PS Flashcards
Tell us about your previous experience in a professional services team.
ICL:
- Specialised accounting responsibilities (allocating funds against quotas, recordkeeping, reconciliation),
- Widening Participation Expert
- Training on student finance policy (conferences, workshops)
- Networking with fellow practitioners at NASMA, network I could reach out to for support
UCL:
- Fundraising e.g. The Francis Crick Institute, the Dementia Research Centre
- Admin support to alumni e.g. Alumni Services
Tell us about how you would engage with different stakeholders.
Describe 5 groups.
Important to identify the most effective comms method for each group to maximise impact.
For example, at ICL:
Current students - digital content (online ticketing system, website, social media)
Prospective students - direct marketing, reassurance of a person (events, exhibitions, flyers)
Distant colleagues - ease (emails)
Close colleagues - capitalise on personal relationships (calls, meetings)
External partners - focus on building rapport (active networking at events) then follow up with secondary comms (email, calls)
Tell us about your IT experience.
List 5 areas.
- MS Office - 10 years of experience
- Social media - 10 years of experience, including LinkedIn
- Office comms - Slack and Zoom)
- Client-side web development course - HTML, CSS, Java
- Programming - R (MRes) and Python (course)
Tell us about your communication skills.
Give 6 points.
- A* in both English Language and Literature at GCSE
- Detailed understanding of grammar through French A Level
- Developed at uni through essay writing
- Have allowed me to undertake diverse comms
- Scientific comms: lab reports at uni, MRes thesis formatted as a journal article, present in a variety of media (data tables, graphics, writing)
- Workplace comms: e-newsletters, events, flyers, social media, update emails, web copy
Tell us about how you would organise a dynamic workload with competing priorities.
Give 5 points.
Give us an example of how this organisation allowed you to succeed at work.
- Set milestones: breaks work down into more manageable sections
- Create to-do lists: clear about what you need to do
- Rank items by priority: complete work with shortest deadlines first
- Add key dates to Outlook with reminders: stay ahead of deadlines
- Enter data immediately: ensures accurate recordkeeping
At ICL, this structure allowed me to manage 3 competing grant schemes simultaneously, supporting almost 3,000 students through the allocation of millions of pounds of funding.
Tell us about your interpersonal skills.
Give 3 points.
- 10 years of customer service spanning hospitality and retail
- Training in sales psychology and ‘Influencing and Negotiating’, understand how to persuade someone and which indicators to pick up on
- Supported vulnerable students at ICL, can conduct myself with compassion and sensitivity
Tell us about a time you were creative.
Structure your response as STAR.
S: MRes project, measure CO2 flux from deadwood
T: time limited plus 3-week specimen development time, had to collect data from 11 plots hours apart in a challenging landscape, monsoon season
A: used rubber exercise band
R: saved time and money as could reduce the no. of times needed to visit each plot, plus easier to pack away quickly during monsoon rains
How has remote working during C19 affected you?
I have learnt transferable skills (Slack, Zoom) that I can use going forward as many businesses will permanently change the way they operate.
Tell about your experience working independently in a team.
ICL
Independent - solely responsible for the awards in my remit
Immediate team - part of a small team of four who were Subject Experts in different areas: shared knowledge to provide comprehensive advice to students, also allowed us to cover each other’s work during absences for business continuity
Wider team - close cooperation with colleagues across the College and with external partners (SLC, NASMA)
Tell us about your pursuit of self-development.
Give 3 points.
Always looking to expand my knowledge and skills
Undertaken 10 training courses in the past two years alone, in and outside of work
Saw lockdown as an opportunity to expand my knowledge of CC: six courses including ‘Green Economy’, ‘Sustainable Finance’ and ‘Legal Regime’ to grow economic/political understanding.
Give us an example of a time you provided a responsive, helpful service.
How did you achieve that?
Product consultations at Lush, help people find the right product to soothe skin/hair conditions.
- Open Qs: prompted the customer to share their experiences
- Active listening: encouraged them to continue and share more details
- Allowed me to build a comprehensive picture
- Drew on extensive product knowledge to recommend a RELEVANT solution
Give us an example of a time you supported someone with compassion.
How did you achieve that?
SSF, Rosie Foster, she was distressed
- Got a private room, glass of water and tissues: made her feel comfortable
- Active listening without interjection: made her feel validated
- Soft tone of voice, open body language: comforting
- The above created trust between us
Tell us a about a time when you worked towards a shared responsibility with individual objectives.
Give 7 points.
Python, final project
- Split the work: avoided duplicating efforts, made us quicker to meet the short deadline
- Meant our code was interdependent
- Uploaded all work to Github so everyone had resources
- Communicated via Slack to support each other
- By working independently with specialised objectives we each contributed meaningfully to the whole
- Because, missing any one of our work, the project would have failed
- Came second in the final competition
In your professional services experience, which groups of stakeholders have you engaged with?
Name 6 groups.
ICL:
- Academic staff
- College staff (Registry teams)
- Customers (students, parents)
- Gov bodies (SLC, NHS Bursaries)
- Private sector (Santander)
- Third sector (ICU, NASMA)
Tell us about your presentation skills.
Give 4 examples.
- Uni: presenting research to the department, scientific audience so used data tables, graphs, writing
- Lush: interactive product demos to crowds of shoppers
- ICL: presentations to prospective students/parents at Open Days
- Python course: presentation to a mixed technical/business audience, used mixed media to target both, minimised use of alienating jargon
