Civil Service Interview Help

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I have a civil service interview this week and wondered if anyone knew if you answer the behaviour questions in a STAR format as well?

The behaviours I know that are going to be in the interview are:

Managing a quality service
Working together
Delivering at pace

I currently work in a school office (admin and reception) so the examples I was going to use for working together is organising a school event - how I liaise with different stakeholders, understand their individual needs, communicate effectively etc.

For delivering at pace I was going to use a typical day on reception, managing multiple tasks with competing deadlines, prioritising safeguarding and time sensitive tasks, remaining calm under pressure etc.

For managing a quality service I have got myself all confused trying to match the criteria for this on .gov. I was going to use an example of where I stayed after my finish time to look for a student's Art folder which had all their GCSE work in it. I then stayed even later to wait for the student and their parent to arrive to collect it. Is this ok to use?

Any help would be good please as just when I think I have got everything prepared, I watch another youtube video or read another website and doubt myself.

TIA

Hey Op, good luck. Is this for an AO or EO role? Yeah you need to answer in the star format, with specific examples.

For managing a quality service I've used examples where I have identified a problem, found a solution, asked for feedback, worked with others/communicate, trialed the solution then said what the outcome was. Maybe reflect at the end if you would change anything.

Thank you @SpaghettiHettie It is for an EO

Do you think my other examples are ok to use?

Hi I am nowhere near as good at this as Spaghetti Hettie (my experience of this is one job offer and several rejections!) but my opinion is that for managing a quality service you need an ongoing situation, rather than a one off customer service situation for your example, sorry!

Yes, STAR format with most of the content talking about your personal actions.

Keep the first bit short. NOT an ‘end to end’ description of how you did a thing. Just key things that show the behaviours.

Practice out loud.

Lots of info on You Tube, including about those behaviours.

Your third example sounds weakest, too basic and working overtime won’t be seen as a positive. it’d be better to think of things you’ve done to improve things or maintain quality of service when difficulties have arisen.

Thanks all!

Will change my example.

chagpt is great at turning examples into star format.

Remember the MQS missing word is ‘customer’. It’s the customer service question. How do you identify your customer? How do you offer them a good service? It’s about going the extra steps to help, building improvements for the future.
Your example can be tweaked for this but it’s weak as it stands. With your current role you must have examples of how you try and offer a good service for everyone who needs it. The students, parents, teachers. Try and think of how you try and make things better for anyone who needs you. maybe in your example you identified a general issue with lost property and saved everyone grief by putting in improvements? That sort of thing.
Your other examples sound great for an AO/EO level type role.

Yes. I’ve conducted interviews and I haven’t seen what was in the written sift so feel free to use it again. Stick religiously to STAR. The S should be two sentences, maximum.

Tell them why YOU were the catalyst for getting the result. Don’t give your colleagues too much credit.

Even with working together, they want to know why you drove your team to success.

Are there any “strengths” questions? These can be trickier as they’re harder to prepare for.

Good luck.

It said that there may be questions on strengths in the job advert but not in the confirmation email that I have received.

Thanks again.