Civil Service Fast Stream Interview Questions & Answers

The INTERVIEW itself was one on one and competency-based. It lasted 40 minutes. Questions included one on my present employment, one on what attracted me to a civil service career, and one on what the biggest challenge would be if I joined and how I would overcome it.

Otherwise, I was asked 4 or 5 questions on examples of when I had demonstrated an aspect of one of the competencies that are examined at interview. Note that it is not on the competencies themselves (e.g. 'when have you delivered at pace?' - these 9 competencies are available on the fast stream website) that the questions are asked, but on the little sub-competencies which go into each of them (e.g. 'when have you dealt with challenges in a responsive and constructive way?'). These sub-competencies are too numerous for most people to write a compelling story for each, so I think the best thing to do is prepare a story or two for each competency and then think about how to tailor it depending on what you are asked.

The competency questions. I had prepared examples that demonstrated the 4 (or 2, depending how you count) main competencies examined at interview: Managing a Quality Service/Delivering at Pace and Collaborating and Partnering/Building Capability for All. But I was instead asked about the components that make up each of these (e.g. 'being open to learning'); I hadn't always thought of how I had specifically demonstrates these components, so I ended up having to think of some of my examples on the spot and they were not so structured or persuasive.

Think hard about examples of the DETAILS of competencies for the interview. Practice telling engaging stories using the STARLET technique.

Practice making presentations, and also writing to time (an example for the Policy Recommendation is available in one of the Fast Stream online leaflets).

Bear in mind that the time will soon start passing very quickly. And that although tea breaks (and tea!) are in theory provided in between each exercise, sometimes you just won't have time for a breather. It is (at the risk of stating the obvious) intense and tiring.

Besides the interview proper, there was lunch (a buffet, with Q and A from a current fast streamer), a group exercise, a leadership exercise, a policy recommendation exercise and a re-test of the numerical and verbal tests you will have done online.


In the GROUP EXERCISE, six candidates had to choose which two of six policy options to put forward (each of us having one to promote, one which was OK, and two which needed to be opposed). We also had to produce a set of points (not to be handed in, but the assessors can hear what we decide on) justifying our choice to a minister (or superior) in light of the policy priorities we had been given.

There was no chair, although there is a stopwatch which it is good to volunteer to take. The people in my group were all pretty talkative and bad at timekeeping: for example, it took a lot of intervention by me and another member to get us even two minutes left at the end to agree on the justification. People would just get carried away with debates on single points, and the timing meant that the best and second best policies we chose were selected pretty much arbitrarily, according to who was talking most at that point. Anyway, that's a one sort of fairly likely scenario you might encounter, and maybe you can anticipate strategies for dealing with them. At any rate, if things get a bit chaotic like that it needn't come as a surprise to you.

Following the Group Exercise, we returned to individual desks and had a written exercise in which we had 20 minutes to choose the best policy option in terms of value for money, justify our choice, and highlight up to three principal risks it entailed and how these might be countered. Remember to turn over the instruction sheet to find the explanation of what is meant by 'value for money', which is somewhat counter-intuitively described as 'not really a financial consideration' or something similar! It is worth getting the idea though, as the concept of 'value for money' is meant to be about more than just numbers. It is based on consideration of 3 Es which were, I think, economic sense, efficiency, and effectiveness. A description can probably found on one of the Fast Stream online resources.

The last bit of the Group Exercise involved a handwritten self-assessment (everything else is on a computer) which took 15 minutes. There were four questions. They asked me about two competencies: making effective decisions and collaborating and partnering (of course, it is not clear if this choice of two changes each time). For each of these two, I was first asked to select which aspect (which 'sub-competency') I felt I achieved best during the exercise, and specifically how I did this. I was then asked which I felt I could most improve on, and what I would do about it over the intervening time if I were to be facing another Group Exercise in four weeks' time. So, look out accurately for areas of high and low performance during the exercise, and if there is an area you do badly in then at least you can get extra marks just for noticing it and responding constructively.


The LEADERSHIP EXERCISE basically followed the description in the FSAC leaflet. Half an hour preparation, ten minutes presentation, and twenty minutes Q and A. The focus is broadly on management. My situation involved taking charge of a team that was trying out a new programme related to health. A lot of the most salient problems, or the problems at the root of all the others, were about relationships and division of workloads within the team, but the overall aim of the presentation was to tell the assessor, who poses as your superior, in a structured way about my plans for all the challenges facing them - and of course, here it is good to open with an 'opening bang' and close with a 'closing bang'.

The questions were partly designed to bring up areas not covered by the presentation (which along with the friendliness of the assessor made this 30 minutes much less painful than expected), and partly designed to help me talk about the policy itself. The latter sort asked about new challenges or more specific ideas related to the policy itself, which test out your on-the-trot thinking. E.g. 'what do you think is the aim of this policy?', 'the minister has just said that ______ should have the right to know if ________ [but it will also bring significant drawbacks if the information is available]. How do you intend to respond to that?' or 'and how, specifically, do you intend to address the reluctance of some organisations to go along with these reforms?'.

the leadership exercise was also followed by a self-assessment following the same format used above, but this time testing Collaborating and Partnering/Building Capability for all, and Leading and Communicating.


For the POLICY RECOMMENDATION EXERCISE, the main part is writing (in prose not bullet points) an analysis of two options against four or five criteria defined by a superior (e.g. social impact/regeneration; environmental; value for money; and public perceptions). You choose one option to recommend, and justify your choice. It is recommended that you save about 15 minutes at the end of your 1h45 to do the second part, which is a brief in note form for, in this case, the minister to use at a high-level committee meeting to justify this choice.

Before even getting to the assessment centre there was numerous online tests that I had to complete. This included the usual numerical, personality and verbal reasoning. If you pass these then you get invited to complete a e-tray online which takes around 2-3 hours. Make sure you practice beforehand as I think only the highest scoring candidates get through to the assessment centre which was the final round.

The assessment centre was a formal format and very very tough in my opinion. There are different tasks to complete throughout the whole day. Each task vary in time from 40 minutes to 2 hours.

The stages I went through was the group task, 1 on 1 presentation, 1 on 1 interview and finally the written report. I was surprised that I did not have to complete the online tests again at the centre. You get a document and a little time to prepare before each section but it is not much and you got to work fast and only take down the key-points or you probably would not read it all in time.

The 1 on 1 presentation was tough. You get a document to read in about 30 minutes. The scenario was to say how would you manage this team with the given information and you have 10 minutes to present to the assessor and then another 20 minutes of them asking you questions about your approach.

Make sure you prepare a lot with the information they give you about each task. Practice what you are going to say in each one and what will your approach be towards each task. Do not try and overpower anyone but do not be the quiet guy also. Make sure you speak your mind and try and keep talking throughout each task. For the written tasks I reccommend taking notes whilst reading through it and think of what you are going to write

Group task was given a document to read over and each member of the group is assigned a department in an organisation. When the group discussion starts everyone has to try and argue what option they think will be good. Each person has an extra document which tells them which option would be best for their department so there can be a lot of disagreeing.

1 on 1 presentation was hard because during the 10 minutes I did not have enough material to say. Make sure you take down everything and if you still have time left then try and give examples of how a good leader will act in general circumstances.

The 1 on 1 interview was probably the most relaxed part as you get to talk to someone in a open environment about how you have demonstrated certain skills. You can use examples from just about anywhere so try and think of some beforehand that would be good to use.

The written exercise is a lot of writing and you have to allocate your time wisely as there is more than 1 task to complete. The tasks might not be allocated evenly so make sure you spend the appropriate time for each section.

The video interview took place after successful online tests. The interview was based around the civil service key competencies asking for evidence of leadership, collaborating and partnering, innovation, diversity and working under pressure. 8 questions asked from a pre recorded video and then was given 2 minutes to answer each immediately after. This process was nerve wracking initially but the interview was set up well to ease you into it and feel as comfortable. This allowed me to give accurate answers detailing my experience to the best of my ability.

To what extent are you effective at adapting to changing circumstances? And what evidence do you have?

Take your time and try not to concentrate on what anybody else is doing. You are put in a room with 40 other candidates all typing at the same time and can be quite off putting. Try to zone out and concentrate on what you are doing. Also have strict time management. The day is designed to pressure you so try to not think about the last exercise of it went worse than expected.

The assessment centres are held in both London and Newcastle. Mine was held in London and was given expenses for traveling and staying over the night before. The centre itself was a half day event held in parliament street and consisted of 3 separate tasks. The first was an hour and a half report writing test in which I was given detailed proposals for 2 new government schemes. From this information I had to create a report and a data sheet detailing my advice on the pros and cons of each proposal and my concerns and recommendations. The second task was a group task where we were all given information on 6 different schemes and told separe tasks to argue for. After this we attended a 40 minutes meeting with other candidates and had to decide together which 2 would be implimented. The final task was a leadership expercise/ role play where I had to present for ten minutes to my "senior manager" my plans for taking over a new team and project. This was followed by 30 minutes of questioning and a self assessment.

After applying online I completed several psychometric tests, including verbal and numeracy. Following this I completed an E-tray exercise where you given a fake email account and answer emails based on a fictitious scenario.

If you are successful you are invited to attend the assessment day.

Arrived at 7.30am to the Assessment Centre in London. There were around 30 of us being assessed that day.

A series of different assessments judged by a variety of assessors.

It lasted till about 4-5pm depending on the timetable you were given.

You must have examples to prove you fulfil their competencies. When they interview you they have a check box based on how you demonstrate you fulfil the competencies - make sure you have LOTS of examples.

You MUST learn the competencies that they assess you by! Memorise each one, and develop strong arguments/evidence as to how to fulfil each one. It is the ONLY thing they assess you on. No points for personality if you don't fulfil the competency criteria.

Time management - you will be given a LOT of information to read in the exercises. Think carefully about how you read and select data.

Try and find someone who has done the assessment day already, ask them about the feedback they received and what they learnt.

We were divided into groups of 6 and then given timetables for our day. It comprised of:

- one group exercise - given limited time to read a booklet of information on different policies and your 'views' on them, which ones your supported and didn't support. Then sent into room with your group to argue why your policy was best and come to unanimous conclusion. Assessed by 3 diff people.

- leadership exercise - given scenario as a manager, given limited time to read information. Then had to present to an assessor, answer qu's.

- written policy exercise - 2 hours

- interview

Throughout the day we have to do our own self assessments on how we feel we did in each exercise.