civil service oral exam advice?

January 4, 2016 7:24 PM

I'm taking an oral exam later this week for a civil service management position and amlooking for suggestions on what I can do to prepare.

From what I understand, those of us taking the test are given four essay-like questions and a half hour to prepare answers. Taking notes is fine. I think questions are often asking how you would respond to a described situation. I don't know if they often refer to your experience, or if you're permitted to include information that would indicate where you currently work.

You then individually present the answers to a panel of people who will rate each test-taker. The panel reads the questions but does not otherwise interact at all. Sometimes it's just a microphone in a room. I think I'm getting real live people but am not certain. Referring to your notes is allowed.

The job is design and construction project management, if that influences advice.

posted by sepviva to Work & Money (1 answer total)

Best answer: Practice a few times beforehand to figure out what type of written organization is helpful to you and to get a sense of the time constraint - 30 minutes can feel very different under pressure. Don't forget to actually deliver the spoken answer as well. It can feel really awkward to give a speech with nobody listening, but it's still great for confidence and can help remind you to incorporate all of the good public speaking habits (signposting, not speaking too fast, pausing silently instead of using verbal fillers like "um" and "uh") during the exam. It'll also give you a sense of how ideas on paper translate into speaking time - you don't want to spend your prep time coming up with an argument that you can say out loud in 20 seconds, nor do you want to be cut off after five minutes without having said what you wanted to say. I'd also think about a variety of experiences you've had that might be relevant to the exam, how you would apply them to the job requirements, and how you would tell them as a story. You don't want to be caught off guard if they ask you about a time you had to work as a part of a team or solve a problem or whatever.

I'm sure civil service exams differ quite a bit depending on the level of government and the agency, but in my experience, civil service hiring has a large emphasis on transparency in order to avoid allegations of corruption/nepotism. The people evaluating you won't simply be looking for a general impression or thinking about whether you'd fit in with the team; they'll have specific criteria for which you'll be evaluated to determine who is the most qualified, objectively (or as objectively as possible). It's likely that you already know what these criteria are - they're probably in the job requirements or the skills section of the ad, or somewhere else in the organization hiring information. It's a good idea to think about what you can say about yourself that addresses this specific criteria and then make sure that comes out in your answers, regardless of the questions asked. Even if they really like you, if they don't have anything to write in the box about analysis skills or adaptability or whatever, it'll be hard to justify a hiring decision.
posted by exutima at 12:10 PM on January 5, 2016