Any Civil Service appliers or recruiters?

[Lightninginabox]

Trying desperately to get into Civil Service.

Am 45 - do you think there's ageism in hiring externals?

I have a lot of G6/7 type experience but earlier in my career. I am more than happy to start from scratch again in the departments that are in my area (Belfast) but I wonder am I flunking the interview?

I have done about 12-15 applications, getting up to 6s and 7s in application forms and have had three interviews, two turned down and one I think will be turned down as they shouldn't have posted it as available for Belfast, and one awful press/ministerial briefing in which I got a 4.

Any interview advice?

@MabelMoo23 we must band together! (Unless you're going for the same jobs as me of course in which case it's duels at dawn I'm afraid, swords at the ready etc. Okay I am reading too much georgette heyer in between memorising the strengths dictionary).

Right, three more applications in! Two more to go! My head is fried.

I’ve heard about mine today - not successful but am on the reserve list. Whilst I’m disappointed, reserve list is the furthest I’ve ever got and every single application /interview in the CS recruitment process is valuable experience so trying to stay positive

Well done @MabelMoo23 - you must have interviewed well.

Just to add, when doing the STAR structure, your action part should make up at least 50% of your example if not more. As an interviewer we are interested in what actions you took and the how. Many people I've interviewed with experience higher than the grade they're applying for I've unfortunately not been able to pass as they've spent too much time explaining the situation and task but not elaborating on the actions. I think people generally find explaining the actions abit difficult as it feels a little silly and obvious to say things like 'I set up a meeting', 'I understood a risk assessment' etc but these are important to provide context and understand your behaviours.

The strength based questions are the shorter fire (2 minutes) round ones that can't be prepared for, this is to see your reaction whether it's a natural skill or something you enjoy and if its something you use regularly.

Good luck!

Well done @MabelMoo23 for making the reserve list! I've got my first ever civil service interview on Thursday. Have to say I've only just realised how much of a big deal the CS competencies and behaviours are - I must have fluked my application to get through sift.

Good luck!!

I’ve done two interviews now (well 3 if you include a final stage informal chat) and the panel do explain what behaviour they are asking about before they ask the question. So they’ll say “this question is about delivering at pace, tell me about a time when…..”

the piece of advice I would give is LISTEN to the question - because it’s so easy to just shoehorn your example for delivering at pace (or whatever the behaviour is) into your answer, but it needs to actually reflect what is being asked.

but yes, everything is around the competencies and behaviours, and you can have the best experience and examples in the world, but if you don’t answer in a way that reflects the respective behaviour then you’ll lose marks and the job is awarded on merit. Highest score gets the job.

but you will get feedback and even if you aren’t successful it is such a valuable experience for your next application and so on.

Hi I'm a contractor
40 and was a fast streamer in my 20s left and back into it via agency route after career break

I think it's possible but there is generally a recruitment freeze and downsizing generally so it's tougher for sure

What sites or departments are you focusing on ? Try civil service recruitment gateway and also government agencies are less stringent

I'm an existing Civil Servant in Belfast (NICS)

Hoping to go for the next G6 opportunity

Who's this amazing civil service career coach and where I do find them? 🙃

Im an existing G6 CS too and thinking that at £300 a pop, i might leave the CS and just coach other people on how to join!

I joined at AO grade aged 45 just to get in, was an HO within a year and an SO within 2.5 years so it can be done. I wouldn't be too set on grade if you want to get in. Once you are in the opportunities are there.

I try to be more flexible with my planning for interview example. As you go higher through the grades you'll find your examples will cover more than one behaviour. When I've been recruiting, you can tell a mile off the people who have come up with a couple of rigid examples for each and then parrot one based on the competency they're being asked about, rather than actually listening to the question. I'd always advise to think of five or six examples where you've achieved something or learned something, and have a loose idea of how they link to the different behaviours. Then make sure you listen to all parts of the question and choose the best example in your arsenal based on how they actually phrase the question.

I'd always check the values of the organisation you're applying for and look for opportunities to display those values in your behavioural examples. You may be asked a full on values question so that's good prep anyway.

Strengths questions at interview are a different beast altogether. They're meant to be quickfire choices to give you the chance to show your natural personality and skills. You honestly can't prep for them, there are so many strengths and you don't know which ones they'll choose. When I had my coaching when we moved to success profiles, I was encouraged to go with my gut on the headline answer but evidence it with short and snappy lines of how you evidence that strength. For example, 'I think I'm really comfortable making quick time decisions when I need to consider risks. I did this in x job when I had to make these decisions about vulnerable customers. I did a,b and c to make sure I was managing risks well and my decisions were right d% of the time. I was reassured by the fact my decision making examples were used by the training team.'

Yip I am applying for any grade I can!

I have had 3 interviews (all EO) and a hideous briefing exercise that I fluffed (HEO). Two failed interviews and one interview where we established in the first two minutes as mistakenly listed as available for belfast. So just waiting for that rejection really.

I’ve not even made reserve list yet!

Paging @notvnowifi for her coach name!

I think that is brilliant to get on the reserve list! I am envious! I hear a lot of people get picked up very quickly from that?

This is a great response, thank you so much, I very much appreciate it.

@Lightninginabox No probs! I love recruitment! Good luck with it, sounds like you've got a lot of experience to offer.

If you've got relevant experience you don't have to go in at a lower level. I joined at grade 6 with relevant experience elsewhere. Don't sell yourself short!

Sorry folks for some reason my notifications were off. I hope this is ok to do but my coach was Advance Coaching - Debbie Cousens.

Sorry to jump on this, but I just wanted to ask for the personal statement, if I've got 750 words, and three essential criteria to respond to (so roughly 250 words each) am I looking to respond to the criteria (eg demonstrating political awareness', including specific examples, and then mapping over the Behaviours including strengths key words? So for eg, using my examples to also demonstrate 'seeing the big picture' and sticking the word 'strategic' in, where I can? and if I do that, can I map the behaviours across all three criteria (this role has seven)?

This is for HEO grade.

Also, definitely not applying for NI Jobs :)

I’m not applying for specifically NI jobs either! Definitely hop on here, it just makes the thread a better a resource for us all!

Im sure a knowledgeable pp will be here with specific advice but in the meantime good luck with your application, they are hard work! I hope you get it.

Thank you so much @NoTvNoWifi she looks great. In your opinion would she be as good for general ‘Whitehall’ type U.K. jobs or was her focus more NICS? Oh

I mean I know you’re right in theory but I just sort of feel like if I’m not even getting HEO offers (or indeed EO) would I be likely to get Grade 7/6?

I'm currently in a public sector org, non cs, probably closely aligned to local government, at a G7 similar grade and I've done a couple of those questionnaires that some of the applications include for G7 roles and I've failed miserably. I think where I am just has such a different culture (and not in a bad way it's a good place to work) that getting an in and working from there to suss out how things work is probably better for me.

I've now relocated to a different part of the country and the Cs is main employer so it's a bit needs must as well.

@NotMyDayJob that's really interesting to hear. I had to write a press briefing for one job that, due to my old role, should have been a walk in the park. Yet it had the strangest formatting of any word document I'd ever seen, but likely very usual to anyone used to it if you see what I mean. I am normally quite relaxed under pressure but I really wigged out! It was awful! I got a three.

@Lightninginabox based on the feedback I could sort of see where I was going wrong but it was just such a different approach to what I am used to. For eg, imagine my role is to totally gatekeep what goes to my superiors but these roles were looking for someone who would escalate at a much earlier stage, it was a bit like that.