Civil service

[SallyDK1]

Hi all,

I have recently applied for a few civil service AO roles and I am a little stuck on a few things.

I understand how the process works with all the competencies and framework.

However, I am stuck on thinking of an example for "Seeing the Bigger Picture".
I have previously worked in admin/reception roles.

Also under the new framework what sort of strength based questions can potentially be asked?

Anyone familiar with the civil service? Can anyone help me with this??

Thanks

[Isleepinahedgefund]

Hi, happy to help - I'm a civil servant and lots of experience of recruitment.

Are you getting through to interview?

[SallyDK1]

Hi Isleepinhedgefund -lovely name :-)

Yes, I have an interview coming up shortly. A few competencies will be discussed on the interview and currently I am stuck with "Seeing the Bigger picture". I am struggling to figure out an example with the competency. I have read the info from the framework but can't seem to figure out an experience or in essence a good example.

Also on another point, the interview will also consist of strength based questions. Any idea on what sort of questions I could be potentially facing?

[SuDaji]

Will be watching this with interest OP - I have an AO interview coming up too and have never done a competency based interview before so I'm a bit worried!

[RummidgeGeneral]

An example of seeing the bigger picture is putting a lot of effort into the photocopying of papers going to external panel members because they are being asked to assess something important and they need to have all the information well organised to minimise their time. Might you be able to come up with a similar example which shows how you contributed to a decision making process? Good luck with your interview.

[jackparlabane]

Seeing the bigger picture usually can come down to budgets - if your team gets more, the wider directorate gets less, kind of thing. If you went on a training course could you then teach others and save money, that kind of thing. if it was a policy role then referencing the news - Budget, uncertainty due to Brexit, but less relevant to admin, though the implications of coronavirus might work?

[SallyDK1]

Thanks for the replies.

Would the following example come under seeing the bigger picture:

Insisting that I took a specific duty/work load off an important department, so they could focus on more important issues/tasks. The workload consumed the departments time so I advised that I could do the task. The workload could be mailing/ photocopying etc..

[SallyDK1]

I guess that is in essence, what RummidgeGeneral stated.

[Isleepinahedgefund]

Seeing the bigger picture is about showing that you understand how your work fits into the whole team/department. Something that shows that you looked beyond just making your own widgets but did something that contributed to the whole widget making process to make it more efficient.

For AO level, that example sounds fine - you would talk about how you identified that the other dept was doing this task that was time consuming, the effect is was having, how/why you decided that it would be a good proposal for you to do it instead - what was the benefit to the business as a whole if you did it rather than them? Did it fit more closely with your duties to do it? Did it save money? What would the other department be able to do better/more efficiently because they were no longer having to do that task? And then how you went about arranging it. I wouldn't use words like insist - at AO level I'd expect to hear about how you presented a proposal to management outlining the benefits of the change.

[SallyDK1]

Isleepinahedgefund - Thanks for the input really grateful.

The new framework will also include strength based questions in the interview. Any idea what I could be facing?
Also the answers to the questions, should they surround work bases scenarios or general life situations?