Timing your answers for a job interview

Yes, I think that's a very good idea to time yourself on how long your answers are (before the interview), particularly if you are interviewing in the public sector. If you take the amount of time you have for your interview and then allow time for the opening and closing of the interview and then divide the total number of competencies into the remaining time - you may be surprised at how little time an interviewer has per competency. And in that time, they are rarely asking only one question. And for each question, they want to ask follow on questions. So, 5 minute answers are simply too long.

So yes, time yourself. Have a concise version of your answer - allowing that some answers are longer and some are shorter.

Some candidates type out their answers, so time yourself speaking one out loud, note the word count and edit your other answers to a similar length. Some people write long and then edit it back and that seems to work well for them. If your answers are too long, you will find that many public sector interviewers will cut across you to move you on in the interest of managing the time.​