Civil service job application help

[creativecloud]

Hello

Posting here for traffic as I am submitting a Civil Service job application with a deadline of this evening.

I've worked in private sector and hoping to move across to CS but the application process completely new to me.

There are 5 'Behaviours' I need to demonstrate on a Personal Statement of 1250 words. I have this drafted and all seems fairly straightforward.

The job specification then goes on to detail a long list of Essential Skills and Leadership Attributes. Some of these are covered in my Personal Statement but not all.

Where do I add in relevant bullet points to cover every Essential Skill and Leadership Attribute on my application - in a separate section at the end of my Personal Statement? Or do I cover them on my CV (that would not work very well as I'd have to add minute detail to some of my previous positions but not all)

The application only asks for a basic CV covering only employment history and qualifications, and the Personal Statement.

Thank you in advance

I'm not in the CS...but I think I'd add a Key Skills section after the personal statement with a few bullet points - but the most important ones, not every single thing mentioned.

You address the person spec throughout personal statement.

That's basically what a personal statement is.

Your personal statement needs to cover the behaviours. Have you looked at the Success profiles documents to get an idea of the "magic words " they're looking for?

You can lay the statement out however you want, but don't go over the word limit.

There is an art of choosing your examples to match the behaviours and the key skills and experience.

The format to use is the STAR

My organisation was in this Situation. I had to Task (using the key skills) and your Actions (behaviours) with the Result of happily ever after.

Thanks all. I have addressed the Behaviours using the STAR method. I'm just left with a few skills mentioned in the Job Spec but not the Behaviours that I haven't mentioned.

I could add a Key Skills section at the end but I would only be adding the more junior skills in - ie: experience of working with complex filing systems ... I think this should be obvious from my work history but I hear it's important to include absolutely everything required

For the complex filing systems, can you tag it onto the role in your cv where you acquired most of that particular experience?

They will select and interview based on the behaviours. You will probably have to talk about them in more depth at interview. I know all branches of the Civil Service are different, but I would be really surprised if they expected you to cover every single element of the job spec in a 1250 word statement. If you've got enough space left to put in a big Key Skills section, have you definitely covered each relevant behaviour in enough detail?

I'm really sorry to throw these sort of suggestions at you 4 hours before the closing date!

There is a word limit in the PS but not the cv, so you could use cv to mop up anything important you feel you might have missed. I’ve seen some folk put a key skills summary in the cv, which I thought looked good. Good luck with it

All helpful suggestions - thank you. I am going to add in Key Skills in the CV.

I have written a 200 word intro to the Personal Statement before delving into the Behaviours. Thoughts on this? I hoped it would provide a clearer picture of me and felt I needed to be clear that I am changing career following an extended period out raising family

I moved over from private sector to CS last summer. I’d definitely say in your personal statement if you can.
Not sure which area you are going into but I was given a ‘success profiles’ document , and literally referred to each one they were asking for, for that job role and how I had experience in that area.

In my experience with it, at the initial stage it was more of a tick box exercise to see if you had met the criteria of the job add and get you through the initial stage. They were less interested in me at this stage (which was totally different from past private sector roles). I’d say as long as you cover most points in the job criteria you’ll have a chance of the next round.

I work in the cs and have recently interviewed candidates. I would take off the intro paragraph in your personal statement. I wouldn't care if you were changing career or had had a break to raise a family, all I would care about is whether you can do the job well.
If you have a para that's generic saying, for example, you're a team player, innovative thinker etc then I would also take that out because it doesn't add anything either.

Thanks so much. I have taken that on board and stuck with the behaviours only. Very different to private sector CV/Personal Statements ...

Let us know if you’re invited for an interview. Good luck with your form 🙂