Competency based interview

[waverunner]

Yep Just go in there smiling and confident in yourself, show them your personality and intelligence and worm the phrases 'quick learner' and 'more than willing to learn new things' into the conversation Best of luck, let us know how it goes x

 

[the B]

I hate these kind of interviews... I was however told to model my answers on the following loose approach that you state your situation, the task to complete, the various things which were done and then the result of all those actions.

 

[liberty]

Sounds very positive Libs. Hope there's a big resounding 'yes' winging its way to your door. What are you interviewing for, if you don't mind me asking..?

I'm applying for a new job, in the same company, but it's a complete side step. I expect an interview within the next couple of weeks - I haven't been for interview in @ 9/10 years or so. Quite a scary prospect

Very best of luck for yours SBC.. This job is for Facilities Manager.. On second interview place looked a bit of a nightmare... Not sure its the one for me

 

[Portia]

i had my interview this morning... i think it went ok. they didn't ask me anything unexpected at all. i won't get the result till the end of the week.

 

[waverunner]

i had my interview this morning... i think it went ok. they didn't ask me anything unexpected at all. i won't get the result till the end of the week.

Fingers crossed! Hope you don't have to go thru a big fuck off security clearance afterwards.. I'm currently on month 10 of waiting (Don't be disheartened though, it's taking so long cos I have a stupidly complex background).

 

[Portia]

well i hope not... it's only an 8 month contract! you work for the met don't you? i don't think dyfed-powys police are going to be as careful as that.

 

[Miscellaneous]

Fingers crossed! Hope you don't have to go thru a big fuck off security clearance afterwards.. I'm currently on month 10 of waiting (Don't be disheartened though, it's taking so long cos I have a stupidly complex background).

Month 10?! EEK!!!! Did you have to do the MOd 1109 (orange form) or are you DV?

 

[Miscellaneous]

well i hope not... it's only an 8 month contract! you work for the met don't you? i don't think dyfed-powys police are going to be as careful as that.

The security checks go as standard im afraid, but mine took 3 weeks to come back as all fine and dandy, although mine was for a role as a PC rather than support staff. Good luck anyway!

 

[waverunner]

Month 10?! EEK!!!! Did you have to do the MOd 1109 (orange form) or are you DV?

Yes, the orange form... and about a zillion other forms too.

[self-pity mode] *Sigh* Poor me... [/self-pity mode]

 

[Miscellaneous]

Oh dear, you sure you have not been very very naughty, and they are waiting for you to break?

Will keep my fingers crossed for you, thats a long time to be waiting for a job!

 

[waverunner]

Oh dear, you sure you have not been very very naughty, and they are waiting for you to break?

Will keep my fingers crossed for you, thats a long time to be waiting for a job!

Haha thanks And to think that 10 months is only the security clearance.. I first applied for this job *back in 1923* No, first applied over a year ago Shit, well over a year ago actually. Good Gawwwwd. Ah well. Urban will be first to know when it comes thru so you can all insult and abuse me (specially EastEnder)

 

[Portia]

bloody hell, what are they checking for? i haven't done anyting... well i don't think i have....

friend of mine works for the MOD, his security check showed up him being caught on a train without a ticket when he was 15, which he had completely forgotten about. he still got the job though.

 

[Descartes]

The other side of the coin, Interviewed a short list of four people, the successful candidate was, apparently, miles ahead of the other three. Appointed, some misgivings, but stayed with it, then nervous breakdown, year off ill, agreed settlement, clearing the computer files, found the ' home work' for the interview, everything was researched and prepared, carefully presented and finely polished.

Moral to the story, some applicant can be too good and still not do the job.

 

[Miscellaneous]

bloody hell, what are they checking for? i haven't done anyting... well i don't think i have....

friend of mine works for the MOD, his security check showed up him being caught on a train without a ticket when he was 15, which he had completely forgotten about. he still got the job though.

They do general checks on you, wether special branch have had any dealings with you etc.. and checks on your relatives, its nothing too much, but it does pay to keep talking to the recruiting dept/ security dept to get answers through quicker.

NB: if you do fail security (heaven forbid!) then you wont get told why. Its a bastard.

 

[waverunner]

They do general checks on you, wether special branch have had any dealings with you etc.. and checks on your relatives, its nothing too much, but it does pay to keep talking to the recruiting dept/ security dept to get answers through quicker.

NB: if you do fail security (heaven forbid!) then you wont get told why. Its a bastard.

I know, that's the bit that irks me (not telling me why you fail.. not that I think that'll happen) . Umm they're checking my relatives (even the ones I've never had contact with), my ex, and a lot more.
I did try to keep calling them but it doesn't work. The only answer I got is 'we can't give you an answer because the process involves feeding the information into a computer and waiting for the computer to spit the results back out. We have no idea when the computer will decide to do that, so cannot give you an estimate on when the checks will be complete'.

 

[Miscellaneous]

I know, that's the bit that irks me (not telling me why you fail.. not that I think that'll happen) . Umm they're checking my relatives (even the ones I've never had contact with), my ex, and a lot more.
I did try to keep calling them but it doesn't work. The only answer I got is 'we can't give you an answer because the process involves feeding the information into a computer and waiting for the computer to spit the results back out. We have no idea when the computer will decide to do that, so cannot give you an estimate on when the checks will be complete'.

If its 1109 its balls, cause it is externally checked by MOD from what I gather.

Its all part of the terror threat and confidentiality-

Security clearance is a pain in the arse. Hope it speeds up for you.

 

[Portia]

i didn't get the job. they said i didn't provide enough evidence... i think that means i should have waffled on for longer. i'm not very good at that.

but she told me i've been shortlisted for another job there as well so i get another chance

 

[Miscellaneous]

sorry to hear that Portia, but to possibly have another job coing out of it, it a good thing!

Will keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

[waverunner]

i didn't get the job. they said i didn't provide enough evidence... i think that means i should have waffled on for longer. i'm not very good at that.

but she told me i've been shortlisted for another job there as well so i get another chance

but @ possibility of another job.
It's hard to strike a balance between giving the right amount of evidence and waffling... I'm pretty bad at stuff like that too. Don't know how you prepared for the interview but perhaps for future reference, when you are thinking of examples of competencies (or whatever), list them and make 2 or 3 bullet points of details of each (if that makes sense?). That's what I did and it seems to have worked!

 

[Portia]

yes... next time i think i'll err on the side of waffling. that doesn't come easily to me so it might come out at the right level.

things are looking up though.... i've been looking for work since november and for ages wasn't even getting replies, but i just got another offer of an interview in the post this morning.

 

[the B]

Probably being naive because of my years, but I seriously don't believe in waffling. There's no need and it's see-through.

 

[Portia]

according to my family, when i think i'm waffling other people think i'm talking normally.

how old are you?

 

[the B]

according to my family, when i think i'm waffling other people think i'm talking normally.

how old are you?

20. Which is young. Though I'm not unfamiliar with competancy based interviews.

 

[Portia]

you're younger than me then, i'm 22. never had one of these interviews before, so any advice much appreciated!

 

[the B]

Use different examples when trying to demonstrate any of the core competancies being sought after.

Ideally, I think, from different jobs (though, admittedly, you won't have loads of different ones...)

If it is a 'graduate programme', you'll probably be expected to draft them in a variety of things you did outside of your degree while at uni. Sport, drama, music etc.

 

[radio_atomica]

Yeah, we interviewed a woman at work for a job and it wasn't really a competency interview thingy but we did ask for examples of times that she'd done certain things. She either gave one word answers 'Yes I'd be fine with that' or went on about her kids like 'well with 5 kids you have to know how to be efficient'. It gave the impression that she was saying 'I last worked over 20 years ago and wasn't really doing this kind of job but how dare you assume that I'd be incapable of doing this job - I don't have to prove myself to you.' Needless to say she didn't get the job.

People who got shortlisted were the ones who gave examples of when they'd actually done things even if they weren't work related. One bloke had done football training for under 10s and reffered to stuff he was doing at uni, and another guy talked about his previous career and the small business that he was currently running which was something to do with horses. Actually the other woman who seemed a bit crap was one who kept going on about her kids.