Testing
Pre-interview testing is job specific, and may include testing for skills such as: keyboard speed and accuracy; MS Office proficiency; and written exercises. For example, a position that requires the ability to create letters may have an exercise to respond to a tenant concern. For an accountant position, there may be a requirement to complete some complex financial accounting scenarios.

Before the day:

know where you are going & what time to be there - give yourself plenty of travel time if you’re not familiar with the office you’re going to be meeting at
know who you are meeting with and bring their contact phone number
research the Branch and Department, especially if you are not already familiar with them
review the job description
write down any questions so that you may review them with the panel at the end of the interview (you’ll be given an opportunity to ask questions)
review everything one last time

The Day of the interview:

arrive at least 10 minutes prior to your scheduled time
bring copies of your cover letter and updated résumé
bring a pen and blank paper
dress appropriately for the position and for the interview
ask for the person you are meeting at reception
ensure you have at least 2 hours of parking; if you are coming in for testing and then an interview, allow for 3 hours
water will be offered, but feel free to bring in your own water or coffee

At the interview:
At the interview, you will find a panel consisting of a recruiter and the hiring manager. For most interviews, there will also be another departmental managers present, and members of the panel will take notes. It isn’t unusual for the panel to need a few moments after your comments to capture everything you said. The reason for taking notes is that at the end of all the interviews, the panel reviews the notes and assigns a score to each candidate for each question.

We encourage you to listen carefully, and if you are not sure about the question, to ask for that question to be repeated or even re-phrased. If you can not think of an answer, it is perfectly acceptable to proceed to the next question and come back to the missed question later on in the interview.

BC Housing interviews are generally structured as follows:

introductions
explanation of the interview process
review of your resume and covering letter
recruiter asks general questions
recruiter asks competency-based behavioral questions
recruiter asks knowledge, skills, and ability-based questions, these may include specific knowledge questions and/or situational questions
opportunity for candidate to ask questions

Behavioural questions
Behavioural questions are based primarily on BC Housing’s core competencies. Behavioural questions are by definition those that require candidates to detail how they have handled different types of situations. More…