Question fail

[Mumof2HE]

Have you ever been interviewed and didn't have an answer for one question but still got the job?

A relative has just been for a civil service interview (local council in uk), they were happy with the answers to the other questions but couldn't answer that one particular question.

Is all hope lost?

Not all hope is lost but definitely some hope has been lost

How essential was the question to the role?

The problem with civil service interviews is that it’s typically a case of “how many points” you get. So in that sense it’s a bit like your exams in school- if you don’t spot the last page of questions in time to do them then you’re getting 0 for those and while that doesn’t mean you can’t get an A, it means you’d have had to get all the others perfect to get an A.

You have to score at least a 4 for every question in a CS interview to be appointable (and that’s before you get competitive with other candidates) so if they literally didn’t answer (or gave a very weak answer) they won’t have scored a 4, which will be a fail. Even if they scored full marks on every other question.

Well that’s the general civil service approach, just re-read your post and you said council, that’s not civil service, so it’ll depend on the council’s approach.

Sorry not civil service, I can't edit the post now. It was for a local council

It was a question regarding a proposed parliamentary act which wasn't mentioned alongside others in the person specification or job description. So nothing that you couldn't learn or research on getting the role but others who are currently already doing the job would probably be in the 'know' about.