Civil service HEO role interview help

I have an interview for a HEO role with DBS coming up.
I have been told that I will have to complete an exercise based on making effective decisions at the start of the interview.
Has anyone had any recent experience and know what kind of exercises I could maybe expect?

Reply 1

tinyperson

Good luck.
The decision making exercise either could be easy or hard. It is designed to test your oral communication and teamwork skills at work. Expect anything. This is one example of such a exercise that I used last summer in a hiring interview. You are asked to plan a wedding. The church (I’m a Christian) is unavailable due to some ongoing renovations. So you need to research and contact a few other suitable places. Additionally you have unexpected catering issues, the hired company van somehow breaks down en route and you now have the difficult task of finding other options for all concerned.
Tell me what you should do in order to resolve the issues and make the bride and groom happy. Describe your preferred problem solving approach as well. Outline the steps which are needed in order. This is only one specific example that I have given here, there are many others which I can opt to use instead to help you.
Focus on skills and qualities that are needed. Research decision making exercises for hiring interviews and then try to prepare yourself. Decision making and other important skills are often tested this way in job interviews these days. Bear that in mind at all times.

Reply 2

Marcus133

Original post by jtl1501

Yes, I'm not surprised as that is one of the most common civil service behaviors out of the 9 in total. Having conducted some HR recruitment campaigns at EO and HEO level for the civil service it really does come down to your behavior answers such as making effective decisions that you mention- which are each scored from 1-7 (you generally need a minimum of a 4 mark to pass application and interview across all government departments and grades up to G6), There are great resources out there to get you up to speed and help for your civil service applications and interview such as https://www.interviewskillsclinic.co.uk/ or www.civilservicesuccess.co.uk which even has sample winning behavior answers to all civil service behaviors. Feel free to pm any Qs and good luck in your applications.