Skills for Work: Interview and Confidence Techniques
Interview and confidence techniques is a Pearson Skills for Work unit in which learners research a business and job role, plan their interview day, prepare questions and answers, take part in a mock interview and respond to feedback. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, at any level from Entry 1 to Level 2, graded pass or fail. Literacy demand is high: reading to research a business, writing a plan and a bank of questions and answers, answering in structured STAR answers, asking questions and reflecting on feedback. Numeracy is limited to working out travel timings, and aptitude test numerical reasoning is awareness only.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- High
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3: list, outline or prepare business research and interview planning, and take part in a mock interview, from simple participation at Entry 1 to some clear responses at Entry 3. Centres choose the type of evidence; it is internally assessed by the centre and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: prepare well-developed (Level 1) or detailed (Level 2) business research and interview planning, and show question and answer techniques (Level 1) or a clear understanding of how the interview process works (Level 2) in a mock interview, then respond to feedback. Centres choose the type of evidence; it is internally assessed by the centre and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context
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Writing an interview-day plan and question bank
Learners write a plan for the interview day covering clothing and travel, and prepare interview questions and responses. Entry 2 learners prepare a small set of basic questions, Level 1 learners cover personal, skills based and STAR questions, and Level 2 learners produce a comprehensive bank of relevant questions and responses. This is required by the criterion at every level.
Literacy: Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils write a checklist for the morning of a school council interview: what to wear, what to bring and when to leave.
- Year 8
- Pupils write five likely interview questions for a Saturday job and draft a short answer to each.
- Year 9
- Pupils write a full interview-day plan and a bank of personal, skills based and STAR questions with prepared answers, then redraft weaker answers.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 9, Assessment criteria, page 48; Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 2 and Entry 3, page 49, Level 1 and Level 2, page 50
“travel plan, and a comprehensive bank of relevant interview questions and responses”
Progression step 3
I can use and adapt different structures within my writing, e.g. reporting an event, investigation or experiment.
I can explore different ways to plan, draft and present my work appropriately.
Progression step 4
I can select and use appropriate strategies to plan and develop my writing for different purposes and audiences.
I can organise and construct my writing effectively, connecting and developing my ideas for a range of different contexts.
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Responding to feedback on interview performance
After the mock interview learners ask for or receive feedback and respond to it, from one very simple improvement at Entry 1 to two strengths and two development areas at Entry 3. Level 1 learners describe strengths and improvements, and Level 2 learners explain strengths, development areas and actions to improve future interviews. This is required at every level.
Literacy: Clarity and vocabulary, Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils listen to a partner's feedback on a short talk and write one thing that went well and one thing to improve.
- Year 8
- Pupils watch a recording of their practice answer with a partner and agree two strengths and two targets.
- Year 9
- Pupils write a reflection after a mock interview explaining their strengths, development areas and three specific actions for the next interview.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 9, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 1 to Entry 3, page 49, Level 1 and Level 2, page 50; Annexe C, Literacy Links, page 120
“explaining strengths, development areas and actions to improve future interviews”
Progression step 3
I can reflect on the quality of my expression and use a range of strategies to ensure greater clarity in my spoken communication, including in formal situations.
I can write about my thoughts, feelings and opinions, showing empathy and respect.
Progression step 4
I can reflect on my use of strategies to improve the quality, accuracy and effects of my spoken communication, including in formal situations.
Good to know
- The unit is "SfW 9 Interview and confidence techniques" with "20" guided learning hours (Unit summary, page 5).
- A unit is achieved at one level only: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- Evidence is the centre's choice: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 49), but the guidance at every level describes a mock interview, so much of the evidence is spoken.
- Level 2 goes beyond STAR: learners give "clear, reasoned responses to different question types including 'claim, evidence, and connection' questions" (Essential information for assessment decisions, Level 2, page 50).
- Numerical reasoning in aptitude tests is mentioned only for awareness, "but not necessarily practised" (Annexe C, Numeracy Links, page 120).
- AI may be used only if it is acknowledged, and "the final submission must be in the learner's own words" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 51).
- The Skills for Work specification has two obvious errors: its assessment section says "Every unit in our Skills for Life qualifications includes an Authorised Assessment Brief" (page 8), and it points to "Section 6 Glossary" (page 11) when the glossary is section 7.
Links with other qualifications
WJEC also offers an Interview and confidence techniques unit in its Skills Suite, with the same 20 guided learning hours. The WJEC unit spreads the work over four learning outcomes, including reading job descriptions and positive body language; the Pearson unit has one criterion per level that combines business research, a written interview-day plan with a bank of questions and answers, and a mock interview with feedback, and it adds claim, evidence and connection questions at Level 2. Both rely mainly on speaking and listening. That formal spoken work matches the oracy in GCSE English Language and Literature and GCSE Cymraeg Language and Literature, and the WJEC Skills Suite unit Applying for jobs covers the written application that comes before an interview.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 9: Interview and confidence techniques.