Any Civil servants around who can help me with a grade 7 application?

[Autumnnymph]

Posting here for traffic. I have found a job in Civil services that is perfect for me so I want to ensure my competency answers show that. Its so tough to fit it in 250 words? So should I given just one example and go into some detail or give a few high level examples to highlight that i have done some of those multiple times over?

I have kept the answers to a STAR format but I feel that I am not yet conveying the depth or breadth of my experience as 250 words doesnt seem enough to convey the trickiness or challenges of some of my examples. Any advise from sifters would be much appreciated.

Came back to update the thread - I have now been invited for a face to face interview. Fingers crossed. Any advice on preparing for the face to face would be much appreciated.

That is such good news! Only advice I can give is the basic stuff - think about your examples and be prepared to provide more detail / other examples for the same competencies. Reread the application information carefully - it may tell you which competencies are being tested in the interview so that you can focus your attention on those. Try to think about the job itself too - do your homework and research the department, the specific project etc so that you know who the Ministers are what the focus might be , Identify if you have any core questions about the objectives and so on. My boss has just knocked back three applications for Grade 7s to work on a policy review in his team because he asked them what they thought the department's objectives for the work should be and none of them had opinions they were able to articulate. (Disclaimer: this is his version and he's a bit of an arse so it's entirely possible they couldn't disentangle what he was trying to say....) Good luck!

Yes yes to bringing in a summary sheet to the interview. Always a good idea to preface with something like " I've brought my STARR notes from the application stage - is that
OK? " Feedback from my interview indicated i was well prepared and reminded them that i had used STARR approach. (Interview panel were not involved in initial sift)

Thanks all! Am going to prepare detailed notes/talking points to take with me. Apart from the competency questions and general info about the department. Is there anything else I should prepare for? It’s for a
Project manager role.

Type your answer in word first and then copy and paste it over, you don’t want to risk it not saving and losing answers (they’re never as good the second time!)

Hello everyone, please I need your advice/input on this; I recently switched from one department to another both EO grade. A week prior to my start date, I got an invite for HEO interview with another department; as I was on their waiting list for a year.
Do you tell my new manager about this interview and what are rules regarding moving to this HEO job if I get it....owing to the fact that I just started this job not upto a month yet.
Would my manager feel unhappy if informed about the interview? Do I keep it to myself and just attend the interview?

Thanks in advance
Cheers

I think it may depend on your department. Our department makes you commit to a minimum period of 3 years in post (2 if its a high pressure area) unless you are successful in getting a promotion in which case we would release you immediately. Personally as a line manager I would much rather always know, and I wouldn't hold it against you in the circumstances. I would be slightly more bitter if I was blindsided after you'd got the job, perhaps by the recruiting manager phoning me to talk about a release date before you'd told me you'd been successful.

Thanks nonevernotever, my current position is EO while the interview is HEO in another dept...so I guess that would be a promotion. I just feet awkward as it isn't upto to a month and going to tell the Line manager that I have an interview.
Although I am thinking asking them to place me on the reserve list if I am successful.

Hi everyone,

I'm applying for a G7 post (I'm currently an SEO). I wondered if someone with relevant experience would kindly read over the application form for me?

It is a competency/success profile application form.

I would be more than happy to pay for your time :)

Any help/advice greatly appreciated!

Many thanks

Jackie

Hi,

I am currently a teacher but wanting to leave and applying back to the civil service which I left 19 years ago!

At the time, myself (an IP2 ) and an IP3 carried our section because of illness and bereavement and got box 1s for two years running. I feel this seems a pathetic thing to mention.

I have led and managed people in teaching but nothing that sounds like it’s on a large scale - only to headmasters and sometimes the trust.

Do I stick to my old examples or will I be taken seriously if I am now applying for a grade 7 abs my examples are teaching based?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Following

@Sierpinski - this is a rather old thread, so you might get more examples if you create a new thread for your question.

However, I think that it would be better to use examples which are more up to date, and in teaching, than civil service examples which are 20 yrs old.

In theory, you are scored on your competencies (now called “behaviours”), so the context shouldn’t matter. Having said that, it does depend on the role you’re applying for. I’d be surprised if you’d get a private office role without recent civil service experience, for example. But there might be other roles you’d have a chance at. What role/roles are you looking at?

Hi,

Thank you, I realised I hadn’t made a new post and have now done that. This role is about data systems and streamlining the process between primary and secondary care. Data saving lives. There are 4 grade 7 posts.