County Council Job Interview Advice??

Hi, I’ve just ben invited for a job interview with the county council…..quite like the idea of some sort of job security – the speculative housing industry that I work in now is uncertain to say the least.

So any local government employers out there with any tips?

Get the job. Blag, lie, con, just get it. You almost cannot be fired unless you make a serious effort over and over again.

Are you a differently abled, differently sexed, person of colour then the job is yours. If you are lazy, incompetent, rude and patronising to the public then you will go far.

Can you demonstrate a consistent track record of under achievement and long periods of sickness absence?

Demonstrate that you deliver, and that you won’t make their lives any more difficult if they employ you.

Do you like regular tea breaks?

If the interview is at 9:30, ask loudly if you can stop at 10 for tea and biscuists (unless they already have stopped).

I get the feeling a few of you out there have had bad experiences with your LA. I’ve only ever worked in private contracting i.e. you must deliver or you don’t last – I’ve seen over 2/3 of our workforce go over the last 6 months – I’m lucky in that I can perform quite a few roles and so I was ione of the ones that they kept……………but just married, new house and baby round the corner – I’ve had enough of wondering if the company will last till pay day.

Normal rules apply. Learn as much about the role/department as you can before the interview. Be yourself, relax, answer the questions honestly and be polite.

If you tick the boxes and you are the best of the interviewees you will get the job. If you don’t / aren’t, you wont.

Good luck.

If you tick the boxes and you are the best of the interviewees you will get the job.

Unless of course they’re down on their quotas of employees who are a differently abled, differently sexed, person of colour in which case you won’t.

Unless of course they’re down on their quotas of employees who are a differently abled, differently sexed, person of colour in which case you won’t.

That’s what the sift is for.

are you a workshy, inneffective dolt, with delusions of granduer? Do you think you’re funny, have a weight problem that demands special and expensive work equipment, and possibly even an assistant under the equal opportunities policy? Do you approve of the idea of subcontracting out services to companies that charge more, and provide a significantly worse service to that which is already operating? Are you willing to cry foul and work to rule at the drop of a hat, whilst maintaining impeccable job security for life, and retirement?

If yes, the life of local government work is for you.

Probably a ‘criteria based’ interview – or as one trained in the dark arts ‘bull shit bingo’

Gen up on everything and ladle in as many buzzwords as possible, things like VFM(value for money) scoping groups, interdepartmental coordination, or whatever is within the remit of the job.

Seriously tho’ think very carefully about what you wrote on the application and how accurately you relate to the person spec. Your the commodity so sell yourself! For me this is the difficult part as most people don’t like to boast about their individual merits and achievements but again SELL YOURSELF and do it in a way that shows knowledge but lets them see your a team player

Good Luck!

And good luck!

Probably wasting your time, in my experience. My wife works for the council already, in a relief position so no guaranteed hours. When ever she applies for a permanent position, which has to be advertised in-house and in the newspapers, she finds that there is already somebody in place who is in line for the job, or is being redeployed from another department or something similar. The job has to be advertised and a certain number of people interviewed to comply with their regulations. Usually find the person appointed then has little idea of the job and she has actually ended up helping them to do the job she wasn’t considered suitable for.

I worked for my local council for 9 years in the highways/landscapes department. Pay wasn’t nothing special but good pension good holidays and 12 months sick pay though I was rarely sick and needed it. Enjoyed t for the first few years but in the end I got bored/fed up and left. That was 10 years ago mind you. Oh and you get lazy gits/sicky people in every job.

And as someone posted above you may find the job already taken they just have to advertise it by law but good luck anyway.

It’s not all as bad as everyone makes out. Just to give you a balanced view point, there are some very stupid members of the public out there who want to moon on a stick and mistakenly think that you saying no to their hairbrained request is being workshy and patronising!

Anyway, most with recruit on merit which means that have a list of bulit point that you need to hit when you answer questions. The thing to remember is that you don’t need to show skill or prficiency in these, just awareness. Hit the buzz word and you get the tick. On the equality question, listen carefully, they’re probably asking about the councils overall policy, not specifically how it will relate to your intended role.

No constructive advice I’m afraid. Just wanted to wish you luck with the interview – Good luck!

FWIW – I have got every job I’ve ever been interviewed for bar one (I was 15- shelf stacker at Tesco, hair was too long apparently. Late 30’s now and had no.1 skinhead for the last ten years or more so maybe they’ll have me now!) Anyway my method has always been be yourself, with just enough relevant bullsh”t that when you get the job you can still get away with being yourself at work

THanks for all the advice guys – Kuko; it is actually the highways department I’m going for – I’ll do an update on here when I know how it went – keep your fingers crossed tomorrow for me 😕

Yoshimi, are you a QS ? I remember where you work from a previous thread… Didn’t know you guys were struggling so much.

Being in the same game, I can see the benefits of CC or LA working when looking at it from the private sector. The pension especially as well as the security.

The only thing is like Kuco says, you may well find the job is already taken and they are just going through the motions, this has happened to my wife in the NHS a few times. They have to advertise it. I dread to think how many applications they would have had. We advertised for a site agent the just before Christmas an we had over 390 reply’s!!!.

Best of luck mate.

HI lowey – Yep I’m a QS, I’m pretty sure our firm will be ok, we’re diversifying into hotels and schools. Seem to be picking up work but not on the scale we have done previously. We did have 6 QS and 3 Estimators – I’m now one of the 3 Surveyor/Estimators that remain – as you can imagine the morale and atmosphere is not so great. Even before the downturn I was looking elsewhere- 10 years in and I fancied a change of scenery and new challenge. I think the bottom dropping out of the housing market has just given me that push I needed to start looking a bit more seriously. But as pretty much all jobs seem to be advertised by agencies and with lots of firms going to the wall its difficult to not jumop out of the fryiong pan and into the fire – I think thats why the LA seems quite attractive. They had advertised for a few roles in the same positio so I’m hoping there are genuine jobs available and I’m not just part of a box ticking exercise………otherwise a days holiday wasted!

390 replies for a site agent! – I reckon the competition will be tough then:(

maybe very slim chance i reckon, as above, there will be 300 internal people going for it and by law they have to advertise ‘outside’ 😉

my cousin works in the local council, he has tried to get me in there for the last 4 years, ive had countless interviews. he was actually told i beat many internal candidates hands down but they kept it internal.

sorry to be negative but that’s my view, it might be totally different where you are?

best of luck anyway!

I work for a council, its great.

Having read a few comments, I have to note most internal people suck at their jobs and the attitute for a job for life has changed, I know people in there 50’s who are stuck on the lowest grades possible. They know they wont get promoted. Let them expire their own usefulness

Yoshimi
Go into it like any other job interview, ethnicity and diversity is a good place to read up on the council website. If you know your job you will be fine.

Yoshi, thats a swathing staff reduction mate. In my opinion small is beautiful at the moment. We are a very small company so it doesn’t take much for us to be busy and at the moment we have more work than we can cope with, but we are reluctant to take anyone on as come June we may well be quiet again.

From my point of view I love it. Trained as a QS, but now do estimating, contracts management and buying. Plenty of variety keeps things interesting. Dont think I could ever just be a QS… that would drive me to the wall. Anyway, I’m waffling… best of luck with the job matey.

I keep an eye out for a Cove on the Nab, but not seen you yet :p

Local government doesn’t automatically mean job security these days

see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/7813292.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/7655616.stm

The authority I work for is likely to do the same pretty soon, we’ve been told no-one is safe.

If you work for them already the job is yours. If you don’t work for them you’ve no chance. The job will have been filled before the vacancy was advertised. They are just playing politically correct games with your hopes.