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 Understanding, response and analysis
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Researching a business and job role
Learners read about a company or job role and pick out facts useful in an interview. Entry 1 learners list very simple facts with substantial support, Entry 3 learners select relevant business facts, and Level 2 learners prepare detailed research that is accurate and directly relevant to their chosen role. Business research is required by the criterion at every level.
Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils scan a short company profile and highlight what the business does, where it is and how many people work there.
- Year 8
- Pupils read a job advert and the company's About us page and note three facts they could mention in an interview.
- Year 9
- Pupils research a business from several sources and write a one page summary of the facts most relevant to a chosen job role.
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 1 to Entry 3, page 49, Level 1 and Level 2, page 50
“They can pick out business facts which might be useful in the interview”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of strategies for finding information, e.g. skimming for gist, scanning for detail.
I can make use of reference/digital sources to select, summarise and synthesise information, referencing as appropriate.
Progression step 4
I can research a wide range of reference and digital sources to develop a full understanding of a topic or issue.
I can summarise, synthesise and analyse information to gain in-depth understanding, e.g. of causes, consequences, patterns, using different sources.
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.