I applied online and received invitation for interview within about 4 weeks, whole process took about 6 weeks to the interview date.
Interview took place at HS2 HQ in Birmingham and was a competency based interview led by a Senior Project Manager, a Project Manager, and a member of the HR dept. Daunting as I'm no good in interviews. The HR rep gave me a run down of the interview process then the Senior PM explained in detail about the whole project and the role I was being interviewed for which was interesting and delivered exceptionally. After this introduction it was my turn, and at this point it all went a bit wrong (from my prospective) as basically I just crumbled. This was the first time I have been in a competency based interview which I knew it was going to be because I'd done my research, but I think a combination of nerves and probably to much research meant I'd filled my head with lot of pointless info and suffered brain freeze once I was asked a question, confidence left me at this point and I didn't really give a good account myself.
Both the Senior PM and the PM who were asking the questions could obviously see at some points I was struggling and showed great humility in keeping the conversation flowing and teasing things out of me with respect to my experience, their professionalism in the situation was commendable. I did ask HR prior to the interview if they would like me to deliver a presentation of the kind of projects I am involved with, they declined as they said competency based interviews will be used to determine my suitability for the role. In hindsight I wish I'd took the presentation with me as a fall back option. I am from a completely different industry and both interviewers showed interest when I spoke about it, I think probably realised I was more comfortable talking about that than trying to relate it to the role I was being interviewed for, the presentation would have possibly helped me to give a better account of myself.
Needless to say I didn't get an offer, I'd have been more surprised if I did. Even though I crumbled I rate the overall experience a positive one because the people interviewing me were nice, showed exceptional professionalism and showed genuine interest in my experience. I'll go away and try to gain a bit more experience and hopefully come back.
