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Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) Competency Interview Questions

by | Apr 15, 2025 | civil service interviews, Interview Preparation, Interview Questions

(NICS) General Service Grade 7 Interviews

The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) employs a distinct competency framework, different from Success Profiles used by the main Civil Service departments across England. Similarly, the Welsh and Scottish Governments have their own frameworks. The current Northern Ireland Civil Service Competency Framework reference document was created in April 2014 and sets out the 10 competencies within three ‘Clusters’: Setting Direction, Engaging People and Delivering Results. One of the first steps in preparing for your interview is to thoroughly understand NICS competency framework. A recent G7 General Service recruitment programme focused on seven of the 10 competencies.  Familiarising yourself with these will help you identify which of your experiences best showcase your knowledge and skills for the position.

At interview you will be asked competency-based questions which are designed to help you demonstrate ‘how’ you achieve specific tasks relating to each competency. These questions typically start with prompts like “Tell me about a time when…” or “Give an example of…”. Your responses should be well-structured, focusing on specific situations where you demonstrated the required competencies, hence it is important that you fully understand each behavioural framework. For example, the framework that you will need to use to demonstrate Making Effective Decisions is:

  • Have clarity over the decision / recommendation you need to make.
  • Tell the panel how you set out / drafted a list of all the information you would need to compile, where it was located and who you might need to ask and gain insights from as it is important to engage others.
  • Next assess what might be missing, not available or incomplete and not robust.
  • Then analyse and assess all the relevant information to formulate possible options
  • Finally, once you have options assess risk so that you can identify the best fit.
  • Present your recommended options along with risk mitigations and be prepared to answer questions.

We have frameworks for each competency which are useful ways to be concise, provide structure and simplify your actions. Using this framework and the STAR approach you will be able to develop your answers which should ideally be no longer than five minutes.

Interview Skills Clinic has successfully coached many candidates for Civil Service interviews in NICS, as well as Scotland and Success Profile interviews in England. If you have an important NICS interview coming up and would like to hear more about the frameworks we have developed in response to Civil Service competencies, we offer specialist civil service one-to-one interview coaching. You can book an initial Free Consultation on our website to discuss coaching options.

You will find that job descriptions for roles in the Northern Ireland Civil Service are generally very comprehensive and take the form of a multi-page Candidate Information Booklet, the General Service G7 is well structed and detailed. Under the heading ‘Assessment Process’  you can read exactly how this competency-based interview will be assessed and crucially how marks will be awarded.

For the recent G7 campaign there is a presentation which is scored out of 40, and then three competency questions, each scored out of 10. Hence there is a maximum of 70 marks available and the pass mark is 36.

NICS Cluster Based Competency Questions

For the G7 recruitment campaign (as can be the case with many NICS interviews), candidates are not asked questions on each competency but rather a single question on each cluster. For example, in the case of the recent G7 campaign, two competencies were listed from the Delivering Results Cluster: Delivering Value for Money and Managing a Quality Service. The other two competencies (Delivering at Pace and Achieving Outcomes through Delivery Partners) were not asked for. In this case, instead of a question being asked for each of the two competencies a single question will be asked which encompasses both – for example, ‘When have you identified a Service Improvement for your customers which improved efficiency and delivered Value for Money?’To best address this question you will need to understand the framework for each of the two competencies and identify an example story from your recent career which combines both. Set out below are a deck of typical questions based on each cluster which will help shape your preparation and practice for a G7 interview.

NICS Clustered Interview Questions

Where clustering is used as the basis for a single question, the competencies are typically clustered as follows:

Cluster 1: Delivering Results
Managing a Quality Service and Delivering Value for Money

  • When have you identified a service improvement for your customers which improved efficiency and delivered value for money?
  • When have you had to reorganise how a service to your customers is delivered in terms of better use of resources and efficiency improvements?

Cluster 2. Setting Direction
Making Effective Decisions, Changing & Improving and Seeing the Big Picture

  • Tell us about a time when you had to make an important decision which necessitated change and how you delivered against this?
  • Tell us about a time when you horizon scanned, and as a result made a recommendation for change to meet future organisational needs. How did you go about this, what was the outcome?

Cluster 3: Engaging People
Leadership and Communications, Collaborating and Partnering

  • Please give us an example of a time where you improved the performance of a team by fostering greater team working?
  • Tell us about a time when you improved collaborative working between teams and across organisational boundaries to support the business?

If you would like support with your NICS interview then it is best to initially Book a Free Consultation so we can discuss bespoke coaching options in more detail.

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Preparing For Unexpected Questions

Interviews can sometimes present unforeseen questions. To handle these effectively:

1. Stay composed: Take a moment to consider your response.
2. Seek clarity: If unsure, don’t hesitate to ask for clarification or extra thinking time.
3. Relate back: Draw on prepared examples aligning them with unexpected queries.
4. Maintain positivity: An unforeseen question is an opportunity demonstrating adaptability/problem-solving abilities.
5. Stay calm/methodical: Convert challenges into chances highlighting suitability.

Other Posts

If you’re applying for Civil Service roles check out our other posts:

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Chloe on February 18, 2025 at 11:36 am

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Interview coaching with Matt was exactly what I needed. My skills were rusty and I'd lost confidence. I really liked Matt's direct but supportive approach. I was out of my comfort zone during the sessions (which was good!) but through practice my confidence grew and learning took place. I now have an excellent structure to work with for future interviews. I'm very grateful for Matt's help. Thank you.

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Matthew has been incredibly supportive and helpful throughout my application process (on multiple occasions. With his support, I was able to land my first civil service role. He put a lot of effort and enthusiasm into every session. His techniques were incredibly helpful and I have learnt skills that I will continue to use throughout my career. Couldn’t recommend more.

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