Career, CV & Interview Blog
Book Free ConsultationApplying to the Civil Service
Step-by-step guide to help you apply to the Civil Service If you are thinking of applying to work in the Civil Service, here are some key steps which will help to guide you through the process. In today's competitive job market, ensuring that your CV stands out while...
Civil Service Interview Questions
Do you want to work in the Civil Service? If you want to work in the Civil Service, it’s important to know that you will be assessed against the Civil Service's Success Profile Framework and the interview questions are drawn from this framework. Understand the Civil...
NHS Interview Questions – Succeeding At NHS Interviews (updated 2024)
In this post, we are going to help you understand and better prepare for NHS interview questions. Applying for an NHS interview can be a very competitive whether you are applying for a position as a nurse, radiography, Consultant or Manager and knowing some common NHS...
Civil Service Success Profiles – How To Prepare For Strength Questions
Strength Based Interviews Explained (updated 2024) The practice of asking Strength questions in a Civil Service interview is now well established across main Civil Service Departments as part of their blended recruitment process under Success Profiles. Whilst most...
Interview Question: How To Tailor Communication to Your Audience
Demonstrating your communication skills is crucial to securing your desired role and you are likely to be asked specific questionsn to assess your communication skills. Before the interview, you can practise answering multiple communication questions which will...
10 Communication Questions To Practise (updated 2024)
In almost all jobs today it is vital to have communication skills and you will almost certainly be asked questions in an interview which are intended to determine just how good you are at communicating. There is four basic levels of communication skills which you...
Severe Interview Anxiety: 10 Tips to Reduce Anxiety and Overcome Interview Fear (updated 2024)
Interview anxiety, a racing heart, sweaty palms and a brain that just won’t work - does it sound familiar? A fear of interviews is more common that you may think. Anyone can suffer from interview nerves, whatever your age, level of experience or gender and without...
Leadership Interview Questions
Answering leadership interview questions persuasively is challenging. As a leader you might have carried out a lot of interview yourself as the Hiring Manager but it is very different when you need to promote yourself in an interview, succinctly and at the same time...
Interviewing Skills – 9 Common Problems for Hiring Managers
How to avoid common Interviewing mistakes (updates 2024) Many Hiring Managers believe that they have natural interviewing skills based on their ability to be a ‘good judge’ of character and can be resistant to have some Interviewer Training. Yet despite this we know...
How To Answer Civil Service Question: Managing A Quality Service
Introduction To Managing a Quality Service Questions Know how to prepare and answer 'Managing a Quality Service' interview questions can be daunting, especially when you're trying to pass the interview and be the strongest candidate. This Behaviour within the Civil...
How To Ace A Civil Service Interview
Civil Service Interviews Know how to ace a Civil Service Interview. You will have spent many hours crafting and agonising over your application to work in the Civil Service, following which a real sense of relief and achievement comes over you on clicking the...
How To Ace An Interview (updated 2023)
You've been invited to an interview but keep getting rejected. Multiple interview rejections leave most of us feeling frustrated. It can quickly lead of a loss of confidence and interview anxiety. So how do you ace an interview? The fact of having been invited to an...
Interview questions for Head Teachers
Getting ready for any interview can be a daunting task and demands that you allocate enough time to prepare. So, where do you start, what are they likely to expect from you, and how should you craft strong examples to use in answer interview questions for a Head...
Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) Competency Interview Questions
The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) uses a different competency framework to that which is now used throughout the main Civil Service departments for roles across England. The Welsh and Scottish Governments also in turn have their own frameworks. The current...
Interview Questions To Ask Interviewees
Your time is precious, and so is that of the candidates that you are interviewing. Knowing what type of interview questions to ask interviewees is important. You want to spend enough time on the interview process that you select the right candidate, however you do not...
Six Candidate Warnings Signs for Interviewers
Hiring the wrong candidate is expensive; money wasted on salary and training will usually be substantial. In fact, estimates from the U.S. Labour Department give the cost of a poor hiring decision at about 30% of the employee’s potential first-year earnings. The...
Conducting a Job Interview: a Step by Step Guide
It’s Friday afternoon and you get a call from someone in HR asking you to step in at short notice and interview someone called Olga for a role as an advertising buyer “as you know a bit what we’re looking for”. Help!! Whether you’re an HR professional, line manager or...
Benefits Of Apprenticeship – The Apprentice, Get Hired Not Fired!
The benefits of apprenticeships, both to employer and apprentices, have become increasingly prominent with recent reports in the press suggesting that even doctors could soon be qualifying after completing an apprenticeship rather than undergoing traditional medical...
Unconscious Bias In Recruitment
Over the years the recruitment and interview process has changed to conform with legal obligations so that fair and non-discriminatory practices should become commonplace. Trying to reduce unconscious bias in your recruitment process and reducing unconscious bias in...
Value Based Recruitment – Succeed At Value Based Interviews
Value Based Recruitment You may have been told that your job interview will be value based, but what exactly does value based recruitment mean? A value based interview is a type of structured interview in which the employer aims to gain an understanding of the...
AI Interviews – How Do You Prepare For A Pre-recorded Video Interview
Why is it essential to prepare for pre-recorded video interview? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now being used to further refine the pre-recorded interview process. It's not surprising, since the last decade or so, recorded video interviews have become an efficient...
Growth Mindset – How To Demonstrate A Growth Mindset In Interviews
How To Answer Interview Questions On Growth Mindset ‘In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a...
Video Interview Preparation
It is essential to carry out video interview preparation before a pre-recorded video interview commonly known as a video interview and online interviews. Both video and online interviews are a very cost-effective way for organisations to carry out recruitment. During...
Phone Interview Tips – 10 Key Actions
How to prepare for a phone interview 1. Use a reliable and stable line, test it with a friend - opt for a landline if the mobile is unstable & double check the contact number. 2. Go Handsfree so that you can take notes - locate a headset or earphones. 3. Find a...
Leadership Question: How To Keep Team and Priorities On Track
Often some of the most challenging questions at interview relate to team leadership. This can seem like a difficult question to answer if you haven't had many people to line manage. However, leading matrix teams can give you all the transferable skills you need. Matt...
How To Recover From A Devastating Interview
Clients often come to us feeling really frustrated when they failed an interview and are anxious about future interviews. Confidence can take a knock when you've previously done well in interviews and then have what's often described as a 'car-crash' of an interview....
Looking For Graduate Job Opportunities – The Civil Service Is Worth Considering
As graduates finish their final term at University it can be very daunting looking for and applying for job opportunities. As we work closely with clients applying for civil service jobs it is worth looking at the civil service opportunities. There are many different entry paths from the Fast Stream to the Fast Track, together with applying directly for the plethora of roles advertised on the GOV.UK website. Whilst the application process looks complicated once you understand their assessment process it is relatively easy to achieve success and get a job you want.
Why Should We Hire You?
Opening Interview Questions An interview panel will typically open the discussion by wanting to learn more about you, or rather giving you an immediate opportunity to sell yourself. The opening question can take numerous forms such as, ‘What relevant skills and...
Video Interviews -10 Key Video Interview Tips
Video Interview Tips Video interviews are now commonly used as the initial part of the recruitment process for many organisations, often called pre-recorded video interviews. Here are 10 video interview tips to help you prepare, gain confidence and succeed. 1. Be...
What To Wear To An Interview
For all of us, regardless of how great or little interest we take in fashion and the clothes we wear there is certainly one occasion when we should actually stop and think about it, the interview! The first rule is that you must be smart, first impressions count and...
Why Do You Want To Work For Us?
Common interview question - Why do you want to work for us? Why do you want to work for us? This one of the most common interview questions a candidate can be asked. It will often be asked across all types of interview, private sector and public sector interviews and...
Preparing For A Competency Based Interview
What are Competency Interviews? It is widely known that today most interviews are 'competency based' but what does this really mean? Essentially the interview is based on the idea that your past behaviours and experiences are the best indicators of your future...