RFA Interview

[waverider]

I'm a qualified OOW and after applying to the RFA some months ago I have been invited to attend an interview in Portsmouth later this month. The lady I have spoken to said it should not last more than an hour. Is this commonly known as the SIFT interview?

If so any pointers on questions or areas focussed on in the interview would be greatly appreciated.

[size4riggerboots]

Steve's the man to ask about this I think, (Capt'n Birdseye avatar)

[Steve]

I'm not really. It's a long time since I had an interview with the RFA!

FWIW, it does sound like the sift interview (have they not provided an indication of the recruitment process, RFAIB, etc?), but I'd just be guessing as to what they would ask.

[waverider]

All correspondence has referred to just an hour long interview, no mention of sift :S
I've gone over the usual stuff, looked at RFA vessels/locations/operations.
Standard behavioural stuff such as teamwork, leadership, communications
Also, the general stuff (what can you bring to the RFA).

Here goes nothing!

[size4riggerboots]

Best of luck mate!

[Steve]

Thinking about it, I've no idea if they make qualified officers do RFAIB. I can't think of many we've recruited recently and the only example that springs to mind was ex-RN anyway. Rumour has it that RFAIB will be scrapped in the near future.

[Blondie]

It does indeed sound like the SIFT interview and it will last about an hour. Make sure you have answers to questions such as: can you think of a time when you were part of a team? Tell me about a time something you were in charge with went wrong? And of course 'why do you want to join the RFA?'

As for whether qualified officers do the AIB... I can tell you that right now, it's a no. I don't think that's fair or right but that's the situation. IMHO if it's deemed that all officers in the Naval Service pass the AIB then that it shouldn't be waived for a qualified officer. Either an AIB pass is an essential requirement of being an Officer in the RFA or it isn't.

[Blondie]

I'm a qualified OOW and after applying to the RFA some months ago I have been invited to attend an interview in Portsmouth later this month. The lady I have spoken to said it should not last more than an hour. Is this commonly known as the SIFT interview?

If so any pointers on questions or areas focussed on in the interview would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry, I got distracted by AIB talk...

When's your interview?

[Steve]

Either an AIB pass is an essential requirement of being an Officer in the RFA or it isn't.

It used to be that an AIB fail was a good start on the road to the RFA. ;-)

[chris]

Thinking about it, I've no idea if they make qualified officers do RFAIB. I can't think of many we've recruited recently and the only example that springs to mind was ex-RN anyway. Rumour has it that RFAIB will be scrapped in the near future.

Excellent news, better dust off my cv

[waverider]

You're right Blondie no AIB for qualified officers, the reasoning behind it being that if the MCA judge you to be a competent who are the RFA to argue otherwise, after all they are a 'civilian' service. All new officers must still complete BRNC though.

As for my interview, it didn't go too well, made some ridiculous mistakes - asked how many ships were in the RFA fleet, I said 16 (even though I knew there were 13) :S, and my RN knowledge was not up to scratch (couldn't identify naval vessels). I'm not hopeful.

[Steve]

You're right Blondie no AIB for qualified officers, the reasoning behind it being that if the MCA judge you to be a competent who are the RFA to argue otherwise, after all they are a 'civilian' service.

The AIB isn't about assessing competence, it's about assessing your potential to be an RN-style officer. A lot of qualified officers, including current RFA officers, wouldn't meet the pass criteria.

As for my interview, it didn't go too well, made some ridiculous mistakes - asked how many ships were in the RFA fleet, I said 16 (even though I knew there were 13) :S, and my RN knowledge was not up to scratch (couldn't identify naval vessels). I'm not hopeful.

All depends on the competition then - the service knowledge stuff is a bit difficult if you haven't been immersed in it. Do you know when you'll hear about the outcome either way?

[Lewis]

Doesn't BRNC take best part of a year? I think they'll struggle to get qualified officers willing to take another yer out of being at sea to to get drilled at BRNC.

[Blondie]

The RFA course at BRNC is 8 weeks long.

Did you not find out the result of the interview straight away? Perhaps the sift is different to the interview for a qualified officer.

[Steve]

The RFA course at BRNC is 8 weeks long.

AIUI it's based loosely on the course the RN use for docs and vicars (Medical Officers and Chaplains, if you are fussy).

Perhaps the sift is different to the interview for a qualified officer.

I got the impression that the sift interview is to weed out no-hopers before wasting the expense of an AIB on them. For a limited number of places for qualified officers, they will have to interview more candidates than there are jobs for, and select and notify afterwards.