Civil service is it possible to get in from outside with +++ transferrable?

[medlarmeddler]

'Higher Executive Officer' level job.
Am new to all this and faced with the 'Success Profiles' application process - and a much more involved application process than I've ever been through

Am 48.
Am overqualified in some ways and have ++ transferrable skills.

I am summarised as 'have postgrad in required subject, have since take 15 years to rear kids whilst volunteering loads and running self-employed business in related area with DH, have had a PAYE job for a year in required field to get back on ladder (but much more of a big fish/small pond scenario where I am the department - can do the job in my sleep and boooored).

Is their quite involved 'name blind recruitment' and 'sifting' process in my favour or not?

It seems quite faceless but the job looks interesting

Of course it's possible. But the question is, is it likely with a 15 year old postgrad and one year of recent work experience? At HEO level there will be a lot of competition.

You will need to address each Behaviour & Strength in the success profiles in order to be shortlisted as each one will be scored. Not enough information and you won't get a good score. Summarising is OK for a supporting statement if one is required but the detail comes in those sections.

You need to use STAR type examples, as you would in an interview. Look carefully at the definitions for Behaviours (google - they are on Gov.uk if you've not found them yet) and use similar language in your reply. Degree is only useful if it's relevant to the job and even then will only score once (probably under Technical) so your experience & demonstrated skill is important.

Name blind just means recruiters can't make biased, potentially discriminatory, assumptions based on name, so it won't 'help' you in any way.

Some CS roles have webinars to help with the recruitment process if you're new to it. Try to find out as this would be helpful.

As others have said you need to meet the criteria for every behaviour, there's no point scoring 6 on one if you only score 3 on another as you won't pass the sift or interview if you don't get 4 or higher on each one.

Use STAR technique in all of your answers and make sure you talk about "I" rather than "we" to make it clear the role you took.

Obviously I don't know what the behaviours are that they are assessing but being "the department" might be a disadvantage as they are likely looking for teamwork and possibly some degree of leadership skill, which you may have trouble giving examples of if you work on your own a lot.

I don't think you should describe yourself as having taken 15 years 'out' to rear kids if you were self employed at the time. If you write it as you've written it here you sound the opposite of overqualified in recent experience terms.

Yes. Perfectly possible. Blind recruitment and sift is in your favour. Employment gaps etc don't matter in CS, nor does age. It's all about transferable skills, how you do on the tests/in the interview. Behaviour examples can be taken from any part of your life. Swot up on the strengths dictionary though. I've been working CS for a year. Went in at HO level in my 40s. Previous jobs/careers were unrelated. Lots of older staff and mums returning to the workplace in my office.

Oh thanks all,
Really helpful.

I can definitely swat up on those suggestions and I’m good at framing my transferrable skills to specific targets and criteria

@onethirtyfive gotcha - re: years ‘out’ - actually I think I’ve learnt more in those years than the 15 before- and many of them transferrable in ways I can example pretty well. Actually it seems this process allows for more explanation than a lot of application processes with rigid processes.

The times in my life I’ve been self employed have made for much more agility and creativity than the PAYE jobs I’ve had. I’ve found often application processes don’t take account of that experience as much as they might. If you’re self employed you don’t have a line manager to measure that. You have to advocate for yourself - which is a skill in itself

Yes it is, particularly if it's a role requiring specific technical skill / expertise.

I joined at grade 7 in a technical specialist role.

Absolutely, I joined as SEO and was G7 within 18 months. It only favours internal candidates (in my experience) due to the somewhat specific recruitment process which is easier to navigate when you understand it. But that's not to say you can't crack it as an external candidate.

I think it would be of advantage to you as you are assessed on your personal statement, any test scores and application based competency questions. At interview its behaviour based so aslong as you give good enough examples your in!.

I think you should research carefully what's going on as many departments are cutting posts and promotion is getting harder due to spending cuts. Civil servants are having quite a demoralising time.

I joined at Grade 7 so perfectly possible. I failed at two G7 applications, learned from the feedback I was given (they gave great feedback) and then finally made the selection third time round.

If you get to the interview stage, its worth looking at YouTube. There's some very helpful interviews on how to structure your answers in the right way to get the high scores.