How to improve Civil Service application

[maryquitecontrary123]

Would people be able to help me understand where I’ve gone wrong with a civil service job application?

I don’t currently work in the civil service and don’t have anyone I can ask advice from. I would really like to improve for next time a job opportunity comes along.

For my recent application for an EO grade post, I’ve received feedback to say that my scores aren’t high enough to progress to interview. I scored a 4 for the statement of suitability (it’s not clear if they just assessed the lead competency) and for my CV I scored a 3, so a total of 7. Apparently due to a high volume of applications the pass mark was raised to 12.

How can I improve my answers to score more highly? I did use STAR to structure my answer and focused more on the Action part, but obviously not enough.

Maybe my experience isn't what the department is looking for.

Sounds like they are using the a 1-7 scoring scale. Usually on that scale the pass mark is 4 for each element eg if you score 3 or less on any element you’re automatically out even if your aggregate score meets the “pass mark”. So if they scored your CV 3 then I’d say your relevant experience was either not well articulated or simply not what they were looking for.

EO roles are entry level and are currently tending to attract very high volumes of applications - when I’m sifting 120+ applications I get pretty brutal with my scoring just to keep the numbers down so I don’t end up having to interview 20 people for 1 role just because they all met the pass mark.

Hi I agree with the above. I am currently involved in Civil Service recruiting at EO level in a large department. A couple of pointers try to set up good results/outcomes in your examples we are interested in the impact you have made. Focus on your contribution , think critically about how you express yourself & use a spell check. I have been astonished at poor grammar, punctuation & spelling in some of the forms I have sifted. In your personal statement keep it professional but try to inject a bit of personality what are you good at and what do you enjoy at work (make it relevant) e.g. Working as part of a team, helping people.

Really basic but if you are applying for multiple Civil Service jobs, make sure you tailor your applications. Like posters above, i recently had 30+ applications for one SEO post and was shocked at the number that had clearly submitted 'generic' applications without any reference to the job role / description and one that referred to their interest in XX role in the personal statement, which was a totally different job title! When the job market is so competitive, there is no room for the benefit of the doubt in the sift.

Also, if you got a 3 for your cv, for the next role, review your cv against the essential person criteria and make sure your cv reflects the specifications. Make it easy for the sifter to be able to spot where you meet each criteria.

Thank you for all your comments.

@Doorhandleghost and @MoscowMuse I think I put the least effort into the cv part and that probably needs more work. It was a bit too generic.

@Imgettingdesparatehere in the personal statement section I had 750 words to cover five competencies. I just put the five headings and my answer in a STAR structure underneath, no introduction. Is that too rigid? I don't want to waste the word count unnecessarily.

It’s hard enough to get 1 competency into 250 words never mind 5 into 750! Did they specifically ask you to do that? With personal statement usually they ask you to show how you meet the essential criteria, rather than evidencing competencies.

I’d expect a PS to be structured with a brief intro along the lines of why you want the role and key skills/experience you bring, then evidencing the essential and and of the desirable criteria you meet, plus it’s always good to say you’d be willing to train/learn any desirable you don’t meet. Make sure you put some of your personality into it too.

The CV part is not often scored, in fact that’s a bit unusual - was it a niche role with specific requirements qualification or experience wise?

It’s so competitive at EO/HEO level at the mo I’d go as far as to say it’s luck of the draw as to whether you get to interview or not. The sifting is also subjective, so one person might love it one person hates it and your scores lands somewhere in the middle.

@Doorhandleghost I just wanted to thank you for the advice you gave above. I applied for another post and have just found out I've got an interview! I scored a 6 for my application which is higher than I expected.

Hello.. I’m going through this now and struggling. I’m applying for Project Officer SEO roles, currently work as a PO, have 10 years experience as a project manager and am APM qualified. I just got a 3 .. not broken down into cv/personal statement/competency example so no idea which bit let me down but it was tailored specifically to the competences.. feeling a little disheartened as loved the sound of the role .. any advice much appreciated

I realise that this is an old thread with a new post, but this topic comes up quite often.

Apolotical run free webinars on various topics around civil service applications - personal statements, interviews etc.

Good luck op!