Struggling to progress in civil service

[Mamabear256]

Hi all

Just looking for some advice really. I am 29 years old and joined the civil service, HMRC in particular, as a grade EO in July 2023. Granted, it’s just been over a year, however I’ve applied for a few HO roles and am getting nowhere with them. My managers looking over them and told me they’re good, I’ve followed the STAR format and used really good examples suggested by my manager but I’m not even getting interviews. I always hear how people join the civil service and move around departments, get promoted after a year etc. and they talk as if it’s super easy but it’s not!

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to progress? I hear people talking about getting a mentor but I wouldn’t even know where to start in finding one or how to go about this at all. This kind of stuff as well as progression and learning etc was never really mentioned when I joined or even in the last year.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

"I’ve followed the STAR format and used really good examples suggested by my manager but I’m not even getting interviews. "

This speaks volumes.

That you arent getting interviews says that your "really good examples" are really not good at all.

Mentor or not, you need to align your behaviours to the job specification and essential criteria.

Thanks. I would have assumed they were good examples as my manager is usually quite good at this stuff and she’s even secured herself a promotion.

I agree with @HelplessSoul. They need to align with the essential criteria and job spec.
Check out the Jobs Applications page on Viva Engage. The SharePoint library has lots of useful resources and you can ask if people are free to look over your behaviors. I've gone from HO to SO with HMRC using those resources.

Thanks - I thought I had been aligning it with the job spec and essential criteria to be honest with you. I had been going through them both when writing my behaviours. Clearly I’ve not done it well enough though

I read somewhere that they are looking to do less internal promotion and more external recruitment at CS. Not sure that helps :/

Using the STAR format isn't enough. You need to go to the competency framework and look at the indicators for each area and use very similar phrasing from that in your response.

You also need to network quite.a bit so people know you and think of you when a TRA opportunity comes up.

It could be that your behaviours just aren't strong enough and are not hitting what is required from the competency framework? Have you considered going for EOIs? It can be a really good way to get experience at a higher grade to get better gehaviour examples. Have you gone for any with personal statements?

Finding a mentor to guide you through promotions can help too.

My number one tip, its not what you have on paper but being able to network and offer help and assistance to other depts as and when possible and even if offering the help means going above your boss to their boss etc then if it helps you progress or gets you included into other projects then its worth doing.

i speak from experience im not perfect but as i always offered to help different deptments even if it it was extra hours etc and then i always tryed to get to network with different people in different depts

Theres no such thing as competency framework now for CS jobs. 🙄🤦‍♂️

Its called Behaviours as part of Success Profiles..

Stop giving the OP bad advice.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

@Mamabear256 fewer jobs due to recruitment constraints since July 23 have led to hundreds of applications per vacancy in some instances.
What area of CS are you in?

Just because your manager secured a promotion doesnt automatically make her a guru for providing Success Profiles/Behaviour advice to anyone else.

Especially if its in another job/field that she has no interest or experience in.

What works for one person doesnt translate that it will work for another.

Stop sharing your examples with your manager and find a mentor :)

Thats step one.

Step two - re-write your Behaviours from scratch, because from what you have said, they arent getting you interviews because they are not at the HO/HEO standard.

As a civil servant of 20+ years I have found the CS behaviour recruitment very frustrating at times. It's a skill in itself.

Things that have helped me over the years (not necessarily a quick process mind!):

• Putting yourself out there for development opportunities which will improve your examples and get you noticed across the department
• access every available training opportunity. Have a look on CS learning to see what's on offer to help develop any areas you feel will help you for the kind of roles you're after.
• I think there may even be courses on the success profiles and how to write a good example
• Agree with PP about considering EOIs to expand your experience and skills
• take up the opportunity to have a chat with the hiring manager for the role you're applying for. You can get a much better idea of what they're looking for
• Does HMRC not have a bank of mentors/coaches you can access? Have a look on your intranet. Also keep an eye out for any developmental programmes on offer
• keep applying for roles, getting detailed feedback if unsuccessful (one of the advantages of internal recruitment) and keep refining those examples.

Good luck!

It's not only the STAR examples, you need to look at the competencies / behaviours, as that tells you what they are looking for. Note the key words or phrases in the competency. And then when you give your STAR answer make sure it is showing how you met that competency. It's not easy with a small word count so every word has to count.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-competency-framework

FFS, theres no competency framework! Even the link you posted tells you!

'Success profiles' is the competency framework and 'behaviours' are the competencies. They may have changed names but they're pretty much the same as they've always been.

Whatever.

Your own outdated link that you posted clearly disagrees.

The link I posted upthread is whats relevant. Not the outdated one you posted.

Big difference. Just as there is between Behaviours and competencies.

🙄🤦‍♂️

Agree. It's just another name for the same thing. Behavioural competences are the old school academic name given to using behavioural consistency as a predictor for performance. 'success profiles' is just a spin on it.

FFS, the OP can follow the link and then link to Success Profiles. It's all a similar thing. I'm not civil service hut it's a similar approach across most public sector

https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/a-guide-to-civil-service-success-profiles/
https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/behaviours/

These links are good for the application and the behaviours, some of the links above are out of date. Do remember to keep the S and T of your examples short, just a couple of sentences to set the scene. Your actions and the result should be the focus.

I didn't post a link?

Why are you being so aggressive?

Same thing, different name. As long as you read the criteria it’s all good.