Podcast Episode 09 – Can I Answer Multiple Questions With The Same Experience?

Audio Version

Summary

Here is a dot point summary of the podcast excerpt:

● You can use the same experience to answer multiple interview questions.
● You should select the part of the experience that is most relevant to the question.
● Do not include irrelevant details in your answers (“extra herbs and spices”).
● You should be able to slice up your experiences into smaller sections that you can use to answer different types of questions.
● Match the slices of experience to different core values or skills.
● Know your experiences well so you can identify the right part to share.
● The goal is to give evidence of the skills and qualities that the interviewer is looking for.

Main Theme: Effectively using personal experiences to answer different questions in police application interviews.

Key Ideas:

  • Yes, you can reuse the same experience to answer multiple questions. The key is to focus on different relevant aspects of the experience for each question.
  • Don’t share the whole experience every time. Instead, select the “slice” or section that is most relevant to the specific question being asked.
  • Match the section of your experience to the core of the question. Avoid adding irrelevant details (“extra herbs and spices”).

Supporting Quotes:

  • “You’re not going to share the whole experience more than once. In fact, you’re not going to share the whole experience even once. What we’ll do is we’ll select that part, that section or that slice if you like, of an experience that is relevant to the question and we’ll share that relevant part.”
  • “So, we don’t throw those extra herbs and spices in there to try to make it sound good. Instead, we focus in on just that part of the experience where you were able to show really good communication skills in a challenging situation because that’s what’s the question about.”
  • “By knowing your experiences really really well, you can slice those experiences up into different sections into smaller components and then be able to identify well what’s a good match for this part of my experience…”

Practical Advice:

  1. Analyse your experiences: Break down significant experiences into smaller sections, identifying the skills and qualities demonstrated in each section.
  2. Match sections to key values: Link these sections to common police core values like communication, resilience, leadership, decision making, and conflict resolution.
  3. Practice tailoring your responses: For each potential interview question, select the most relevant section of an experience and practice explaining it concisely and effectively, highlighting the desired skill or value.

By following this approach, applicants can maximise the use of their personal experiences to provide compelling evidence of their suitability for a police career.

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