Are these reasonable adjustments to ask for at interview?

[autumn1610]

I’ve got an interview for the first time in 5 years. I know I’m terrible at interviewing I’m an introvert and my mind goes blank especially when coming up with examples. It’s sort of within local government for a mid level role. I’m good at my job and I’m capable at my job, I just really struggle to get that across. Give me 3 months to settle in and you would see I’m not quiet and hold my own (male dominated field!) they have emailed and said please let them know of any reasonable adjustments and I have asked for example style of question (thinking will I need to apply the STAR technique) and also if it would be possible to take some notes which would be just be my key achievements so I can quickly pull examples rather than getting flustered thinking of an example and crashing out on the question. Do you think these are reasonable requests and would you judge me for it

I’m shocked at this, I always take notes at interviews. I assumed that was normal. 🤔

When I saw it, I wondered why more people didn't do it 😂

You shoukd prepare 4- 6 examples of things tou've done thst you can adapt as needed to likely STAR-style questions- most interviews are likely to ask about things like teamwork, planning, prioritisation, problem-solving and so on. Depending on the role, there might be technical questions, or questions about dealing with finance or some regulations.

So you can take a good guess at likely question areas and have scenarios prepared. Any particular example you have can be adapted- e.g. a project you worked on may have used technical skills, planning, communication, prioritisation, teamwork etc, so you have a few examples prepared and you shoukd be covered.

Anyone asking for a reasonable adjustments for being an introvert, would set alarm bell ringing for me. I’m a massive introvert, but I couldn’t be doing with somebody so self absorbed that they felt they needed reasonable adjustments for it.

I’d e mail and ask for the job description again and also ask whether questions will be shared in advance.

You don’t need to ask about taking notes in, that’s fine.

I have emailed to request a job description as it was taken down and I have had candidates request questions in advance. It’s absolutely no biggie just to ask for these things. If they won’t send the exact questions they will probably have a question bank they can send.
I am not a spontaneous outgoing person, but find interviews relatively easy by prepping the heck out of every question I am likely to be asked.

I would have thought that it would be entirely reasonable of you to inform them you have an official diagnosis of anxiety and OCD. These can hugely impact your day to day life and likely surface during times of stress (eg interview). Maybe say you don’t need specific adjustments and because they are well managed (???) you are confident they won’t impact your ability to do the job, but they do effect how you both prepare for an interview and carry yourself during.

It’s never occurred to me to ask for questions in advance. I assume when they send the details of the interview out, they would include them (or not).

I've interviewed many senior execs, many come with a file of notes that they will refer to once or twice during the interview. I really don't mind, I don't expect anyone to recall everything. And it's absolutely fine to take a bit of time to prepare your answer before you give it, no need to hurry an answer, think about it first.

Anxiety is NOT neurodivergence. Ridiculous that you'd think it was.

We always give out the actual questions prior to intwrview - makes interviewees more comfortable and prepared and we know we are getting the best answers. We still have some people that turn up totally unprepared so it still gives us an idea of who is good to employ

Have you told them this? Because earlier in your posts you said you don’t class it as a disability.

I conduct interviews at work within the private sector and wouldn’t class bringing in notes as a reasonable adjustment. Lots of people do it. Just make sure you aren’t bringing in scraps of paper and make sure it’s nice and neat.

If someone just asked for examples of the questions and didn’t say why ie you’re neurodivergent we wouldn’t even attempt to accommodate that.

We send the questions out in advance to everyone these days, so it's fine to ask for those.

It's in the panel's interests to get the best out of every candidate.

No I haven’t declared it, because it doesn’t impact me greatly in my day to day work, but yes it would do in an interview situation, maybe I should have but anyway too late for it now 🤷‍♀️ In my email I asked if it was possible could you provide examples of the style of question I maybe asked, this doesn’t have to be the specific questions and if I was ok to bring notes in with me. I didn’t refer to making reasonable adjustments in the email. I probably just titled the thread wrong if anything!

as someone who dies on their arse thinking on the spot 😅 I applaud your company 👏 would be so much better if this became the norm

OCD and anxiety are classed as mental illnesses, not neurodivergence.

Anxiety and OCD can occur as well as being neurodivergent; however, stand alone they are mental illnesses.

Mental health conditions - NHS

Yeah I get it I had the wrong term stand corrected, I Can’t edit post. Can we move on as it’s not what the post is about. Thank you

Anxiety is not a neurodivergence. Neither is OCD. That doesn't mean you can't ask for what you're asking for but please don't mix terms up, anxiety is definitely not being neurodivergent.

Update: I posted after your update, never mind.