"I consider myself a professional through and through. I have a mature outlook; I am emotionally grounded and empathetic yet pragmatic. The quality of my work is above average, and my standard is going the extra mile. I am always looking at things from an aerial point of view and have strong attention to detail. Anytime I identify a way something can be done better, I'll do it."

This is a common question in a civil service interview. Most questions serve two purposes. On one hand, it is a method of assessing you and your experience. On the other hand, it tests how prepared you are for the interview and how well you align with what they are looking for in their ideal candidate.

Performing basic research on the agency will provide you with most of your answers. For example, here is the Civil Service's statement for managing a quality service: "Effectiveness in this area is about valuing and modelling professional excellence and expertise to deliver service objectives, taking account of diverse customer needs and requirements. People who are effective plan, organise and manage their time and activities to deliver a high quality, secure, reliable and efficient service, applying programme, project and risk management approaches to support service delivery. For leaders, it is about creating an environment to deliver operational excellence and creating the most appropriate and cost-effective delivery models for public services."