[Llamageddon]

(Original post by Guvnor)
I have heard that the whole recruitment process takes 3-5 months.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Tbh this is true of most >£20k jobs.

[leoleigh]

I received an email yesterday confirming that I've made it to next stage. Has anyone else heard and if so, what are you doing to prepare for the presentation as the topic is not given? I'm sorry, but this is my first assessment centre so I don't quite know what to expect.

[jellybean55]

Congratulations! I still haven't heard anything...not sure if that just means I've been unsuccessful.

[akia88]

Hi all,
I have also received an email and booked an assesment day, I really dont know what to expect from the presentation either.

[K42]

If I am correct this is how the presentation works (they may have changed it since I did it though):

You will be given a brief obtaining information about a topic (usually not related to UKBA) and will be given ten minutes or so to prepare you presentation based upon the information you had. You are expected to present only based upon the information provided to you in the brief.

What you need to do:

Organise the information into a logical format
Think of how to structure you speech to emphasise key points
Support what you are saying and explain your reasoning.
Speak clearly and maintain eye contact with the audience.
Try to finished the presentation within the allocated time but don't finish too early.
Be prepared to answer questions at the end of the presentation.
Be confided, don't repeat yourself or trail off topic.

You can't really prepare for the presentation as it is a mystery until you get in. Just practice speaking to a mirror and be ready to organise a lot of information in a short amount of time.

The interview is the hard one... a post to come on that later. When are your assessment days?

[akia88]

Thank for the reply k42,

Ive booked my assessment day for the 14th august, thanks for the information it helps a lot!

[K42]

Okay,

The interview. You will be asked talk through some of your competencies:

Leadership and Managing Myself and Others ‐ Leading on Equality & Diversity
Working with Others ‐ Develop & Maintain Good Working Relationships
Leadership and Managing Myself and Others ‐ Building Capability: Developing Self & Others
Communication ‐ Speak Effectively
Analysis & Use Of Evidence ‐ Identify Options & Make Well Judged Decisions
Analysis & Use Of Evidence: B) Use Evidence Effectively

You need to give examples that demonstrate the above skills. You can normally use the examples on your form but sometimes you are asked for alternative examples.

Advice:

+Do NOT just quote your competencies word for word. Instead pad it out and add more description of how you met the competency. When you finish talking, there is little opportunity to add more information.
+Explain what YOU did, not what other people did.
+Explain why you made decisions, what alternatives you considered, show you consider how your actions will impact others in the organisation, not just those within your unit.
+Remember what competency you are being marked on and make everything you say work towards proving that skill.
+You will be asked questions at the end, these are an opportunity to claim lost marks, so make your answers count.
+look at the core framework (Download PDF here). A Border Force Officer is EO grade (the middle column). you need to aim to show things similar to all of the examples given, but don't copy the wording exactly.
+Competencies should be based around a specific example.
+It is not enough to say you 'built good working relationships', you have to say how you did it and how you ensured your methods were effective.

I won't say more as the interview is designed to ensure you are suitable for the job, so I'll stop short from posting answers on here.
There will be 2 or 3 people on the interview board.

Good Luck to everyone!

[xicaveu]

Hi all,

Thanks for this very useful thread! Another lamb about to get to the slaughter house here lol...

K42, many thanks for your advice! So the presentation is different from the role play you said earlier? I noticed they said "a short presentation following 10mins preparation", so not sure how much time that short presentation actually will be. Given you have 10 mins to prepare, I gather there'll be quite a bit of information to digest? Say, halfway through the presentation you recognize you miss an important bit or on the wrong track, is it advisable to change the course then? Hope I won't mess that up as I'm by no means an articulate person lol...

Also, from your experience, were the interviewers nice & courteous to you or did they aggressively grill you? How long did it take before you heard from them since the interview? Many thanks!

[jellybean55]

what kind of experience/qualifications/grades do you guys that have got through to the assessment centres have? I still haven't heard anything so am guessing I may have been unsuccessful but it would be useful to know what they were looking for.

[K42]

(Original post by xicaveu)
Hi all,

Thanks for this very useful thread! Another lamb about to get to the slaughter house here lol...

K42, many thanks for your advice! So the presentation is different from the role play you said earlier? I noticed they said "a short presentation following 10mins preparation", so not sure how much time that short presentation actually will be. Given you have 10 mins to prepare, I gather there'll be quite a bit of information to digest? Say, halfway through the presentation you recognize you miss an important bit or on the wrong track, is it advisable to change the course then? Hope I won't mess that up as I'm by no means an articulate person lol...

Also, from your experience, were the interviewers nice & courteous to you or did they aggressively grill you? How long did it take before you heard from them since the interview? Many thanks!

The role play and presentation are different. I'm assuming the assessment is still the same as when I did it.

You have ten minutes to orgnaise the material you are presenting, then about 20 minutes (or maybe another ten, I forget) to present it. If you miss something major I would try to add it in whilst trying to make it sounds planned, but its best to get it right first time :P

Most of the interview is you explaining you competency. The questions are asked at the end of each one. Interviewers are usually straight forwards, not aggressive but not always friendly. If they grill you this is usually a good sign meaning you have picked up most of the easy point so they are seeing how far they can push you.

I heard the same day but I'm not sure if that's normal or not.

(Original post by jellybean55)
what kind of experience/qualifications/grades do you guys that have got through to the assessment centres have? I still haven't heard anything so am guessing I may have been unsuccessful but it would be useful to know what they were looking for.

Why not give the recruitment organisers a call? You have nothing to lose.

[jellybean55]

If I don't hear today I'll give them a call on Monday. I'm sure they have lots of people to get through so maybe I'm being a bit impatient.

Good luck to everyone going to assessment centres!

[xicaveu]

@K42: Thanks, so the interview will be structured in accordance with the 6 competency categories in the application, meaning 5 minutes each, though I find some can overlap each other. I would hate repeating myself too.

@jellybean55: I've worked for years, but in completely different sector. Sorry that you haven't heard from them yet, hope something will come up, best!

[leoleigh]

Thank you everyone for all the helpful hints and tips. What I have done for the interview part of my preparation is to think of a second example for each competency, just in case they ask for it. This will help me on the day as I'm most likely to be under pressure and not able to come up with the best example. As for the presentation, I gather we will be asked to present for 5 mins as 10 mins is for preparation and the duration of the slots we booked is 45mins in total.

[imtiyaz1]

Hi, Confused! is it the whole day assessment with 4 parts like Psychometric exam (Multiple choice), Written Exercise, Competency based interview (based upon you initial application form), Role player.

Or just 45 minutes slot with Presentation and interview.

Also confused as two vacancies-- Border Force Officer and Assistant Border Force Officer. Is it different methods of assessment for different position.

Any clarification, please.

(Original post by leoleigh)
Thank you everyone for all the helpful hints and tips. What I have done for the interview part of my preparation is to think of a second example for each competency, just in case they ask for it. This will help me on the day as I'm most likely to be under pressure and not able to come up with the best example. As for the presentation, I gather we will be asked to present for 5 mins as 10 mins is for preparation and the duration of the slots we booked is 45mins in total.

[leoleigh]

(Original post by imtiyaz1)
Hi, Confused! is it the whole day assessment with 4 parts like Psychometric exam (Multiple choice), Written Exercise, Competency based interview (based upon you initial application form), Role player.

Or just 45 minutes slot with Presentation and interview.

Also confused as two vacancies-- Border Force Officer and Assistant Border Force Officer. Is it different methods of assessment for different position.

Any clarification, please.

According to the email I received, there will be a 30 min interview and a presentation which we'll be given 10mins to prepare. However the slot I booked is for 45mins to do these two exercises. I have been short listed for the Border Officer position so I'm not sure if the process is different for the Assistant Border Officer role.

[ali458]

Hi,

Thank you K42 for the useful piece of advice! I also have an interview for Border Officer role. The email stated that the assessment will consist of a presentation and interview only. Does that mean there will not be a role-play or written exam? Or will they try and surprise us lol

Thanks

[K42]

(Original post by xicaveu)
@K42: Thanks, so the interview will be structured in accordance with the 6 competency categories in the application, meaning 5 minutes each, though I find some can overlap each other. I would hate repeating myself too.

@jellybean55: I've worked for years, but in completely different sector. Sorry that you haven't heard from them yet, hope something will come up, best!

For the interview it basically works like this:

1. They ask you to give your example.
2. You talk through the example uninterrupted from start to finish (in more detail that you used on your form)
3. They ask you questions.
4. On to next competency.

If something you do is relevant in more than one example then repeat yourself, they are marked as individual examples and you will not receive marks in one competency for something you said in another. Don't use the same example for than once and at least have an idea of possible second examples as you may be asked for them.

(Original post by ali458)
Hi,

Thank you K42 for the useful piece of advice! I also have an interview for Border Officer role. The email stated that the assessment will consist of a presentation and interview only. Does that mean there will not be a role-play or written exam? Or will they try and surprise us lol

Thanks

They normally tell you in advance what you are doing, so if there is no mention of a written exam or role play then maybe you will get lucky. They need people fast so its possible that these steps have been removed to speed things up (or maybe to make the recruitment process cheaper to run).

I imaging the recruitment process for both roles would be the same however the marking criteria would be different.

[Reyman]

Thank you for all you help K42, much appreciated. I also have my interview next week.

If possible could someone kindly inform me of what is expected for the 10 min presentation, if anyone has alrealy attented the interview?

Many thanks

[kerrynunn]

Thank you for all your help K42 - I have just booked my interview for 24th August, a little bit nervous to be honest so think I will need to get lots of practice in. Don't know if it's helpful for anyone but I used to work at the Home Office and for my interview there it was competency based, they went through what I had on my application form and then if the example wasn't quite good enough they asked for expansion or if I could give another example of where I met that competency.

Good Luck everyone!

[NotYourAverage']

I have also got an interview on the 15th of August, if anyone has had the presentation and could share any information on what they had to do would be great. Best of luck to everyone! =)