Civil Service competencies AIBU (shamelessly posting for traffic!!)

[Pariswhenitdrizzles]

Hi everyone.

I'm posting here for traffic really - I hope you don't mind!

I applied for a Civil Service job recently, which involved answering several competency-based questions. The job sounded really interesting, and is something that I'd really love to get involved in, however I'm 99.9% sure that I completely messed up the application!!

In the application, I really struggled to use recent examples of things that I've done to respond exactly to each of the competency-based questions and to also respond to all of the substrands of each competency.

For example, applicants are often asked to write about a time when they've demonstrated 'X' competency. However, for each competency, there's also normally a short paragraph that gives further details of the skills that the candidate must also write about in their answer.

I found it really tricky to try and hit each of the criteria using one example that I had to frame using the 'STAR' approach (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

AIBU firstly to ask you if you have any suggestions of examples of situations that I could use for future answers please?

Secondly, AIBU to ask you how you would recommend setting out an answer to a typical competency-based question? I understand that answers should be laid out using the STAR or CAR (Context, Action, Result) format. However, I'm not at all sure that I've got the hang of using this format when writing about examples of how I meet each competency.

Thanks everyone :)

Sorry, just to clarify about what I meant in my OP - I fully understand that all examples that I write about would have to be things that I've done.

In my first 'AIBU' part of my OP, I meant to ask whether you could perhaps suggest any general examples please of what to use (just to give me an idea of which kinds of examples can be written about well using the STAR or CAR format?) I feel that the examples that I gave in my last application were nowhere near specific enough

I've done hundreds of these on both sides of the table.

Example:

A team member felt very undervalued. They had been in post for a long time but their last Manager hadn't allowed him to do certain tasks as they were "above his grade". I had to find a way to get him motivated. I knew he had an interest in a particular task, so gave him some coaching on it, explained what he needed to think about to prepare and remained available to support him. He attempted the task, and I gave feedback of some ways he could improve it. Once he had it cracked I ensured it was sent in his name. The senior manager it went to was very impressed with it and complimented the member of staff directly. He was then keen to do more of the tasks he hadn't previously done and was significantly more motivated.

I've done loads too (also on both sides of the interview table!). What type of job(s) have you had before? What grade are you applying to? What sort of role? (Project management, admin, policy, customer service etc etc?)

You don't (usually) have to address every sub strand.

Could you post one of your examples (suitably anonymised)? Much easier to offer advice based on what you've actually done. Or PM me a couple of examples from your form. It's almost impossible to say the kind of examples, because it really depends on your previous experience.

I'm a Civil Servant and appreciate just how tricky trying to apply for jobs as an external candidate is. Feel free to PM me.

I think it is hard to condense something complex into the STAR format. I think Titty's example is great actually. It would be easier to reply if you can indicate which grade and type of role you are going for. I think I might try and rewrite some of my examples using Titty's style! (I'm currently trying to put some together to apply for promotion).

My tips for STAR are:

• to focus much more on the actions you took and your decision-making process than the situation - set it up as simply as possible, leave detail out or simplify if needed.
• when it comes to Action, emphasise what you did - avoid 'we decided to...' - it's 'I decided to'. If somebody else was involved in decisions, then still keep it focused on you e.g. 'I spoke to my manager and gave her my view that we should take X action, which she supported'.
• try to give the reasoning behind the decisions you took. Remember you are meant to be using the example to demonstrate your competency in that area, not just tell a narrative. E.g. 'I gave the customer a free meal' could be better as: 'I knew that word of mouth is one of the main drivers of our business, so I explained the challenges we had been under during that service, and offered a free meal so that he could come back and try another service and restore his confidence in us.'
• Always always always remember to include the impact of your actions, and wider impact if relevant. E.g. Rather than 'the customer went away satisfied', try 'I believe that due to my actions with regards to customer complaints, I prevented a lot of negative reviews and word of mouth which could have seriously impacted our custom.'
• stick to the question and keep referring back to it to check you are. A common thing I ask for is an example of when somebody had conflicting deadlines. Often people start by telling us about a situation where they had a lot on - great. But then they descend into telling us about all the projects they were working on and forget to tell us about the bit where there was a conflicting deadline, and how they actually dealt with that.
• use keywords - if the competency is teamwork, use words like team, collaborate, support, etc.
• if you're an external applicant and the process seems very internalised, don't be afraid to ask for clarification on how they assess the applications or how they understand certain competencies. Working in a business like this (not the Civil Service), I am always happy to share this info with external applicants if they ask and its something that would be common knowledge for an internal applicant.

Good luck!

As complete projects and activities I tend to note them down in a record in the STAR format. If I think of them in that way from the start it's much easier to recall them at interviews later. I also try to identify more than 1 category of competences in 1 example.

Some great advice from mouton. I am doing a massive recruitment drive for my department for HEOs and SEOs currently and the pass mark for securing an interview is usually 4, but because we have had nearly 1000 candidates who have passed the initial competency test, they will have to score a 5 to progress any further. The guidelines for sifting are that to score a 5, you will need to demonstrate substantial and consistent positive evidence of the competency.

Strong evidence looks like: clearly identifying the task, giving a specific example which meets the criteria and describes what the applicant did, how they did it, what their personal contribution was, how they handled key issues, what the outcome of their actions was, including lessons learned.

Weak evidence would look like: not clearly identifying the task, providing statements or generalisations without specific evidence. It could be non specific, routine and not challenging, low level for grade, go too much into process or jargon, or give theory.

Make sure you use examples which hit all of the bullet points listed against the competencies, and try to include a bit which hits the higher grade competency if you can whilst still addressing the ones that have been requested. This can show that you have provided strong or exceptional evidence (and hence scored a 6 or 7).

Good luck!

Really sorry hello all
My goodness typing mistake