16 November 2011

APS Interview coaching

16 November 2011 | Ringer

I have been applying for government positions in different agencies over the last year. I’ve made it through to interview stage a few times now, but seem to stumble at this last hurdle.

The interview situation brings me quite unstuck and the whole thing seems to fall to bits. As you can imagine the more often you fail, the more likely you feel you’ll fail the next time round. I feel that I need some professional advice. So, does anyone know any good APS interview coaches in Canberra OR anyone who does phone coaching in other states?

Any suggestions?

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LSWCHP10:33 pm 21 Nov 11

I’ve been in private enerprise for over 25 years, and if I could offer one piece of advice it would be ‘Be Prepared”.

I can’t count the number of candidates who’ve sat in front of me, apparently stunned that we actaully have the nerve to ask them questions about topics they claim to be experts in. It’s as if they just expect to have a friendly chat about the footy on the weekend, and then be offered an $80K position with no further effort.

I interviewed a recent graduate from A Very Large local tertiary institution a few years ago. In response to one question he said “Jeez, I just had an exam on this very subject a few weeks ago….sorry…can’t tell you anything about it”.

Needless to say he didn’t get an offer. So, know what the job is about, know what the agency or company are about, and if you claim to know stuff then you’d better have done some revision on those topics or you’re gonna look stupid and waste everybody’s time.

OzBroz9:53 pm 21 Nov 11

Agree with the STAR (or I use SAO – situation, action, outcome) method of “story telling”

Also agree you need to be prepared with a few good examples (even if you dont really know the questions, a few good examples means you can cover off on most), take some notes in with you.

But also as someone on many selection panels, the thing I am looking for is YOUR role, what YOU did. Even in the team work answer, I need to know that you understood your role in the team, and the roles of your team mates, and how it fit together.

My only other advice is be yourself, at interview, we already like you, but want to see if you fit with the team/organisation.

Good Luck

merlin bodega9:03 pm 21 Nov 11

APS interview questions are often hard to answer because they ask so much and the questioner is sometimes not good at asking a question. Success applicants answer the question by staying focused and avoiding the temptation to ramble. In the most difficult cases it can help to write down the points you have to answer as the question is being asked. Tick off the points as you answer the points asked. When they are all ticked off you know you have answered the question. Its obvious but I am amazed how many people I have interviewed over the years simply don’t answer the question.

It’s just a game. learn how to play it.

nazasaurus6:55 pm 21 Nov 11

Using sophisticated (for lack of a better word) and relevant examples is also important, too many people just go into a literal description of their current or previous roles, telling you what they do and how they do it… this doesnt score you well against the criteria being measured.

missanonymous4:42 pm 21 Nov 11

A lot does come down to who you know. After all the APS can’t just promote at will, so there are often internal candidates who the boss has identified for promotion applying, especially for bulk rounds. The internal candidates know the jargon and their examples (especially if they are already acting in the role) could be the most relevant to the position. The ILS is so big that the panel can’t ask questions relating to every single sub-criterion, so they have to choose, and they can choose with someone in mind if they want to… My advice is to keep trying – and don’t be too fussy – just get in somewhere – if the APS is right for you you will soon know it and get promoted anyway…

AlanHB11:14 am 17 Nov 11

I guess it also goes without saying that you should make sure you arrive awake and pepped up for the interview – having to recall/recite all these answers in STAR form can take it out of you sometimes.

For one APS interview I made sure that I had a big breakfast and was all good for the interview. They must have asked me close to 20 questions, taking up an hour. I ran out of pre-written examples (ie the ones on my application) and was just pulling more from wherever I could think of. Finally they asked me a question which to me was nearly exactly the same question as a previous one. I just said “let me think about an example”…..silence. They prompted “well you said a pretty good one before”. I answered “yeah, but I really don’t want to repeat myself”. Everyone laughed and moved onto the next question. I got that job.

For a different APS interview it was near the end of the working day. I’d had a particularly bad event with a client immediately before strolling over to the interview and it was just taking up my headspace. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was really tired. I really didn’t feel like talking about work, I would have rathered going home and sitting on a couch. The interview started well, but then when I made an off the hand joke that had the entire panel laughing I just clicked and went into entertainer mode – pulling off humourous answers to each question. It was one of my finest comedic performances. I even had everyone discussing how exactly this massive desk got into the office in the first place. Did it come up the lift? Through the window?

However funny guys don’t get the job. No worries.

Secret Squirrel9:16 am 17 Nov 11

I’ve sat on over 50 Selection Advisory Committees for APS positions and jonquil’s advice at #2 is by far the best. Be confident, be prepared and use examples. Elaborate but try not to waffle or get off topic, and try to use examples that realate to the position you’re being interviewed for. And try to follow your example through to a positive conclusion – “I know I did this well because……”

colourful sydney racing identity8:01 am 17 Nov 11

Intiiguing. Is OP Vicki Smith?

AlanHB11:01 pm 16 Nov 11

I’ll support everyone who said “use STAR in the interview”, that seems to do the trick. I had an interview with Defence in July. I was offered the job in August (or something like that). Waiting for security stuff to get done so I assume I’ll be starting next July 🙂

I consulted a coach, her details are/were:

Vicki Smith
about:work
Ph: (02) 6295 3249 W or 0419 425969 M
(Business Hours ~ Mon-Thurs)
Email: Vicki Smith

Basically I had a quick chat to her, sent her my application and job description, and she went through them in her own time and gave me the rundown on what was strong about the application and what wasn’t, we went through a lot of the application and how it was going to be relevant to the interview. It was a good process (all on the phone). I was offered the job so I must have done ok in the interview.

NoAddedMSG10:33 pm 16 Nov 11

I seem to spend half my life on interview panels at the moment. I do think it is worth finding a coach – or several different ones, and getting some practice in. The advice I give most often when people seek feedback (and I actively encourage them to) is to spend more time preparing. I tell them spend twice the amount of time preparing for the interview as they did writing their application (which may be overkill but the bulk of people we interview are under 25 so they really need the practice). Many of the questions we ask are predictable, and yet so many times when we get to the “what is it which interests you about this role” question people stumble over it. I also find scenario questions are usually badly answered – but there are some really generic ways of approaching scenarios which can be practiced in advance.

The other thing I tell people is that the first thing you should do after any interview is to write down all the questions you were asked (practice for next time) and ring up and seek feedback. Most people are not good at giving feedback, so have a set of questions you want to ask them (such as “were my explanations clear” and “were there any questions where I missed the point of what was being asked”) and work on being friendly and personable when you call so they are less likely to get defensive.

Bramina7:01 pm 16 Nov 11

The absolute most important word to know if you are looking to get a job in the APS from the outside is: ILS.

The Integrated Leadership System (google it) from the Australian Public Service Commission of those silly selection criteria that appear again and again.

To get the job, you need to demonstrate that you have meet the criteria as specified in the ILS. For example take ‘Supports strategic direction’. If you had read the ILS you would know that you have to address the following four elements:

1) Supports shared purpose and direction
2) Thinks strategically
3) Harnesses information and opportunities
4) Shows judgement, intelligence and commonsense

If you hadn’t read the ILS you might have just talked vaguely about various situations where you were involved in strategy. But if you didn’t show how you harnessed information and opportunities or demonstrate how you have shown common sense and judgement you will be failed.

But the detail goes further. Shared purpose and direction is defined in the APS 6 ILS as follows:

Understands, supports and promotes the organisation’s vision, mission, and business objectives. Identifies the relationship between organisational goals and operational tasks. Clearly communicates goals and objectives to others. Understands, supports and communicates the reasons for decisions and recommendations.

To meet the selection criteria you must demonstrate a substantial portion of those things, and again for each of the other three elements, and again for the other 16 elements in the other four selection criteria.

As for interviews the questions tend to hone in on one or two elements per question. It is critically important that you be able to hone into which ones the interviewer is asking about and provide and answer that fits the ILS description. The best way of doing this is to memorise the ILS.

One last thing to remember: most interviewers are lazy. They don’t want to put any extra effort into the interview. The way to get the job is to make it as easy as possible for them to see that you have met the criteria.

devils_advocate1:40 pm 16 Nov 11

HI there
I’ve done a LOT of APS interview coaching (not offering my services but some advice). This includes for people with cognitive disabilities but whom did not want to notify an EEO group in the process.

Without knowing the underlying fundamentals (eg the level that you’re applying for an your experience/qualifications) my main advice would be to make the best possible use of the fact that most selection statements rely on fairly generic criteria (ie there’s one on written communication, one on oral, one on people skills, one on managing competing priorities/time management, a generic one about APS values, etc). Once you’ve done say, 3 or 4, a lot of the criteria can be recycled. Ideally, you would write each one from scratch, but I’ve found that so long as its succinct and well written the panel will accept it.

I mention this because it it relevant to the way you prep for interviews. Some interviewers ask really job-specific questions about technical areas that really only people in the department would know about. This (sometimes intentionally) skews the result towards internal applicants. There’s not a great deal you can do about these ones (although they’re not really meant to do this).

When it’s an interview that’s been designed to give externals a chance, the questions are about as generic as the selection criteria. For this reason, I think the best possible interview practice is to attend interviews. Now, depending on what job you’re in, it can get difficult to continually be leaving the office to attend interviews. So if you need to be more selective, then 2 key tips:
-contact the contact person after the interview and ask for feedback on what you could have improved – it’s hard but it’s worth it. You then need to REALLY LISTEN to the feedback and not just dismiss it, and try to improve next time.
-if you need practice speaking, write down some common, open-ended interview questions and give them to someone who you know, but who is NOT a friend (eg your mate’s spouse, their parent, etc). So that it simulates the idea of you explaining things to a stranger. If it’s your friend “interviewing” you it won’t work.
Some examples to get you started:
-what do you think are the key skills for working in a team?
-think of a team you have worked in where there was some conflict. What was the conflict and how did you resolve it?
-How do you employ time management skills to cope with competing priorities and deadlines?
-What do you understand to be the meaning of workplace diversity and do you think it is important? Why?

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