name, case number, type of financial service/product that complaint is about. if they failed dpa i could then ask a security question. if they failed at that stage, i would have to explain that i cna not proceed in accordance to policy and procedure.

Experience in working in a Contact Centre environment.

would talk about the financial ombudsman and royal instutiton of chartered surveyors as i did contact centre work in both roles. Very skilled in using teephone systems, inbound/outbound (worked on membership retentions campaign), would also need to call people back if i needed docs for financial compaints - power of attorney letter, death cert, ID documents, final response forms.

Previous local government experience.

I dont have any, but i have rang councils before about household waste as i was confused about what all the different colour codes meant, had a query relating to benefits for a friend i was supporting who was renting a flat and was stuck on the process to apply for housing benefit. i also had to phone environmental health once about something

IT skills - confident using Microsoft packages and bespoke IT systems

Advanced skills in using CRM, Sage 50, SAP from last job as customer experience advisor, experience of producing quotes, invoicing, refunds/credit notes, use of Power Bi, Outlook diary, salesforce to track inbound call ratios, who is doing what, time on call etc?

Organisational skills - the ability to multi-task and adapt quickly to changing priorities.

I start my day by logging in 5 minutes before start of shift, i ensure i have suitable tabs open on my screen including multi faced IT systems, payment systems, policies and procedures tab, staff portals. I organise my cases according to date order for SLA and then re-group them according to subject area and urgency using Eisenhower matrix. I start with the most urgent and critical making a list that i tweak accordingly. At the same time, i try to complete very simple and basic enquiries side by side that has been assessed by myself a s taking under 10 minutes to complete. There have been times where i have asked to come off the phone for 15 minutes to clear my tray as i made an time assessment that i would only need 15 minutes. likewise i have also jumped on the phones to help my team out when i see the call queue going into overflow (excess calls coming in)

Communication skills - excellent verbal and written communication skills to be able to transition seamlessly between communication channels and the ability to maintain effective working relationships with team members and colleagues across the organisation.

I have an ever growing awareness and appreciation that there are a diverse range of communication needs that exist, for eg younger people may prefer to email in or use live chat whereas an older person may prefer to make a phone-call. it is about being receptive, and adaptable on approach always considering needs of the client/consumer. My BA degree in English has equipped me with the eloquency to compile emails, and work on process notes writing out professional letters to surveyors all the way through to the head of banking services/fraud etc. I can talk to a range of people with ease, and can adapt my pace/tone/use of vocabulary to fit the situation. I maintained effective working relationships by asking open questions, being polite, courteous, being aware of cultural differences, being aware of different personality types and understanding the principle of respect, equality and diversity.

Personal development – committed to personal development and individual knowledge and skills enhancement to build resilience within the team.
Leads and motivates self and others to continually improve performance.

I have helped to create and build resilience in my team at the RICS, especially with new starters and inexperienced staff as i was deemed to be one of the most experienced at the time. i participated in the weekly drop in service where i would be in a teams call in the background as a 'coach' where members of my team would drop in to me for quick assistance with enquiries. i co-wrote regulation process notes to be distributed within my team and would hold bite-size sessions with colleagues to go through key themes that we were expected to assist with in member support, such as valuer registration, firm regulation, professional cpd, etc.

Adapting to change and introducing better ways of doing things, through generating ideas and seeking out the best way to deliver our service.

At RICS, i was involved in a major IT migration from the old CRM to microsoft dynamics and were introduced to a testing portal called sandbox. i volunteered to do system testing and feedback to the IT team a few glitches and processes where i thought it was sluggish and ineffective. I also communicated to the hea dof assessment delivery that too many candidates were calling up not knowing what their assessent date was, location, if they gained first or second choice, they were struggling with the portal to upload their competency work as the traffic light system wasnt working, i suggested a much more simplistic portal which tells the candidate their assessment date and such info, thus eliminating the need to call us and reducing call volumes. this feedback was successfully acknowledged and a month later the senior leadership team started work on a brand new portal. communications were then sent out a rolling basis, it made everyone's life easier and our department worked in symmetry with the assessments team

Ensuring we understand each other, respect each other express and share ideas and information clearly.

i do this in the weekly meetings i had at RICS and at the FOS, we would have a weekly huddle meeting, getting to know each other, how was your week, did you have any difficult enquiries, this is how i handled xyz, whilst listening to others, being respectful even when you do not agree with an approach

Being clear about what you are expected to deliver in your job and have the skills, motivation, enthusiasm and commitment to work effectively.

I am always clear about what i need to do, what the expectations of me are and that of others,by regularly reading and familiarising myself with the KPI's, and my own personal objectives in line with performance. I believe that i have the necessary skills, aptitude, dedication, commitment to learning, that is required for this job role.

Now "i think" i've given good answers but are they water-tight enough? Am i going round the houses, or are they too flimsy?

Does the role require a degree? If it doesn’t, don’t mention it. Obvs it’ll be on your application. Leave it at that

Ok this may be a bit disjointed but I’ll have a go…
Your customer service examples - you’ve done situation, task and action for both - but in general terms, and not result (or for extra brownie points reflection - what could be done better, how could I do better). Can you find an example of one or two particularly nasty callers and explain how you ensured you asked all the right questions, reassured him you understood his complaint, told him how it could be resolved and by the time the call finished he was happy that he was listened to and that the appropriate action would be taken and that you’d contact him in a couple of days (if you could) to make sure he had the forms and was able to fill them in. Or whatever.

They’re good examples that you’ve stated so you should be able to find a few specific calls to talk about.

The DP one - good response but can you add something tangible - ‘by following these processes my annual compliance reviews confirmed I had no breeches.’

Previous LG experience - don’t say you have none! Say the previous organisations although didn’t have the breadth of calls that X council
gets, as non private sector organisations they shared many of the same principles - compliance, customer focus, many different state holders and that you’d now relish putting these skills to use in your local community.

Contact centre experience - fine, does what it says on the tin.

IT skills - they’ve asked for MS - none of those are MS packages (actually power BI is) so add Excel, SharePoint, teams etc. Say you’re a quick leaner who enjoys IT or something in case there’s a package they use that you haven’t.
Org skills - good response but maybe mentioning Eisenhower matrix might be unnecessary for an entry level role - if you’re managing a dept then fine. Don’t mentioned you’ve asked to come off the phones but do mention you jump on them when you see the call overflow. Add that by doing this you were always praised for meeting SLAs.

Comm skills - no need to mention degree. Again these need specific examples - ‘I have written reports for use by senior managers, and also developed a leaflet on accessing bank accounts for customers which met the criteria for Plain English campaign recognition. Have dealt with customers for whom English isn’t a native language and arranges translators where necessary. Feedback scores were routinely approaching 100%.

Basically you’ve got some good stuff, but it’s quite general - have very specific examples.

In terms of competency questions they will want examples of when you ‘exceeded ecxpectations’ in different areas, but you have nailed that upthread.

Also be prepped to answer questions about your gaps in your performance (weaknesses) and where you need more development /learning.
DO not answer ‘that I work too hard or am a ‘perfectionist’ as everyone says that.
Be prepped to give an example of where you fell short and how you remedied it.

I bet there is a generic question about DEI but my colleagues who are TM’s and always interviewing, hate all that bollox and are glad it’s had its day. Therefore, I wouldn’t spend too much time worrying about it unless it is very specific to the role you are applying for.

Smart casual for the interview and flat shoes/ well any shoes but I wouldn’t wear heels. No need for a suit etc.
Find out what the overarching council objective is aswell as the one for the service you would be in - and be able to say what that means to you

For example - overarching one for us at the LA is related to reducing impact on the climate. Think like and work both as a professional but also a tax payer.( Or something like that)

My service - ( Children and Family )
Accountability; Collaboration and Inclusion.
‘Voice of the Child’ centred.

Is it for Local Authority or Civil Service?
If it's former they'll ask questions aligned to JD and Spec.
If it's civil service, as another poster mentioned they'll be looking at the behaviours...delivering at pace, communicating and influencing, seeing the bigger picture etc.
I've just had an interview with civil service and every question focused on a behaviour but would ask other things included eg equality. For your job think how you'd be inclusive in a customer service role. How you'd adapt to people with varying needs to get a good outcome.

Your STAR examples are very general. Could you give particular examples of these from specific situations:

S- one day when working on a helpline took a call from a very customer who was very distressed about xxxc.
T - I needed to ensure have could help her in the best way, but was having trouble understanding the problem.
A- I allowed the customer to speak, then asked a series of follow up questions to ascertain the situation. I then summarised what I thought he had told me. Once I knew how to help him, I told him what the next steps would be.
R - I passed him onto xxxx team who were able to address his problems straight away. As a result he was very pleased with the service we had provided and referenced me in his feedback.

Use the words in the job advert in your answers. If they ask you about how to grow broad beans, tell them how you've grown broad beans. Don't tell them how you've grown runner beans.

Have a look at the website for the organisation interviewing you and become familiar with their policies on EDI and carbon reduction.

I would dress as smart as you can and don’t be afraid to take your personality into it, any lived experiences, anything to show you can retain info for a number of different lines/subjects and you can be a talking encyclopedia 😉

I found district to be harder to get into then county.

Rooting for you.

I've had another bash hitting on knowledge and experience, and skills. I've got to wrote examples out for the behavioural ones, but want to check that my examples here are going to work. Are they detailed enough and hit the keywords and requirements they are seeking. So lets go!

1. Tell us about yourself

I have worked for The Financial Ombuds and The RICS for 5 and a 1/2 years, and have a very wide ad advanced knowledge base and ever developing skill set. I am self motivated, know for reliability, consistency and work with agility and energy. I have led team meetings in the TL's absence, reporting and collating colleague feedback on reoccuring themes that come through on call and email enquiries, and how to address these areas through sharing ideas. I have done mentoring/coaching. I am a history and wildlife enthusiast, and enjoy cycling and hiking. i also stay updated on current affairs both nationally and locally.

2. Excellent Customer Service

There was a time when i worked at The FOS, when a lady called in to make a complaint regarding a fraudulent transaction of £372 pound which had completely wiped her out. Thus, she had no money for rent, food and to make matters muc worse she lived on floor 5 in a multitsorey and the lift was out of action. She had no friends or family either. - I very quickly recongised she was at high risk of vulnerability, of starvation, no heating and it may take weeks for the lift to be fixed. She also had no internet so would be unable to follow standard process of submitting ID, final response forms so i knew that i would need to step in and advocate/take the lead here. With her permission i explained that i would set everything up including contacting her bank and fast tracking this to land on the investigators desk in 48 hours which is in exceptional cases. I confirmed that she had no rep, no family or friends who could assist her. I was careful to let her speak as she was crying/distressed and was worried her complaint wouldnt be looked at. i assured her we treat everyone the same as there is a duty of care, and that i personally would be the one to ensure this was watertight and WOULD be seen quickly. I also completed a referral form to CAB/local council welfare team and pointed her in the direction of getting a food bank voucher and that they can deliver to her. I summarised everything she had told me in the call, making careful notes to then put into her complaint and destroying them on completion in line with GDpr. I also added a vunerability makrer to her account through detailed documentation to alert other members of staff, and also added in she has physical/MH needs. An inves called her in 2 working days as promised and she successfully gained comp from her bank

Local Government Experience

I am acutely aware of the importance of compliance in previous jobs, and following it to the letter through dpa and data handling, and correct documentation. I am also aware of different stakeholders having built robust relationships with them through previous work and campaigns - eg, liaising with surveyors, member of public, SLT teams, MD's and regional account managers. I am aware of the various department at this council, etc

IT Skills

5.5 years of experience using MS suite, ESPECIALLY Outlook, wher emy inbox was in SLA date order, i created folders such as critical/urgent, moderate, non urgent, professional dev, cpd, etc. I tracked emails and pinned them. Also created my own signature and out of office response. Knowledge of Excel, eg, needed to check stock level of a piece of equipment using product code and formulae, i also have exp of more bespoke systems such as Power Bi were unpicking complicated financial queries, checking if a DD was taken or duplicated.

Organisation/Changing Priorities

I was working on outbound retentions campaign for membership subscriptions where members had fallen behind with payment and were now at risk of being removed; this would have huge ramifications for them as professionals as not being in membership would mean having to suspend carrying out surveys and actually practicising. It would also fall foul of the RICS code of conduct. Whilst making those outbound clals, i happened to notice a colossal surge of cases that had come in over the weekend and they needed to be cleared asap to lower the risk of other enquiry areas from not reaching us as we answer ALL nature of enquiry.
I had a chat with my TL and line manager as we were 3 members of staff down due to them being on AL so if it wasnt tackled soon our SLA would take a downturn. I suggested i come off the campaign and to immediately go on to case work, given that i was knowledgable, knew about 50% of the members who had emailed in which was handy so i already knew a bit about sme of their circumstances, for eg ill health or being on mat leave had prevented them from renewing etc.
I agreed with line manager that myself and two other experienced members would collectively work on the queue, but each of having our own portion. I successfully completed my case work and achieved the monthly award of 'being the solution' and 'working in collaboration" which are RICS values

Working in a Contact Centre

Extensive experience of high volume call handling (inbound/outbound), using salesforce to see live call flows and SLA, awareness that consumers might need large text, braille, English may not be first language, awareness of language line, experience of talking to young/old. I can meander between live chat, phonecalls, emails with ease and i can change pace accordingly. I have consistently achieved 95% and above on QA, adherance, knowledge, building relationships, 1st contact resolution and have never faltered on this. I have led 1-1 bitesize refresher sessions on various areas that CS team cover, and have amended/added into existing process notes.

Local government awareness/tell us what you do about our council

I am aware that the councils values are well-being, looking after ourselves and each other, equality, being accountable, responsible, supportive, being proud, having integrity, respect and promoting excellence. I am aware of the well-being plan for 2023-2028 which is built on the 4 pillars - environment, culture, society and the economy and that the councils plan and agenda for change focuses primarily on poverty, affordable/accessible housing, a greener society, personal/community wellbeing, education & skills and a well-managed, joined up council. you encourage and advocate a digital do it yourself service on the councils webiste and a payment portal. We are striving to achieve a more prosperous wales, resilient wales, healthier wales, a more equal wales, etc, etc

If it’s for a council you need to mention the residents - it’s all about how your work will support the residents. Also in a contact centre how do you make sure what you do supports marginalised : hard to reach groups. What happens if people don’t speak English, how do you handle that?