Application Process & Interviews at Hamilton City Council

After my application shortlisted, first round was a phone interview and final interview was in online Teams with my current Team leader and Manager.

involves interviewing, reference checks, review of writing sample

The interview was like having just a normal conversation and they made me comfortable while asking.

When initially applying for the role, it's not just send your CV and you're done, you have to answer a bunch of essay type questions as to why you want to work there and why you should be chosen. From there, I was called by a recruiting agent I believe, who then did an over the phone interview, which had the same kind of questions that I answered to apply e.g. why do you want to work here From there, I was sent online assessments to undertake. There were personality type assessments and problem solving From there, I was told that I was shortlisted and was invited to attend a zoom/teams video call. This call was a massive group call with all the other short listed applicants and there were guest speakers and other people from the Council who spoke about their jobs and life at Council. From there we were sent a time for our final interview infront of a panel from the Council. The interview was 1hr long and we had to do a presentation of something we were proud of from our studies for about 15 minutes and then we were asked questions after that. There was a panel of 3/4 interviewers.

Submission CV/Cover letter, Transcript Personality test Induction with manager and all interviewees Interview with managers Reference check

In first round, a brief introduction about me, reason for applying the job and favourites subjects. In final round, I was made to present my project that I did in the University and questions are raised from those projects. Then scenarios given relates to problem solving, stress handling and questions raised from those situations

the questions were behaviour-related questions Describe a situation when you.....

They asked me my time management skills, strengths and weaknesses.

I was asked questions like so: -Why do you want to work for HCC? -How are you working in a team? -How do you deal with conflict , an example of conflict in a team? -What do you want out of this job? -Are you a leader or a follower? -Can you take criticism? -Are you okay with doing boring jobs in order to get to where you want to be? -What can you contribute to the council? -What's your favourite initiative/programme that the council offers?

About my study My role in group work (leader or follower)

Develop your communication skill and make yourself stronger in the subjects you love. Try to relate the scenarios based question with the real life incidents sure that makes easy to carry over the interview.

Just be yourself

Just be their selves and not to overthink. They want the real you and not sugar coat all your answers

I think knowing what you want out of this experience is a good start. If you can go into the interviews confidently saying this is what I want to learn and why this experience will be beneficial to yourself that is great. Another tip is researching about the company and understanding what they do and finding out what programmes ect the company offers that interests you and that you may want to work on in the future is a good idea. When you speak, speak with an open mind and show that you're willing to work in all areas and just keen to learn and immerse yourself in the team environment!

Be yourself