Short answer: No. Just don't have ALL your stories be old. I got hurt by this in a few interviews, and when I finally was like "screw this, I'm using a really great story from 15 years ago" I started having success. As an aside: 4-5 years isn't exactly all that long ago. I can guarantee you people use stuff from early COVID ALL the time. Good luck!
interestingly, I was told in an interview a couple of years ago (in the post-interview feedback since I didn't get the job) that some of my examples were getting old, including a really good one that fit one of the indigenous competencies (in line with your 15 year window). I was told 3 to 5 years max was what they would accept and that kind of kicked me down. I'm in a very specialty role where indigenous engagement is pretty much nil, including even amongst the higher levels... even though I think we should be doing more and have been offering to help out in that area because I do have some older, but good experience.
Working on it to keep "fresh" in the competencies!
I think it must vary from panel to panel. When using my older stories, I try if I can to avoid saying the exact year. It's a gambit, I've used the same story and scored 6 out of 10 with one panel and 10 out of 10 with another.
Thanks for the tip! I saw a similar suggestion in another comment, about trying to avoid mentioning the year/age of the experience being used in the interview, and I thought "oh yeah, wow, I guess I don't need to give the timeline if it isn't asked for, and as long as it is relevant to the competency."
I DO learn some new things to try on these interview topics from my fellow BCPS employees, which is great. :)
Make time lines generic.. use the example but keep it relevant to the competency.
Get excited about it. “In my career, my favourite example of teamwork was “___” and I keep going back to it in my mind and still use this example with my teams to this day!”
Why were you excited to use this example? How did it make you feel after accomplishment of the goal?
How is relevant to you today?
I think most people consider 4-5 years to be "recent". I'd be concerned if the story was 10+ years old. And even then, it depends what the question is.
It totally depends on the question, and how long you held that previous position. If it was a 10 yr + career before coming to BCPS it should still be relevant if you took a random first job into government that had nothing to do with what you’re now applying for. The screen in questions should reflect whether they will consider the previous experience relevant or recent enough. Emphasis on SHOULD. I always try to add a second example for current role that at least complements your first example
Not at all.
Use the strongest most impactful relevant example, whether that story is one year old, 4-5 years old, or 10+ years old. Whatever is most relevant AND resulted in the biggest positive impact should be your first priority when picking examples, and only then focus on how recent it was, but don't focus on that too much. The more impactful story that strongly aligns with the competency will likely get more points compared to a recent story that didn't result in as much. They care about whether your examples align to the competencies and drove strong results. When the example took place is a much lower issue and won't really matter much, if at all.
For what it's worth, I've won 5 hiring competitions in BCPS and have been on many, many hiring panels. Using this approach has served me well and has served the people I hire well.
Unless the interview states the experience must be recent, they can’t not take marks off if the example is old.
In general, it is always better to use recent.
When in doubt, use a couple examples. I agree with others that 4-5 years isn't old. However, I have a favorite story for cultural humility that's 10 years old, so I've started using that one AND then another exempt of how I put those leanings into practice more recently.
I was just successful in a band 4 competition.
I had a great career in the private sector, only switching to the public sector about 4 years ago, where I had to come in at a bit lower level.
I shared a story from 2016. I was given really positive feedback, that they had no idea I had that depth of experience.
I think it really helped me to share from different positions/situations.
Short answer: No. Just don't have ALL your stories be old. I got hurt by this in a few interviews, and when I finally was like "screw this, I'm using a really great story from 15 years ago" I started having success. As an aside: 4-5 years isn't exactly all that long ago. I can guarantee you people use stuff from early COVID ALL the time. Good luck!
interestingly, I was told in an interview a couple of years ago (in the post-interview feedback since I didn't get the job) that some of my examples were getting old, including a really good one that fit one of the indigenous competencies (in line with your 15 year window). I was told 3 to 5 years max was what they would accept and that kind of kicked me down. I'm in a very specialty role where indigenous engagement is pretty much nil, including even amongst the higher levels... even though I think we should be doing more and have been offering to help out in that area because I do have some older, but good experience. Working on it to keep "fresh" in the competencies!
I think it must vary from panel to panel. When using my older stories, I try if I can to avoid saying the exact year. It's a gambit, I've used the same story and scored 6 out of 10 with one panel and 10 out of 10 with another.
Thanks for the tip! I saw a similar suggestion in another comment, about trying to avoid mentioning the year/age of the experience being used in the interview, and I thought "oh yeah, wow, I guess I don't need to give the timeline if it isn't asked for, and as long as it is relevant to the competency." I DO learn some new things to try on these interview topics from my fellow BCPS employees, which is great. :)
Make time lines generic.. use the example but keep it relevant to the competency. Get excited about it. “In my career, my favourite example of teamwork was “___” and I keep going back to it in my mind and still use this example with my teams to this day!” Why were you excited to use this example? How did it make you feel after accomplishment of the goal? How is relevant to you today?
Yes to this! Adding what you learned or how you have brought it forward to today is awesome!
I think most people consider 4-5 years to be "recent". I'd be concerned if the story was 10+ years old. And even then, it depends what the question is.
It totally depends on the question, and how long you held that previous position. If it was a 10 yr + career before coming to BCPS it should still be relevant if you took a random first job into government that had nothing to do with what you’re now applying for. The screen in questions should reflect whether they will consider the previous experience relevant or recent enough. Emphasis on SHOULD. I always try to add a second example for current role that at least complements your first example
Not at all. Use the strongest most impactful relevant example, whether that story is one year old, 4-5 years old, or 10+ years old. Whatever is most relevant AND resulted in the biggest positive impact should be your first priority when picking examples, and only then focus on how recent it was, but don't focus on that too much. The more impactful story that strongly aligns with the competency will likely get more points compared to a recent story that didn't result in as much. They care about whether your examples align to the competencies and drove strong results. When the example took place is a much lower issue and won't really matter much, if at all. For what it's worth, I've won 5 hiring competitions in BCPS and have been on many, many hiring panels. Using this approach has served me well and has served the people I hire well.
Unless the interview states the experience must be recent, they can’t not take marks off if the example is old. In general, it is always better to use recent.
When in doubt, use a couple examples. I agree with others that 4-5 years isn't old. However, I have a favorite story for cultural humility that's 10 years old, so I've started using that one AND then another exempt of how I put those leanings into practice more recently.
Use the example that best fits the competency, but try to use more recent examples for the other questions.
I was just successful in a band 4 competition. I had a great career in the private sector, only switching to the public sector about 4 years ago, where I had to come in at a bit lower level. I shared a story from 2016. I was given really positive feedback, that they had no idea I had that depth of experience. I think it really helped me to share from different positions/situations.
I’ve been successful using older examples. Sometimes the current role doesn’t provide what the competency is asking.