The application form asks you to write scenarios that describe how you have demonstrated several key competencies for the role. For mine there were 6, and you can look at the competency framework to see the points you should cover in your examples. I got to interview stage having scored 7 out of 7 for each competency- "outstanding demonstration" so I obviously I safely assumed I'd managed to pick good examples for each. At interview I was given a surprise test (which wasn't supposed to be a surprise - just nobody had told me about it beforehand), which I think went okay in the circumstances. For the interview itself I was asked to describe scenarios that demonstrated the same competencies asked about on the application form, which is exactly what I expected. The interviewers had not seen my application form. Before my interview I spent a lot of time adding relevant details to my examples and essentially learning to articulate them verbally, whilst memorising the important points. I really wanted the job so didn't want to leave things to chance or mess it up. They ask you to "explain a time when...." then let you talk. When you've finished explaining they move on to the next question. I didn't get much prompting, nor was I asked anything else. Although I was a little nervous at the interview I was reasonably happy with how it went, I remembered the important points and structured my answers the same way I had in my application. I got an email a week after interview to say I'd been unsuccessful, which in itself is fair enough. I didn't understand why feedback statements talked of things such as "not answering the question" and "giving a confusing answer", since I'd used the same high- scoring examples as in my application and essentially repeated them ad verbatim with some extra details. I will certainly try to implement this feedback for my next application but I'm really not sure how.. Looking back at my preparation notes and memory of how it went and what I said, I'm really not sure how my answers were so unclear, or what more I could have done. I realise that this may just sound like sour grapes, and I guess to a certain extent it might be. What I cannot fathom is what they wanted, if it wasn't an example of something I've done using the STAR format and including the competencies they ask for. I consider myself to be reasonably humble and pragmatic, but I'm floored. I'll try again though, hasn't put me off completely. Next time I'll use totally different examples to see if it helps.