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  1. Human Resources
  2. Organisational and Professional Development
  3. Your Development
  4. Professional Services Career Development
  5. Application & Interview Guidance
  6. The day of interview

The day of interview

Types of assessment

You will probably have been told what to expect.  Forms of assessment include:

  • Selection panel interview: This is often the only form of assessment that takes place. You can expect competency-based questions (see below).  There may also be questions which have right and wrong answers, depending on the role.  For example, in a role that involves working with sensitive information, you might be asked about GDPR, so research to make sure you are up to date
  • Psychometric assessment: See Preparing for Interview. It’s possible that you’ll be asked to complete something on the day.
  • Presentation: see Preparing for Interview. You may be asked to prepare something in advance, however, you might also be given some time to prepare something on the day of interview.  If this is the case, carefully read any material you’ve been provided and pay attention to how much time you have to prepare and deliver.
  • Work-based assessment: This can be many different things, depending on the job role. For example, a role which involves a lot of data analysis might ask you do to some work with an Excel spreadsheet; an administrative role might ask for an ‘inbox exercise’ involving prioritising tasks and responding to emails.
  • Group task: These are more common in roles which will have a large number of applicants (training schemes or apprenticeships, for example).  You will be observed while you work with other candidates to solve a problem or discuss a given topic.  This exercise will assess whether you can work effectively with others.

The Interview: Competency-based questions

It’s likely that most of the questions you’ll be asked will be ‘competency-based’, linked to the criteria on the Person Specification. 

They will ask about previous experience (‘Tell us about a time when…’, ‘Give us an example of…’) or describe a hypothetical (‘In this situation, what would you do?’).

You can use the STAR technique to construct effective answers which will give the interview panel all the information they need.

S

Situation

What situation or event were you involved in?  What is the context of the story you are about to tell?

T

Task

What was your job within that situation?  Were there any barriers – deadlines, technical problems, costs?

A

Action

What did you do, and how?  How did your activities demonstrate the competency the interview is asking about? 

R

Result

What was the outcome of what you did?  How do you know? Can it be quantified in any way?  Any lessons learned?

STAR Example

Question: Have you had experience of working with a team to resolve a problem?

Questions about problem-solving, and working with others, are very common.  Using ‘we’ in situations like this is easy to do, but remember – the interview panel needs to know how you contributed in this situation.  Only use ‘we’ if you’re really talking about everyone in the team.

Here’s an example of an answer to this question, using STAR.  Notice that the ‘Action’ part is longest – this is where you’re explaining how you displayed the competencies being asked about.

S

Situation

I was working with my team to deliver an event when our caterer pulled out at short notice.

T

Task

I was responsible for sourcing a replacement.

A

Action

I asked around other members of my team, and asked them to use their own networks, to identify potential replacements.  I then contacted some by phone to explain the situation, and two colleagues volunteered to contact the others.  Three were able to work at short notice.  We came together to compare notes around cost, quality and customer feedback, and on that basis I contacted the caterer we chose

R

Result

The event was a success.  The catering cost slightly more than we had budgeted for, but a lot of our feedback reflected that the quality of food and drinks was much higher than expected.

There is some more information on the STAR model in this LinkedIn Learning resource.

Being Interviewed: Hints & Tips

  • Make sure you have water! You’ll be talking a lot.
  • An interview is a stressful situation: give yourself time to breathe and think. Don’t be afraid to ask to skip a question and go back to it later if your mind has gone blank.
  • Internal applications: If you’re interviewing for an internal role, remember: even if you know the panel, they cannot assume anything about you, or give you credit for skills or experience they know you have. It might feel odd, but answer questions as if you’re talking to strangers!
  • You should be asked at the end of the interview if you have any questions for the panel. If you have questions, ask them.  You won’t be penalised for not having questions, but if you want to ask something, some examples include:
    • What is the biggest challenge facing this team/department?
    • What do you enjoy most about working here?
    • What are the team’s priorities?
  • You should be told when to expect to back from the panel about the outcome of your interview.  If you’re not, just ask.
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