What I can expect at my interview?
At WSP, we’re a community of talented professionals, each playing a part in the success of the company. We foster collaboration in everything we do, to help you succeed and grow – and deliver great projects for our clients and communities.
At your interview, we want to have a conversation with you to find out more about you, what drives you, what your motivations are and what skills you could bring to the role.
Firstly, we’ll aim to gain an understanding of your potential match for the advertised job. To do this, we use competency and situation-based questions, asking you to give us examples of challenges you have dealt with previously and how you overcame them. We might ask how you build relationships with your team or your clients, and the nitty-gritty detail of your project and design work.
This conversation is also a chance for us to share the information you need to know about us. You’ll find out about the specifics of the role, what success might look like, where the role could lead, and also about the wider team you could be joining and how it fits into the business.
This is an opportunity for us to really get to know each other, and your interview will normally last around an hour (unless otherwise specified).
1. When preparing consider previous projects you were particularly proud of, challenges you overcame or learned from, and team success you had a crucial part in.
2. Then use the BAR method to help plan a concise response to a potential competency or situational style questions.
- B – Background: Set the scene in a concise manner. Think what information is critical for interviewer to know.
- A – Action: what did you specifically do? (Don’t focus on what the team did, focus on your personal contribution - skills used, your behaviours or characteristics that led to success)
- R – Result: What was the outcome? What happened? How do you know if it was considered successful or not?
3. It sounds obvious, but research our company and the people you will be meeting. WSP is a growing, global organisation – you might be surprised to learn about all the great work we do. Check out the people you’ll be meeting on professional social media (such as LinkedIn). What does their career path look like? What’s their perspective on the industry?
4. Keep in mind the role you’re being interviewed for. You will have naturally acquired a range of skills and experience throughout your career to date, but is all of it relevant to the role? Keep the specific role in the back of your mind and try to keep your CV walk-through and examples relevant.
5. Know your own CV. Seems simple but checking you know what’s in your CV so you can answer any queries your interviewers might have highlighted for discussion will be a big help.
6. Finally, be yourself. We genuinely and honestly want to get to know you. A lot of people join us and stay for the long-term because we offer a friendly atmosphere to work in and a chance to design your own career.
Download the guide for the office you’re visiting below.
