The interview itself was structured around a typical day or scenario in the life on an Advisor but the way in which it is done was unrealistic and rushed. You start off with being shown to a PC where you will watch a 5 minute video of a customer with a variety of pros and cons and upon viewing it was well executed. I was going to say you are expected but in reality you should take very detailed notes as they demonstrate you can absorb information and use the pros and cons to help advance the customer. You will after create a CV for the said customer and produce an end result that will be printed and supplied to the interview panel in this case a member of HR and the branch Manager. I should add you will have 30 minutes for both watching the video and creating the CV so be ready as you will feel under pressure. You will be asked a number of questions in the main interview about the subject in the video, fail to pay attention and you will regret it. Take heed! What I did expect but did not happen were questions about the created CV or questions about why it was prepared in the way in my case created. Further its content in general to see if it matched the customer profile. It was almost like it was part of the process so why not create it. I am confident it was good as I have come from the sector with years of experience and maybe that reflected and hence no further questions, either that or like I say fore fill the process. Personally the Role-Play part of the interview was ridiculous and they should know better than to allow it to play out the way they did but it is not uncommon, many companies do so. The situation is more hypothetical rather than realism and without realism it should be excluded from the process. It is nothing like what you will experience with a real life customer even if the their demeanour may seem rude, uncooperative or in fact proactive. It is always the usual awkward play actor making the situation as hard and as difficult as they can make it and whilst they may think that works it is an interview. A good interviewer doing a role-play exercise or the core of the interview questions should bear in mind the process is to draw the very best examples out of a candidate as it is your one opportunity to access the unknown upon first contact allowing an informed decision. Not only do I come from the welfare sector I have a lot of interview making skills having recruited hundreds of personal in the past. It does not make me better than them, acknowledged, but it does give you a flash view of the potential outcome when it comes to the ‘wash-up’. The main part of the competency based questions are over complex and there are only two that require a lot of explanation rather than breaking them into four to six smaller questions amounting to the same. You see the problem here is you may go off on a tangent or even ramble as whilst you are giving an answer so much needs to be covered you can lose yourself in the oblivion. I did not get the role and the feedback was exactly around that point the detail in which I gave. It was said I gave good answers but spoke a lot. I was told the role-play part did not allow for the actor to answer questions but that was not the case as there were plenty of open questions, but with a lethargic lack of response forced a new approach to get the actor to engage. His subject matters case history was that of no interest, no career ambition, no employment history that was the same pattern with friends and family and one of poor time keeping or no show. You have 20 minutes for this part after reading a brief for 10 minutes that was in fact 5 minutes and 10-15 minutes to act it all out. In overview I did speak a lot so I will not deny that but you are at an interview to sell yourself to the employer. Likewise they should maximise what they too can obtain out of the experience and that did not happen. It was uninteresting, fairly unfriendly and mundane in experience. It did get me thinking as even sat in reception before all of this got underway no one in the Office seemed to be enjoying themselves. No happy atmosphere or buzz about the place unlike Office spaces in general. It makes me wonder if many of the ex employee reviews are spot on! It is a shame overall as I really wanted the role as I have a proven background hitting and exceeding targets. But it is what it is…

Clear, honest and structured. Got to know me and what was important to me. My end goals and how working together would help me reach them. Great interview! Well managed.