Hi there.
My name is Richard McMunn and in this video, I'm gonna help you pass the British Army Officer
selection interview.
Now, as you probably already know, if you're going through Army Officer selection, you're
going to have to undertake a couple of interviews, one in the beginning to find out whether or
not you have what it takes, the potential, to become an Army Officer; and then also when
you go along to the Army Officer Selection Board, you will have an interview there too.
So the questions in this video are going to be relevant for both stages.
I'm gonna go through about 30 questions.
My advice is to watch this video from beginning to end and you might know a number of the
questions already, but I'm gonna give you some really good tips on how to prepare effectively
and what I believe you should be doing and saying during the interview to pass.
Okay, so some of these questions are basic, some of them are more complex.
I tend to find...my experience of people going through the process is that they can get caught
out on the very basic questions, like for example, "Talk me through your CV."
So a lot of people will put together a CV about the different jobs that they've had,
about their schooling, their hobbies and their interests, but they don't actually read it
and study it.
And when the recruitment officer says to you, "Tell me about your CV," they can't remember.
So make sure you study your CV and you know it in detail from beginning to end.
So as I say, a few basic questions and then tough ones as we go along.
So first and foremost, why do you want to join the Army?
What is your particular reason for joining the Army over the Royal Air Force and the
Royal Navy?
So have a reason why you want to join, what has attracted you to this fighting force,
what are the reasons why you want to join.
Obviously, you need to do lots of study, look at the recruitment literature, go on the website
of the Army.
Find out where they're operating right now.
And how about...I would suggest like three reasons why you want to join.
And this is an important tip as well.
You could say, "I've looked into the values of the Army and I'm really impressed by them
and I feel this is an organization that I want to join."
So with regards to those values - respect for others, selfless commitment, courage,
integrity, discipline and loyalty - we'll go through those in more detail later on.
So have a good reason why you want to join the Army, question number 1.Question number
2, what's your family and perhaps your partner think of you wanting to join the Army?
Now it's important, as you go through the selection process and let's say you're successful
and you go to Sandhurst, you're obviously going to be under a lot of pressure.
You need to have the support of your family.
But also, it needs to be your decision for joining.
You don't want to be saying, "Well, my family are supportive.
It was actually them who wanted me to join, who recommended I do in the first place."
That's no good.
This needs to be your decision and your decision alone.
Remember, you're going to be away from home, a lot of people who join the Army or the forces
in general have no prior experience of being away from home.
So that's another one, what experience have you got of being away from home and how do
you think you would cope with the discipline?
So what your family think, and I would say, in response to that, "I have spoken to my
family in detail.
I have their full support.
In fact, they're looking forward to me leaving home."
You know, something like that.
Make it a little bit light-hearted, but you have the support.
But overall, you need to say, "This is my decision and I have their support but even
if I didn't, I would still be wanting to join.
This is my decision to join."
That's 2 question.
Question number 3, what preparation work have you done in the build-up to the selection
process?
First and foremost, you've been doing loads of research online, looking on the website
of the Army, finding out where they're operating at right now, so there could be a follow-up
question there.
Well, you've just mentioned about where the Army are operating, tell me.
So have a look into the Army, where they're operating right now, what the bases are, especially
with regards to your chosen branch, where the bases are in the UK and also abroad.
So you've been looking at the website, even if you can go along to an army base, you'd
have to get prior approval before you go along, but maybe speaking to some of the officers
there, if you can do, to find out, and also, obviously, the recruitment center, the Army
careers advice center, speak to them, finding out as much as possible about what is involved
with the job.
Next one, what experience do you have of leading, managing, or supervising?
So if you're going to join as an Army or apply to be an Army Officer, you're going to be
a leader and a manager.
I'll come on to that in more detail in a second.
But if you're going to be a leader and a manager, you need to have had some prior experience.
Now some people have said to me, "I want to become an officer but I've got no prior experience
of leading or managing."
And I say to them, "Go out and get some experience of leading or managing."
You know, you can get it.
Or at the very least, shadow maybe your own boss.
Let's say you're at work and you've got a supervisor or your manager, shadow him or
her to find out what's involved.
You'd say, "I've got no prior experience, but I volunteered to shadow my manager or
my boss and I took notes of what they did during the day, whether they carried out appraisals
of staff, how they motivated their team as well."
So think about what experience you have of leading and supervising, but also demonstrate
there that you are willing to learn.
This is really important, and it's a really important quality of an Army Officer is being
able to learn and develop your own skills and learn from other people.
You could also say that you've been reading leadership books.
You know, read leadership books.
There's loads of them.
If you go on Amazon, think about some of your favorite leaders and that's another question,
who is your favorite leader?
Maybe think about somebody and then read a book.
You know, it could be...
Let me put a good leader out of thin air.
Sir Alex Ferguson, for example, he's got a few books out, you could read that and say,
"Really admire him for these reasons.
I've been reading his books to find out about how he would lead and motivate staff."
Now obviously, Alex Ferguson, he's not in the forces, but the style of leadership and
management is very similar, how you motivate your team and get the most out of them.
Okay, so next one, why do you want to become an Officer in particular?
You know, why not just become...
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with regular soldiers, they do an amazing job,
but why not become a regular soldier?
Why do you want to be an Officer?
And you would have to have a good reason for that.
You could say that, "I feel I have the potential to be a leader and a manager and the reason
is because I've been looking at my manager at work and she's really good at what she
does.
I like the way she motivates people.
And I feel I could do the same."
You could also say, "I tend to find that people gravitate towards me.
I find that I'm the first person to put my hand up if there's a problem at work or in
education, something needs dealing, dealing with or sorting out, I'll be the first person
to stand up, you know, and I feel like I want to be a leader and a manager."
And what are the qualities of an Army Officer?
So if we look at a few of these qualities...
And just by the way, at the end of this video, I'll tell you where you can download all of
these questions.
You can also get a copy of these things that I've put and also some sample interview questions
and responses in detail too.
So a number of the qualities, this list is not exhaustive, but I feel it's a really strong
list.
You have to be disciplined.
You have to be honest, really important, honest, trustworthy.
You have to be a man or a woman of integrity.
You have to be loyal to the Army.
You have to also act as a positive role model, so what you don't wanna be doing is you're
going out at weekends, getting right on the beers and creating a bad impression for your
team.
They look at you and think, "Oh, he or she is a good laugh but they're not really setting
a good example."
So you have to be a positive role model for the Army.
You have to be organized.
You have to be disciplined.
You have to also be competent in your role.
You know, learn your skill quickly and be good at it.
You have to be professional, committed.
You have to set standards that others can follow, and you also have to be a supportive
team member, supporting your colleagues, your other Army Officers, and a great communicator,
both written and also speaking verbally.
You have to be a great communicator.
So it's not just about telling people what to do, it's about listening as well to people's
concerns.
An Army Officer has to be a visionary, somebody who looks forward at the end goal of what
the Army wants to achieve, and they get their team there in the best route possible.
You have to be decisive, making decisions, but also being prepared to take responsibility
so if things go wrong, then you change course and adapt quickly.
You have to be able to plan and you have to be able to adapt.
So those are going along to AOSB know you'll have to be doing like some planning exercises,
some work...
You know, that's another tough thing that you got to be prepared for.
So I'll tell you where you can get a copy of this that I've put there, but I would be
listing those out when responding to the interview question, "What are the qualities of an Army
Officer?"
Let's have a look at the next one.
What's the difference between a leader and a manager?
A good one.
These two things, as an Army Officer, you have to be a good leader and you have to be
a good manager as well.
So the main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people follow
them, so you have to be a visionary and you have to be enthusiastic and disciplined where
people want to follow you, and a manager is somebody where people work effectively for
them.
So a manager, you would manage your resources, make sure you've got enough personnel, make
sure you've got enough stuff, equipment, so you manage all the resources, and then you
get people to go to the vision, the point B where you want to get to as a leader.
So having the resources and having people work for you is a manager, and a leader is
how you get people from point A to point B and you motivate them, develop your staff,
and you brief them and you make them feel great about themselves and that they can achieve
a lot.
So managers and leaders, you have to be a manager and a leader as an Army Officer, they're
really important, and understanding both of them.
What are your hobbies and interests?
What do you do right now outside of work or education?
And very important, but it's very easy, you probably know this already.
You know, you don't want to stuck in your backside in your bedroom playing computer
games, you want to be out there, keeping fit, maybe going walking in the Lake District,
hill climbing, a bit of camping, being part of a group, being part of a team, whether
it's hockey, rugby, football, whatever it is, you're a team player and you're active.
They want people to be active and also developing their skills.
You could say, "One of my interests is reading books.
I read a lot of books," make sure you do if you're going to say that, "on self-development."
There's loads of books out there on self-development, so that would be great.
Hobbies and interests.
What contact have you had with the Army?
That's a question so think carefully about the contact.
I mentioned that before: website, Army recruitment office, and also people from the Army, that
would be really good as well.
Tell me about the history of the Army.
Go on their website, have a look at their history.
You don't have to know it in massive detail, but you should know a bit about the history
of the Army.
How are you gonna cope with being away from home and the discipline required?
That's easy to answer if you've done it already.
So if you've been part of the Army Cadets or any kind of disciplined organization where
you go away, even if you're a volunteer.
I mean, that will be brilliant.
If you've been a volunteer and you've been going away, away from home, then it won't
be a problem.
And this is the key thing when preparing for the interview is if you've already done things
before, like if you've already led people, if you're already being physically fit, you're
already organized and disciplined, and you're taking responsibility at home or in your education,
then you're proving you can do it already.
So that's the key part of passing this.
What training are you going to undergo as an Army Officer?
So go on the Army website, have a look at the training you will undergo, take notes,
and then also, this is an important part, so you detail the training that you will undergo,
then they could say, "Which parts will you find the toughest?"
So you could say, "Well, during part 4 or this part, I think I would probably find that
a bit tough, however I have now been preparing for that by doing X, Y, and Z."
Say it was some kind of like maybe planning tutorial.
You could say like, "I've been finding the planning bit a little bit tougher than I thought
but I've been preparing for that by improving my planning skills by carrying out lots of
planning exercises, or something like that.
Everybody has weaknesses.
The strength is the fact that you identify what those weaknesses are.
So that's which parts of the training are you going to find the toughest?
What's your chosen branch or regiment and why?
So have a reason for that.
Tell me about your fitness regime.
What you do right now?
So two parts with fitness.
Solo fitness, maybe going out running, undertaking the bleep test, doing some weight work in
the gym, indoor rowing, swimming, mountaineering, but then the other side is team activities,
really important.
So you've got your solo fitness work and then your team fitness work, whether that's, like
I say, football team, hockey, rugby, whatever it is you do, I don't know, but have some
solo work but also some team work as well, which would be great.
What responsibilities do you have right now at home and in your life?
So have some responsibilities, even if it's as basic as like, "Every week, I'll do all
the ironing or I'll do all the housework, I volunteer to do that."
Have some kind of discipline and routine in your life.
If you have responsibilities in your education, you're some kind of...you're part of a social
group or you're the manager of the social group at school or in education, then brilliant,
that's good.
What team activities are you currently involved in?
What are the qualities of a good team player?
So if you're a good team player, you are disciplined, able to listen to a brief, you are communicative
so you can communicate both written and verbally with the team members, you support all of
the team members, you support the weakest link in the team because you are only as strong
as your weakest link in the team so you support the weak people, you follow a plan, you're
able to adapt to a plan, if things go wrong then you can change quickly, and you play
to people's strengths and you focus entirely on the team task in hand.
And finally, this is important, once the team task has finished, whether it's successful
or not, you get together and you have a debrief and you learn from it.
You ask people, "What did we do wrong?
What did we do well?" so we can learn from it and you share that information with others.
And that's about being reflective as a team member, looking back on what you did and improving
for next time.
What have you achieved in your life so far?
So think about things that you've achieved in your life of significance.
What do you get up to in your spare time?
I've already mentioned that.
Now, current affairs.
Tell me about three current affairs issues from here in the UK and three on an international
level, and what's your opinion on them.
Don't sit on the fence.
A great website or two websites to go to are the economist.com and theweek.co.uk.
I'll put the links to those in the description below here.
You could subscribe to those websites because they'll give you and appraise it down version
of all the different things that are going on, topical events in the UK and also international.
So you need to know about current affairs.Tell me about the different types of equipment
that the Army uses, how they operate and their purpose.
What are your strengths and what your weaknesses?
If you're unsuccessful this time, would you consider joining as a regular soldier?
No.
So my advice would be to say, "No, I want to join as an Officer.
If I wasn't successful, I would go away, I would reflect on my performance, see how well
I've done, but also the key areas I need to improve and I would go and embark and improve."
That would be my response.
Yours might be different.
But I would say, "No, I don't want to join as a regular soldier.
I want to join as an officer and I'm determined to do that."
What are the values of the Army?
So the values of the Army are respect for others, no matter what situation you are in,
you must show respect and tolerance for others; selfless commitment, the needs of the team
must always come first before your own; courage, you have to be courageous; have integrity,
you must always be honest, sincere, reliable, and selfless; you have to have discipline,
obviously, the Army has to be a disciplined force so everyone within the team needs to
follow the rules; and be responsible for themselves, you have to be responsible; and also, to be
loyal to the Army as well, so you need to be loyal.
Okay, next one, what is the minimum service contract for joining?
You should know that.
Which parts of the AOSB would you find the toughest and what have you been doing about
it?
What do you think about your education and what did you think about your teachers?
Do not, under any circumstances, be disrespectful for your teachers, even if you think that
they were not very good.
don't say it, because they're looking to see whether you've got respect for people in positions
of authority.
Now, if you want to learn more, click the link below this video and you can get a copy
of this, you can download it.
Also if you're going through AOSB, you might need planning exercises, speed, distance and
time, so click the links below the video.
Hope you've enjoyed this.
Please do give it a thumbs up.
I'd really appreciate that if you did.
Don't forget to click the red button below the video and subscribe to this YouTube channel
because I'll notify you by email as soon as I create other videos.
And yeah, please put your comments in the section below.
If you want me to provide any sample answers to any of the interview questions, let me
know.
If you've got a particular application coming up for the Army for a particular branch, tell
me what the branch is, and I'll put together a few questions and post them for you.
So thank you very much and please do give it a thumbs up.
I would love that and appreciate it.
And I wish you all very best in your pursuit to becoming an Army Officer.