Checked 1 November 2026. Process as published on bankofengland.co.uk, read 1 November 2026. The Bank says its 2026 recruitment round has closed and that it will update its programme pages in autumn 2026, ahead of the 2027 round. Follow the instructions supplied with your own video interview invitation and in the portal.
The Bank of England video interview is a one-way recording: questions appear in the Bank's video interview portal, you get a short time to think after each one, and then you record an answer that stops at a set time limit, with no re-records. Prepare well-structured, succinct examples for the three Bank Behaviours (act inclusively, drive growth, deliver outcomes) and a clear answer to "why the Bank?", and practise them against a timer using the STARR method (situation, task, action, result, reflection) that the Bank says it uses. ProSyllabus is independent practice, not affiliated with the Bank of England.
This guide sets out what the Bank publishes about the stage, what it does not, the kinds of question to prepare for, a time budget for a STARR answer, three worked answers (one per Behaviour) and a timed practice routine. It is the second of four guides on the Future Talent process; the full interview question-and-answer guide is linked at the end.
Key facts: the Bank of England video interview
| Fact | Detail | Official source |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | The second of three assessed stages: after the application form and the online situational judgement test (SJT), before the virtual assessment centre | How to apply for our Future Talent programmes |
| Who takes it | The same process applies to apprentices, interns, industrial placements and graduates | How to apply |
| Format | A series of questions in the Bank's video interview portal; nobody is behind the camera in real time; answers are recorded and reviewed later | How to apply |
| Think time | A short period to think after each question, before the recording starts | How to apply |
| Answer time | Every question has a set time limit and the recording stops when it runs out | How to apply |
| Re-records | Not allowed | How to apply |
| What the Bank asks for | Well-structured and succinct answers; it says it uses the STARR method (situation, task, action, result, reflection) | How to apply (using AI) |
| AI during the interview | Do not use any AI tools, assistants or platforms during the video interview | How to apply (using AI) |
| Result | Successful applicants are told two weeks after the application deadline and move on to the virtual assessment centre | How to apply |
| Disability Confident scheme | Applicants who apply through the scheme and meet the minimum requirements of the job description are fast-tracked to the video interview; the Bank says it will not consider their score as part of the application | How to apply |
Read the stage descriptions yourself on the Bank's How to apply for our Future Talent programmes page. For the 2027 round, check the Future talent and Graduate programmes pages, which the Bank says it will update in autumn 2026.
What the official pages do not specify
Not on the Bank's process pages
- How many questions the video interview has.
- How long the think time is before each recording.
- The time limit for each answer, or whether the limits differ between questions.
- The questions themselves. The official pages reviewed for this guide do not list them, so treat any practice list, including ours, as practice, not as the real questions.
The official pages reviewed for this guide (read 1 November 2026) do not give these figures. Follow any instructions supplied with your invitation and in the portal, check the question count and timing information provided before you start, and use it to plan your answer lengths.
The kinds of question to prepare for
The Bank's process pages do not list the video interview questions. They do describe what the Bank looks for across the wider process: the Bank Behaviours, which interviews for Bank roles ask about; your motivation, which the application form asks you to explain; and evidence from your own experience in your own words. The assessment centre interview, one stage later, asks motivation, behaviour-based and analytical or technical questions. These wider requirements make useful preparation themes, but the pages do not specify the video interview's question types. Prepare a range of examples covering the Behaviours. The Bank Behaviours are:
| Behaviour | What the Bank says it means | Evidence to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Act inclusively | Earning trust through consistent honesty, integrity and authenticity; embracing different perspectives and cultures so colleagues do their best | A time you brought in a view that was being missed, or kept your word when it cost you |
| Drive growth | The courage to do what is right; self-awareness through reflection and feedback; helping colleagues of all backgrounds meet their goals | Feedback you acted on, a mistake you owned, or someone you helped develop |
| Deliver outcomes | Focusing on what matters most; a vision, future scenarios, responding to change and setting strategies; meeting commitments individually and together | A deadline you met by prioritising, or a plan you changed when the facts changed |
Twelve original practice questions in that spirit. They are not Bank of England questions; use them to rehearse speaking to a timer, not to predict the interview. For the classic interview questions with full model answers, including "Why the Bank of England?", see our Bank of England interview questions and answers guide; the questions here are different ones.
| # | Family | Practice question |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Skills and programme fit | Which skill do you expect to use most on the programme, and how have you shown it so far? |
| 2 | Motivation | Tell us about something in your studies or work that first got you interested in economics, finance or public service. |
| 3 | Motivation | What do you think would be the hardest part of working at a public institution, and how would you handle it? |
| 4 | Act inclusively | Tell us about a time you changed how you explained something so that someone could follow or take part. |
| 5 | Act inclusively | Describe a time you kept a commitment when it would have been easier to let it go. |
| 6 | Act inclusively | Give an example of earning someone's trust when they did not know you. |
| 7 | Drive growth | Tell us about a time you changed the way you work after trying something new. |
| 8 | Drive growth | Describe a time you asked for help or advice. What did you do with it? |
| 9 | Drive growth | What is the most useful thing someone has taught you, and how have you used it since? |
| 10 | Deliver outcomes | Tell us about a time you had to deliver something to a standard you had not worked to before. |
| 11 | Deliver outcomes | Tell us about a time you needed people outside your own group to help you finish something. |
| 12 | About you | Pick one experience on your application form and tell us what it taught you about how you work. |
How to structure an answer when the recording stops on time
STAR is the familiar interview structure. STARR, which the Bank says it uses, adds a fifth step: reflection. In a live interview a panel can ask a follow-up to draw that out. In a one-way recording nobody can, and the recording stops at the time limit, so plan the reflection into the answer itself and make sure you reach it.
| Step | What to say | Length (our rule of thumb) |
|---|---|---|
| Situation | Where you were and your role, in one or two sentences | One or two sentences |
| Task | The goal or problem you personally owned | One sentence |
| Action | Two or three steps you took yourself, with the reason for each | The longest part of the answer |
| Result | What happened, with a number, a decision or feedback if you have one | One or two sentences |
| Reflection | What you learned, and how you would use it at the Bank | One or two sentences |
Using the think time well
- Pick the example first. Decide in the first few seconds which story you will use, and do not switch once the recording starts.
- Name the Behaviour to yourself. Which of the three does the question point at? Choose the action that best shows it.
- Fix your first sentence and your reflection line. If you know how you will start and finish, the middle follows.
- If the clock is tight, shorten the Situation, never the Reflection.
These are our suggestions for a timed recording. The Bank asks for well-structured, succinct answers; it does not prescribe how to use the think time.
To turn a time limit into a length, time yourself reading a practice answer aloud at a natural pace and count the words. Then write each prepared example to fit comfortably inside the limit given for your interview, with a few seconds to spare. An answer that is cut off before the result and the reflection loses the part that shows what you achieved and learned.
Free sample: a few timed questions in our test player, with your score, time per question and the reason behind every answer. Start the free sample.
The video interview comes after the situational judgement test, which uses scenarios from working life at the Bank to see how closely your choices align with its values. Try four original practice questions from our SJT kit above.
"Why the Bank of England?": a frame, not a script
Motivation comes up across the process: the application form asks about your motivations, and the assessment centre interview asks motivation questions. A strong answer is specific to the Bank, not to "a big employer in finance". The Bank describes its mission as promoting the good of the people of the UK by maintaining monetary and financial stability; its Why you should join us page names setting Bank Rate to keep inflation at the Government's target, monitoring the financial system, issuing banknotes and settling payments every working day. Build your answer in four parts:
| Part | What to cover | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The mission, in your words | Why public-interest work on prices and financial stability matters to you | Reciting the mission statement word for word |
| 2. One area of work | A part of the Bank's work you have read about and want to learn, linked to your stream | Listing every function the Bank has |
| 3. Your evidence | A study topic, project or job that led you here, in one or two sentences | A general CV summary without saying why this role interests you |
| 4. What you would bring | One strength and one of the Bank Behaviours you would show from day one | Salary, prestige or "it would look good on my CV" |
Write your own version, check every fact you mention against the Bank's own pages, and rehearse it to time. A memorised script tends to sound read; the Bank's AI guidance says perfectly scripted, impersonal video answers will not get you as far as genuine examples of your thought processes, because a human assessor reviews them.
Three worked answers, one per Bank Behaviour
Each answer follows the five STARR steps and runs a little under two minutes when read aloud at a natural pace. Time your own reading: pace varies from person to person. That length is for illustration only: fit yours to the limit given for your interview. The stories suit a final-year student or recent graduate. The questions are our own, not from any Bank of England interview, and none of them appears in our paid video bank.
1. Act inclusively
Worked example 1 · Act inclusively
“Tell us about a time you checked who a decision would affect before it was made. What did you find, and what did you do?”
Situation. In my second year I was treasurer of my university's economics society. The committee planned to move our weekly talks from lunchtimes to Thursday evenings, so that more speakers could come after work.
Task. I knew some members commuted or worked evening shifts, and before the vote I wanted the decision to reflect all our members, not just the ones in the room.
Action. I proposed a three-question poll in the members' group chat: which slot each person could attend, whether they commuted or worked in the evenings, and whether recordings would help. A third of the replies said they could not come in the evening, and most of those commuted or worked evenings. I took the figures to the next meeting and suggested alternating evening and lunchtime talks, with the evening ones recorded for anyone who could not attend.
Result. The committee adopted the alternating plan for the spring term. Average attendance across the term held roughly level with the autumn, and the recordings were watched by members we had rarely seen at talks.
Reflection. I learned that the people a decision affects most are often the ones not in the meeting, and that asking them is quicker than guessing. At the Bank I would check who a piece of work reaches before treating it as finished.
On the clock: read aloud at about 130 words a minute, roughly 30 seconds for Situation and Task, 35 for Action, 15 for Result and 20 for Reflection. If your limit is shorter, cut the Situation to one sentence and keep the poll, the figure and the reflection.
Why it works: It shows the "embracing different perspectives" side of acting inclusively with evidence rather than a claim: the candidate asked people, used the answer and did not override the committee. The reflection connects it to working at the Bank in one sentence.
An original example answer written for this guide, not a Bank of England question or a real candidate's answer. Build yours from your own experience, in your own words.
2. Drive growth
Worked example 2 · Drive growth
“Tell us about a time you looked back at your own performance and saw something you needed to change. What did you do?”
Situation. In the first term of my final year I gave a ten-minute seminar presentation on regional unemployment. I ran four minutes over and read most of it from my slides.
Task. The module had an assessed presentation eight weeks later, and I wanted to fix the habit for good, not just for that one talk.
Action. I asked my tutor for the two changes that would make the biggest difference, rather than general comments. She said to cut the content by a third and to speak from notes, not slides. I rebuilt the talk around three points, then recorded myself on my phone each week, timing every run and watching it back once with the sound off to see how often I looked down. I also offered to present my group's findings in two other seminars, so that I practised in front of people, not only a camera.
Result. The assessed presentation finished with a minute to spare, and the written feedback singled out its clear structure and delivery.
Reflection. I learned that a specific target and an honest recording teach me faster than general effort. I still record myself before anything important, including this interview. At the Bank I would ask for specific feedback early in each new piece of work.
On the clock: read aloud at about 130 words a minute, roughly 25 seconds for Situation and Task, 40 for Action, 10 for Result and 20 for Reflection. If time is short, keep the tutor's two changes and the recordings; drop the extra seminars.
Why it works: Drive growth includes self-awareness through reflection and feedback. This answer names a weakness honestly, shows a specific method and gives evidence that it worked. The reflection ties the habit to the video interview itself.
An original example answer written for this guide, not a Bank of England question or a real candidate's answer. Build yours from your own experience, in your own words.
3. Deliver outcomes
Worked example 3 · Deliver outcomes
“Tell us about a time you planned for something that might go wrong. What happened?”
Situation. In my final year I coordinated volunteers for a student-run food bank collection at a local supermarket, held on one Saturday each term.
Task. I owned the plan for the day: enough volunteers on every shift, a car to take the donations to the food bank, and the collection target the food bank had asked us to aim for.
Action. From the previous coordinator's notes, I listed what had gone wrong before: late cancellations and too little car space. I recruited two reserve volunteers who agreed to be on call, and arranged a second driver as a backup. I asked the store manager in advance where we could stand if the main entrance was too busy, and shared a one-page plan with every volunteer. On the day, two volunteers cancelled that morning and the store asked us to use the side entrance. I called in the reserves and moved to the spot the manager and I had already agreed.
Result. Every shift was covered, the backup driver made a second trip, and we met the food bank's target. The next coordinator kept the reserve list and the one-page plan.
Reflection. I learned that thinking through what could go wrong is part of delivering, not extra work, and that a plan everyone can see is easier to adapt. At the Bank I would plan for the likely problems before a deadline, not after.
On the clock: read aloud at about 130 words a minute, roughly 25 seconds for Situation and Task, 45 for Action, 15 for Result and 20 for Reflection. This is the longest Action of the three; if you run long, shorten the list of preparations but keep what happened on the day.
Why it works: It shows the "exploring future scenarios" and "responding to change" parts of deliver outcomes, with a result anyone could check. The contingency was in place before it was needed, which is the point of the example.
An original example answer written for this guide, not a Bank of England question or a real candidate's answer. Build yours from your own experience, in your own words.
A timed practice routine
Practise the way the stage works: one take, a short think, a fixed limit.
| Round | What to do | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cold take | Pick a practice question at random, give yourself a short think time, then record one answer on your phone to a timer, no stops | Did you reach the Result and the Reflection before time ran out? |
| 2. Watch back | Watch it once with the sound on and once with it off | Clear "I did" steps; eye line on the camera; no long pauses or reading |
| 3. Trim | Cut the Situation to one sentence and name the Behaviour in the Action | The Action is the longest part |
| 4. Second take | Record the same question again, once | Finished a few seconds early, with the reflection intact |
| 5. New question | Move on; do not polish one answer into a script | You can adapt one example to two different questions |
Tick an example off once you can deliver it inside your limit in one take. The tracker saves in this browser only.
Set-up and the Bank's rules on AI
The Bank's guidance on using artificial intelligence applies directly to this stage. It says you can use an AI tool to research the Bank and to run mock interviews. It also says you should not use any AI tools, assistants or platforms during the video interview, the live interview or the group exercise, that answers should be in your own words, and that perfectly scripted, impersonal video interviews will not get you as far as genuine examples, because there is a human assessor on the other side.
Before you press start: our practical suggestions
- Read your interview instructions, including any question count and timing information, and complete any practice screens the portal offers.
- Use a quiet room, a stable connection and a charged device; close other apps and notifications.
- Put the camera at eye level with the light in front of you, not behind.
- Practise speaking naturally rather than reading a script, and follow any instructions about notes supplied for your interview.
- If you need adjustments, ask in advance. The Bank's how-to-apply page gives BOEadditionalsupport@penna.com as the contact for additional support as you move through each stage.
Mistakes to avoid on a one-way video
The official pages reviewed do not say how video answers are scored. These are our suggested improvements, informed by the Bank's guidance:
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Running out of time before the result | The recording stops; the Bank asks for answers complete within the limit | Practise to a timer; cut the Situation, not the Result |
| No reflection | The Bank uses STARR, so the R for reflection is part of the structure | For experience-based answers, include what you learned |
| "We" all the way through | The assessor needs your own actions and thought process | Say what you did; mention the team for context only |
| Reading a script | The Bank says scripted, impersonal answers will not get you as far as genuine examples | Learn the shape of each example, not the words |
| A generic "why the Bank" | Any employer could get the same answer | Name one area of the Bank's work and connect it to your evidence |
| One example for every question | One story rarely shows all three Behaviours well | Prepare a range of examples covering the Behaviours |
| Freezing after a weak start | There are no re-records, so a pause costs time you cannot recover | Keep going: a calm correction ("let me be clearer") beats silence |
Frequently asked questions
What questions are asked in the Bank of England video interview?
The official pages reviewed for this guide do not list the video interview questions or their types. Across the wider process the Bank describes its Behaviours (act inclusively, drive growth, deliver outcomes), asks about your motivation, and wants evidence from your own experience, so those make useful preparation themes, along with a clear answer to why you want to join the Bank.
How long is the Bank of England video interview?
The official pages reviewed for this guide do not give the number of questions, the think time or the time limit per answer. The Bank says each question has a set time limit and the recording stops when it runs out. Check any timing information supplied with your invitation and in the portal before you start.
Can I re-record my answers?
No. The Bank says you will not be able to re-record, so practise single takes against a timer.
Is the video interview live?
No. The Bank says nobody is behind the camera in real time; each response is recorded and reviewed later by the Bank.
What is the STARR method?
Situation, task, action, result, reflection. The Bank says it uses STARR, which adds a reflection on what you learned to the familiar STAR structure.
Can I use AI to prepare for the video interview?
The Bank says you can use AI to research the Bank and to practise mock interviews, but you should not use any AI tools, assistants or platforms during the video interview itself, and your answers should be in your own words.
When do I hear back after the video interview?
The Bank says it notifies successful applicants two weeks after the application deadline (not two weeks after you record), and they move on to the virtual assessment centre.
What comes after the video interview?
The virtual assessment centre: one group exercise and one interview with motivation, behaviour-based and analytical or technical questions. Applicants to the Economist or Data streams of the Industrial Placement Programme also take an online Excel test.
Is the process the same for internships and graduate programmes?
Yes. The Bank says the process is the same for apprentices, interns, industrial placements and graduates, and it accepts only one application per candidate.
Practise every stage
Bank of England Complete: SJT + Interview + Assessment Centre
- A video interview question bank with a timed answer drill and model answers (none of them repeat the questions on this page)
- The full situational judgement test practice, mapped to the Bank Behaviours
- Group exercise and analytical interview practice, plus an Excel task set
See what is in the complete kit →
Independent practice, not affiliated with the Bank of England.
Sources
- official — Bank of England: How to apply for our Future Talent programmes (application form, situational judgement test, video interview, assessment centre, Bank Behaviours, using AI)
- official — Bank of England: Application tips (interviews, Bank Behaviours, using AI for your interview)
- official — Bank of England: Future talent (programmes; 2026 round closed; the Bank says programme pages will be updated in autumn 2026 ahead of 2027 recruitment)
- official — Bank of England: Graduate programmes (Graduate Development, Trainee Solicitor and Actuarial Development Programmes)
- official — Bank of England: Why you should join us (mission, Bank Rate, payments, Bank Behaviours)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
