Leave plenty of time for your journey, and allow for delays on busy routes. Try not to book a client appointment immediately before your interview as it can be difficult to leave.
Get there early and compose yourself completely before going in. That will give you time to focus on the meeting and what you want out of it, plus make the right impression to potentially your new boss.
Getting there late always creates a negative first impression.
If, for whatever reason, you are running late, call us or the interviewer.
Try not to make interview arrangements when you know you've got to be somewhere else immediately afterwards. Rushing your answers could lose you the job. Not allowing sufficient time can show lack of importance attached to the interview.
Typical competencies are:
Providing excellent customer serviceGive an example of when you have shown outstanding customer service by exceeding the customer's expectations.
Delivering Business ResultsThis should be a work related example and you will sometimes be asked "Tell me about a time when you were behind on a target and what you did to remedy the situation".
Attention to detailIn a regulated environment you may be asked how you ensure your work is accurate and meets Training & Competency, Know your Customer and legislation such as Money Laundering policies. You should be able to validate your example with your performance measures.
TeamworkDemonstrate through examples of how you work well within a team environment e.g. helping colleagues, meeting group targets, socialising etc)
Self MotivationWhat motivates you? What are your short, medium and long term plans and ambitions? How do you motivate yourself?
InfluencingGive an example of when you have brought others round to your way of thinking. How did you persuade them?
Developing othersIf you have an under-performing team member, how have you helped them?
Be specific, do not generalise or talk about how you would deal with a hypothetical situation.
Remember - Your answers must be based around 'I' and not 'we'.
A good method of ensuring you have fully answered a question and that the interviewer has a good understanding, is to use the S.T.A.R. technique.
S.T.A.R. stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result.
SituationWhat was the situation you were faced with?
TaskWhat were your aims and objectives?
ActionHow did you go about completing the task and the reasons behind the actions you took. The actions are the behaviours that you will be measured against so you should aim to give lots of detail in this area.
ResultWhat was the outcome? The outcome should have met or exceeded your aims. Do not use an example that whilst showed improvement still failed to meet company objectives.
Preparation of a list of examples for core competencies is the key to a good competency based interview.
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Salary of £45,000 - £70,000 dependent upon experience plus bonus
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