by Elaine Sihera

Created on: July 31, 2008   Last Updated: January 27, 2012

Any government job is likely to deal with people: i:e to serve the public. The emphasis would be on customer service and care, dealing with difficult clients and giving the best advice and information possible. The aim at any government job interview is to find out whether you are the type of person who can deal with others effectively, who can cope in a crisis and who has very good communication skills because that is likely to be the main part of the job at hand. Interviewers would be trying to get to know your strengths in dealing with others and whether you are the right fit for the function you would be helping to execute. Some popular interview questions would be the following:

1. Personal History: Past Experience, Present and Future
Favourite questions here are: "Tell me about your educational background", "How does your education match you up for this post?", "What training have you had to prepare you for this position?"

Always answer personal questions truthfully because lying merely stores up problems for the future. If you did not really enjoy your schooldays, for example, say so, with clear reasons. Then show how you slowly changed your opinion to such a degree that you made subsequent education work for you. That would make you appear much more resilient, mature and attractive than pretending you enjoyed it from day one. Show the relevance of your degree or college qualifications to the job you are seeking and how you would use it to good advantage. Your answer might even give an innovative idea the interviewers might not have thought of. Make sure you go on occasional training so that you can at least show you are keeping up with the new developments and ahead of the trends.

2. What have you read lately, and what are you reading now?
This is simply to get behind your facade, to see what kind of interests you have and the real person behind the mask. Our chosen books tell a lot about us and often these kind of questions are not as simple as they sound. They are likely to reveal far more about your potential match to the job than the direct questions, especially your passions in life. For example, if you are not reading anything it says volumes about your own desire to self educate, to learn and to raise your development standards. Reading books is a sign of being alive, of being intelligent and being curious. An absence of books would say more about you than whatever you actually say.

3. What did you enjoy most and least in your last job?
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