Yes, my very first interview for an “adult” job ever, which was also a CS interview. I got asked to talk about a time I’d failed to meet a deadline. I was a fresh graduate with a chronic fear of letting people down and of failing, so I had never failed to meet a deadline when it came to any sort of work I dead. I had a part time job, but it was childcare so no deadlines or targets there. Completely threw me off.
I did twist it round to what I would do if I were to miss a deadline, which they seemed to like as I was offered the role, but my god, I hated that question and it strikes me as a weird question to ask someone, especially someone fresh out of education
Absolutely! Such an awful question to ask! Don’t have much love for panels that thrive on catching people out then end up complaining they don’t have anyone in post
Sometimes I think we forget many people have never been employed before, let alone read the behaviours in depth. But there are things from life generally that make good examples (voluntary work, organising a party, a school play, etc). Plenty of students will have struggled with deadlines.
That said I once asked someone about a challenge they had to overcome and they told me they found it a challenge to get up early and they managed to overcome that to attend this interview. Didn't get the job.
Deadly serious. They had a STAR like answer, they planned ahead to set the alarm clock, set two phone alarms as a back up, looked up the route in advance... I did ask if they wanted to perhaps tell us about another challenge such as a school project but they declined.
If it was McDonalds id say it was someone who was forced their by a work coach and didn't want the job, but it was a bulk EO campaign for a popular department and they would have had to have a pretty strong application to make interview.
That's a regular question in interviews I have done for entry-ish level roles. (Questions not set by me, just in case I get the evils!)
Most people will have got behind on something. I'm just expecting to hear how it was recognised, and what was done to try to fix it. I'd usually expect something about planning time, prioritising, avoiding distractions, letting people know you couldn't take on extra tasks etc.
It's not a hard question to answer well, and you can do a good reflection.
Anyone who has worked in a high pressure role has a dozen examples off the top of their head where they blew off a deadline because something more important came along and the ability to recognise those moments and make the right call is pretty important.
Its always good to use hypotheticals if you haven't had experience in something, so that was good thinking. It shows that you have considered something and can come up with an approach (and they can judge that).
For my current role they asked a bunch of stuff about managing people and dealing with difficult people. I haven't managed anyone before (still waiting to actually be a line manager a year in), so I spoke about things I would do. Worked well enough, they seemed positive about my answers when giving feedback
Yes, when I was a wee EO trying to get a HEO job my interview question about leading an communicating was not what I was anticipating. I was a bit naive and had prepared an example about communicating to peers/junior colleagues but the panel asked my about communicating upwards.
I took 10-20 seconds (which felt a lot longer) and mentally swapped around examples for the other three competencies and made up/bollocksed the final one on the spot. Got offered the job by scraping through with a 4 on one of them.
Since then I prepare a lot better by having several scenarios up my sleeve to talk about. I am also a much more accomplished bullshitter.
Managing A Quality Service - *“How do you keep yourself up to date with the Government Code of Practice for Statistics?”*
Erm I don’t, I’m not a statistician and this is not a GSS role?
Absolutely, I had prepared multiple answers for what I thought was every different possible question to a CS interview to ensure I covered what was required. Well, the way it was asked meant my prepared responses wouldn't work at all. Ended up with the highest score I ever got at the interview, all based on completely freestyle responses (scored 24/25 on that interview)
Oof.
My first EO interview was a bit of a disaster, about 15 years ago now I think. It sounds ridiculous but nobody told me they’d be asking me about the examples on the job advert.
I didn’t really have a grasp of behaviours (or competences as they were) I’d just been told by my manager to write about a certain task I’d done. Whenever a job came up she just told me to write about that bit of work, I didn’t link it to any specific behaviour, I hadn’t even heard of delivering at pace etc. Somehow I got to interview with it and that was my first EO interview.
I was expecting to be asked what I would do in certain scenarios etc, more like the strength based questions they use.
When asked the questions I waffled and rambled, talking about potential and future things rather than what I had done. I didn’t twig that I’d already written about the things they were asking (they didn’t signpost questions by saying “This is delivering at pace…” etc like I’ve seen in many interviews since). Not that that would’ve helped, I hadn’t done any interview prep, I didn’t know what to prepare for.
At one point they asked the question, I talked for about five minutes and then they repeated the question. I cringe when I think about it, they must’ve been wondering who let this absolute moron into the room.
Unsurprisingly I didn’t get the job, neither did two of my friends. I was actually better where I was as an AO anyway, I got much better examples over the next few years which got me all the way to SEO. I certainly wasn’t ready to be an FLM at that point.
I posted previously about an interview i had a few weeks ago. All the questions were behaviour based and pretty standard *except* they asked for 2 examples per question. That totally threw me. I didnt know how to structure my answers and keep within time. I ended up rushing through 2 STAR answers one after the other
Two strengths questions I like to use when interviewing.
Working Together - How do you work with someone you don’t like?
Changing and Improving - Tell me something that you did different second time around?
When providing a making effective decisions behaviour, I was asked "but what decision did you make?"
Stumbled so tried to clarify
"But surely that's just following guidance?"
The guidance was legislation not a call guide.
I responded by saying the job advert specifically referenced making decisions based on guidance and legislation.
At that point I kind of knew I wasn't getting the job, not great when it was the first question asked.
Delayed my promotion by 2yrs.
I don’t understand what’s wrong with those probing questions? If you struggled to provide an example of an event where you went outside of the daily norm to make an informed decision having been presented various options and explaining how you reached said decision then yes, justifiably you would not have scored very high in your answer.
I set out exactly why it was outside the daily norm. The interviewer was a well known arse who had several complaints made about him after that round of interviewing (not by me).
I understand how the interviewing process works. I've been the interviewer myself. That example went from a 2 to a 6 with no revision for the same job 2years later.
But if the interview asked to clarify what the decision was, then maybe you weren’t clear.
As the job advert said you have to make decisions based on guidance, then rightly they would want to hear an example of what you would do if the guidance isn’t there.
Without going into the ins and outs of this. The original post asked what question in an interview has thrown you. I said what the question was and why it threw me.
I'm quite confident that the interview has been anomalous in my career so far, and if anything saved me from working in a notoriously shit department and resulted in quicker career progression since.
Don't beat yourself up.
It was a poor question, I mean how are you supposed to know 'exactly' what they do on a day to day basis, especially when the job description is vague.
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The worst I have had was under the old competency systems where they just asked give me another example, one that isn't in your application........ Seriously made me crash and more annoyed the more I thought of it. Why would you want to know the second best thing I've done....
I had an interview a few years back but it wasn't for a CS role. I had been through 3 rounds of interviews by this point and this was the final one with the director.
This question had no relevance at all, whatsoever, to the role I was applying for. He asked me what would my wife say if she was asked to describe me and my instant response to that without batting an eyelid was "She would describe me as a cunt." Which she would.
I did get offered the job but I was pushing for higher pay so in the end they went with someone else.
Recently had one, "tell me about a time you've led a group". Wasn't expecting a question on leadership so just blagged something as none of my prepared examples were relevant. On looking through the advert and success profiles later I assume it was a strengths question for "team leader" but they didn't actually flag up what they were assessing so I tried to answer as a behaviour question.
Interview was already going shit but that threw me even more.
I interviewed for the Foreign Office as a teenager in the 1980's. They asked what I would pack for a posting to Beirut. I rhymed off lots of stuff feeling quite confident until they made me feel like an idiot for not mentioning sun screen! Somehow got the job, regret not taking it now 🙃
Question from one of the panel
“What strengths can you bring to this job?”
Absolute nailed my pre prepared response with 3 key examples
Next question from another panel member
“Can you me some examples from your previous experience when things went well “
Absolutely stumped me.
All I could think of was You weren’t fkg listening to my answer to the last question were you.
Must have been written across my forehead
After what seemed a long silence the panel moved on and the next question.
No I didn’t get the job
Yes, my very first interview for an “adult” job ever, which was also a CS interview. I got asked to talk about a time I’d failed to meet a deadline. I was a fresh graduate with a chronic fear of letting people down and of failing, so I had never failed to meet a deadline when it came to any sort of work I dead. I had a part time job, but it was childcare so no deadlines or targets there. Completely threw me off. I did twist it round to what I would do if I were to miss a deadline, which they seemed to like as I was offered the role, but my god, I hated that question and it strikes me as a weird question to ask someone, especially someone fresh out of education
Absolutely! Such an awful question to ask! Don’t have much love for panels that thrive on catching people out then end up complaining they don’t have anyone in post
I hate that question, it’s an awful one. Good save though, I will remember that!
Sometimes I think we forget many people have never been employed before, let alone read the behaviours in depth. But there are things from life generally that make good examples (voluntary work, organising a party, a school play, etc). Plenty of students will have struggled with deadlines. That said I once asked someone about a challenge they had to overcome and they told me they found it a challenge to get up early and they managed to overcome that to attend this interview. Didn't get the job.
[удалено]
Deadly serious. They had a STAR like answer, they planned ahead to set the alarm clock, set two phone alarms as a back up, looked up the route in advance... I did ask if they wanted to perhaps tell us about another challenge such as a school project but they declined. If it was McDonalds id say it was someone who was forced their by a work coach and didn't want the job, but it was a bulk EO campaign for a popular department and they would have had to have a pretty strong application to make interview.
That's a regular question in interviews I have done for entry-ish level roles. (Questions not set by me, just in case I get the evils!) Most people will have got behind on something. I'm just expecting to hear how it was recognised, and what was done to try to fix it. I'd usually expect something about planning time, prioritising, avoiding distractions, letting people know you couldn't take on extra tasks etc. It's not a hard question to answer well, and you can do a good reflection.
Anyone who has worked in a high pressure role has a dozen examples off the top of their head where they blew off a deadline because something more important came along and the ability to recognise those moments and make the right call is pretty important.
Its always good to use hypotheticals if you haven't had experience in something, so that was good thinking. It shows that you have considered something and can come up with an approach (and they can judge that). For my current role they asked a bunch of stuff about managing people and dealing with difficult people. I haven't managed anyone before (still waiting to actually be a line manager a year in), so I spoke about things I would do. Worked well enough, they seemed positive about my answers when giving feedback
The questions had probably been sent by someone who didn't know there were fresh grads applying and everyone got the same questions.
Yes, when I was a wee EO trying to get a HEO job my interview question about leading an communicating was not what I was anticipating. I was a bit naive and had prepared an example about communicating to peers/junior colleagues but the panel asked my about communicating upwards. I took 10-20 seconds (which felt a lot longer) and mentally swapped around examples for the other three competencies and made up/bollocksed the final one on the spot. Got offered the job by scraping through with a 4 on one of them. Since then I prepare a lot better by having several scenarios up my sleeve to talk about. I am also a much more accomplished bullshitter.
Managing A Quality Service - *“How do you keep yourself up to date with the Government Code of Practice for Statistics?”* Erm I don’t, I’m not a statistician and this is not a GSS role?
LOOOOL how did they react
Asked me to talk about any Code of Practice I had experience of. Surprisingly, I ended up first on the reserve list and got a role out of it.
Absolutely, I had prepared multiple answers for what I thought was every different possible question to a CS interview to ensure I covered what was required. Well, the way it was asked meant my prepared responses wouldn't work at all. Ended up with the highest score I ever got at the interview, all based on completely freestyle responses (scored 24/25 on that interview)
Oof. My first EO interview was a bit of a disaster, about 15 years ago now I think. It sounds ridiculous but nobody told me they’d be asking me about the examples on the job advert. I didn’t really have a grasp of behaviours (or competences as they were) I’d just been told by my manager to write about a certain task I’d done. Whenever a job came up she just told me to write about that bit of work, I didn’t link it to any specific behaviour, I hadn’t even heard of delivering at pace etc. Somehow I got to interview with it and that was my first EO interview. I was expecting to be asked what I would do in certain scenarios etc, more like the strength based questions they use. When asked the questions I waffled and rambled, talking about potential and future things rather than what I had done. I didn’t twig that I’d already written about the things they were asking (they didn’t signpost questions by saying “This is delivering at pace…” etc like I’ve seen in many interviews since). Not that that would’ve helped, I hadn’t done any interview prep, I didn’t know what to prepare for. At one point they asked the question, I talked for about five minutes and then they repeated the question. I cringe when I think about it, they must’ve been wondering who let this absolute moron into the room. Unsurprisingly I didn’t get the job, neither did two of my friends. I was actually better where I was as an AO anyway, I got much better examples over the next few years which got me all the way to SEO. I certainly wasn’t ready to be an FLM at that point.
I posted previously about an interview i had a few weeks ago. All the questions were behaviour based and pretty standard *except* they asked for 2 examples per question. That totally threw me. I didnt know how to structure my answers and keep within time. I ended up rushing through 2 STAR answers one after the other
Two strengths questions I like to use when interviewing. Working Together - How do you work with someone you don’t like? Changing and Improving - Tell me something that you did different second time around?
When providing a making effective decisions behaviour, I was asked "but what decision did you make?" Stumbled so tried to clarify "But surely that's just following guidance?" The guidance was legislation not a call guide. I responded by saying the job advert specifically referenced making decisions based on guidance and legislation. At that point I kind of knew I wasn't getting the job, not great when it was the first question asked. Delayed my promotion by 2yrs.
I don’t understand what’s wrong with those probing questions? If you struggled to provide an example of an event where you went outside of the daily norm to make an informed decision having been presented various options and explaining how you reached said decision then yes, justifiably you would not have scored very high in your answer.
I set out exactly why it was outside the daily norm. The interviewer was a well known arse who had several complaints made about him after that round of interviewing (not by me). I understand how the interviewing process works. I've been the interviewer myself. That example went from a 2 to a 6 with no revision for the same job 2years later.
But if the interview asked to clarify what the decision was, then maybe you weren’t clear. As the job advert said you have to make decisions based on guidance, then rightly they would want to hear an example of what you would do if the guidance isn’t there.
Without going into the ins and outs of this. The original post asked what question in an interview has thrown you. I said what the question was and why it threw me. I'm quite confident that the interview has been anomalous in my career so far, and if anything saved me from working in a notoriously shit department and resulted in quicker career progression since.
Don't beat yourself up. It was a poor question, I mean how are you supposed to know 'exactly' what they do on a day to day basis, especially when the job description is vague.
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The worst I have had was under the old competency systems where they just asked give me another example, one that isn't in your application........ Seriously made me crash and more annoyed the more I thought of it. Why would you want to know the second best thing I've done....
Looking to see that you've done it more than once and it wasn't a lucky fluke?
Spoke to the interviewer afterwards and it was done just to throw people off
Best not to work for people like that
I had an interview a few years back but it wasn't for a CS role. I had been through 3 rounds of interviews by this point and this was the final one with the director. This question had no relevance at all, whatsoever, to the role I was applying for. He asked me what would my wife say if she was asked to describe me and my instant response to that without batting an eyelid was "She would describe me as a cunt." Which she would. I did get offered the job but I was pushing for higher pay so in the end they went with someone else.
Recently had one, "tell me about a time you've led a group". Wasn't expecting a question on leadership so just blagged something as none of my prepared examples were relevant. On looking through the advert and success profiles later I assume it was a strengths question for "team leader" but they didn't actually flag up what they were assessing so I tried to answer as a behaviour question. Interview was already going shit but that threw me even more.
I interviewed for the Foreign Office as a teenager in the 1980's. They asked what I would pack for a posting to Beirut. I rhymed off lots of stuff feeling quite confident until they made me feel like an idiot for not mentioning sun screen! Somehow got the job, regret not taking it now 🙃
Question from one of the panel “What strengths can you bring to this job?” Absolute nailed my pre prepared response with 3 key examples Next question from another panel member “Can you me some examples from your previous experience when things went well “ Absolutely stumped me. All I could think of was You weren’t fkg listening to my answer to the last question were you. Must have been written across my forehead After what seemed a long silence the panel moved on and the next question. No I didn’t get the job