Interview questions must map to the duty statement
Generic questions don’t test the role. They test the candidate’s luck.
The MPC has examined cases where interview questions were not related to the duty statement of the role. That is a direct defect against the merit principle, which requires assessment to be based on the relationship between candidates’ work-related qualities and those genuinely required to perform the relevant duties.
Off-the-shelf interview questions, borrowed from a previous round, or lifted from a “top 10 government interview questions” list, will not defensibly map to this role’s duties. A panel that uses them is assessing candidates against a generic standard, not the role being filled.
Every question should be traceable to a specific element of the work-related qualities framework. If the panel cannot explain which element a question tests, the question does not belong in the interview.