To ask for Civil Service interview advice (SEO roles)?

[Thefastandthecurious5]

Hi all, I’d be very grateful for advice please.

I’m a policy HEO and have done a few SEO policy interviews but haven’t yet secured a role.

I think the main thing I’m struggling with is how to be concise whilst making sure I answer the panel’s question and I give enough evidence to meet the criteria for the behaviour being assessed.

I already write down the question after it’s asked. I then take a moment to work out which of my examples fits it best, and use STAR to answer the question.

I’ve had post-interview feedback from all panels I’ve interviewed with. They generally agree my examples are strong and well suited to the behaviour, but my delivery of the example needs to be improved.

Very grateful for feedback please.

If they are saying that delivery is a problem I would focus on ensuring the bulk of the answer focusses on the Action and Result parts of your example - do not spend much time on the Situation and Task. Make sure you answer with ‘I did’, not ‘we did’, and in terms of delivery make sure you deliver with enthusiasm to show you are engaged and really want the role . Good luck!

I think it'll be the long pause before answering. They should have already told you which behaviours they'll assess you on prior to the interview, so you should already know which example fits which behaviour and be able to launch into your answer. Make sure you're hitting all the indicators and be animated in your delivery - while not an explicit requirement for behaviours, the interviewer will be primed to look for it from doing the strengths questions. Could you ask an SEO/G7 colleague to do a mock interview with you, as practice? Good luck!

Make sure you include data in your answers, especially at the R stage.

I already write down the question after it’s asked. I then take a moment to work out which of my examples fits it best, and use STAR to answer the question.

Are you taking quite a long time to answer? This can come across as sounding unsure. A confident well prepared candidate can usually move smoothly into an answer without too much time trying to decide what to say.

Are you calling the named contact first to have a chat about the role before applying?

It gives you an opportunity to get your name known and introduce yourself a bit prior to interview. There's so little room to let personality shine through at CS interviews (I hate them and that bloody STAR) and this gives you a chance for them to see you in a favourable light first.

Obviously the sift is blind but it sounds like you're aceing those. Perhaps just need to relax a bit in your delivery and be genuine rather than reciting the script?

Good luck 🤞🏼

I already write down the question after it’s asked. I then take a moment to work out which of my examples fits it best, and use STAR to answer the question.

This is jumping out at me too. Every time an interviewer asks a question there's a big delay before you say anyting. That would drive me nuts!

I've been on panels for SEO roles and I agree with previous posters, the hesitancy and focussing more on the situation rather than the action and result might be the problems.

Thanks all!

Just to clarify, I’ve not been told in any feedback that I hesitate or spend too long selecting my examples for behaviour questions.

@MinistryofMom yes, I always contact the vacancy manager before my interview and have a chat with them.

I’ve really tried to focus as much as possible on the actions part of my answer too.

The thing I’m finding tricky and would really appreciate some advice on is how to judge
which are the key points I bring out from my behaviour example in my answer. Do I just pick out the ones that I think answer the panel’s question the best? And if so, won’t the panel think I haven’t given them evidence?

In my experience the key thing is to hit all the indicators (I'm assuming you have the success profiles guidance). So write the behaviour as you would for the sift, get it checked and make sure it hits them all, and then learn it. Then in the interview you can add a few sentences to link it to the actual question. There shouldn't really be any surprises in the behaviours part, so the question should align really neatly with the behaviour anyway.

Thanks @takealettermsjones. This is what I’m struggling with, as for each interview I’ve had so far, I’ve taken the advice you’ve suggested here but still not got sufficient marks to pass the interview. I’ve also found that sometimes the questions align with the behaviour but sometimes they don’t.

Hmm. Do you think you're talking enough - are you always filling the time? If you're picking a few points from your answer could it just be that there's not enough detail?

You keep it concise and ask 'does that answer your question?' This gives you a second opportunity.

First of all, well done for getting to the interview stage and for approaching the interviews in the STAR format, reaching out to hiring managers proactively, and seeking to improve your interview habits.

What struck me was your question: Do I just pick out the ones that I think answer the panel’s question the best?

That's exactly what panels want, and cannot be stressed enough.

By the time you are at interview, they already think you may be appointable in principle. The interview is not about proving every good thing you have ever done. It is about answering the specific question asked, using the best evidence from your experience that match up with the job spec.

That becomes more important as you move into more senior roles as a key part of that is to convey complex information simply. Eg for some common behaviour questions:

If the question is about stakeholders, don’t tell the whole project story. Tell the stakeholder story. Who needed persuading? What was difficult? What did you do? What changed as a result?

If the question is about delivering at pace, focus on how you prioritised, what you dropped or escalated, what risks you managed, and how you still delivered.

If the question is about making an effective decision, focus on the evidence you weighed up, the options you considered, the trade-offs, and why your recommendation was the right one.

Importantly, if not already (your writing down the questions suggest you may not, but that may be unfair), instead of reacting to the question in the moment, try to anticipate them. It really helps to have a "gold-standard" answer ready for your motivation and why you're a great fit for the role. If you nail that first piece, you'll naturally relax into the rest of the interview. Similar to a previous poster, I suggest having a bank of "stump" answers for the main behaviours that tend to get asked for the roles you're interested in already written out and, crucially, spoken out loud several times. You don’t want to be wooden or sound like you're reading a script, but having that structure in your head means you don't have to scramble for evidence while the panel is watching you. And as others have also pointed out, of course be clear what you did and don't default to polite 'we'.

All that said, in my experience the single best thing to do in my experience is practice with a friendly, but frank, human. I appreciate that can be difficult and uncomfortable though, so hopefully the above helps!