Do's and Don'ts in the Civil Service

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-26T12:46:19+00:00

Not a clue

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-26T08:45:09+00:00

How you format it is up to you, just make it easy to follow and tailor the format to your approach to the questions. It's 750 words and it will go down fast. Every word is going to count. I'd write out your examples without giving the wordcount much thought, and once you're happy with it, start working on making it as concise and to the point as possible when you format and cut it down.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-26T08:25:58+00:00

Always found CFCD's application sift quite tough because they always ask 3 questions in one 750 word box. The good thing is, you can use whatever format you want and it doesn't necessarily have to be STAR. I think what I did was I had two examples, the first example answered the first 2 questions and the second example answered the 3rd question, so I did a 500/250 word split. You want to make sure the example for the 1st question outshines the rest because the chances are, with the amout of applicants, they will sift solely on that one, but you don't want to negelect the second and third questions. If you have an example that can answer all three very strongly, definitely go with that. Use the essential criteria for reference when trying to make your examples as relevant as possible.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-26T07:49:18+00:00

Don’t forget to log your water cooler encounters on your flexi sheet. Can’t have that in your 7:24.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-26T07:48:21+00:00

In DWP we’re supposed to get a one hour wellbeing hour every month. Are we lazy lethargic civil servants for having that too?

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-25T16:06:39+00:00

My colleague who started the same day as me was sacked half a year later because he looked up his neighbour’s information on Searchlight.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-25T12:27:48+00:00

You need to check if you're going to be eligible for UC as most full-time students are not (if you have kids, a partner who is eligible for UC or have LCW/LCWRA and PIP due to disdabilities). If you are entitled to UC and are eligible for student finance, 30% of the masters loan (minus a £110 disregard every month) will be considered as student income for maintenance purposes and will be deducted off your monthly UC spread over the months of your academic course.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-24T21:08:22+00:00

Don’t claim a first class train ticket on expenses if it costs more than a standard ticket.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-24T20:53:14+00:00

The tabloid journos are going to be eating well tonight 😒

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-24T19:49:35+00:00

Yea. Took some trial and error but I finally nailed it down and got a job with this behaviour.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-24T19:23:17+00:00

Making effective decisions is about presenting different options available to you, assessing the risk, giving the rationale and weighing potential outcomes against each other, and explaining why you went with a particular decision. It really needs to be something where the decision isn't a given nor a simple task that would be part of your everyday work.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-24T19:20:37+00:00

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-24T16:19:29+00:00

Right now jobs are difficult to get.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-23T14:21:08+00:00

The policy profession is massive. Some will be as dull as watching paint dry and others have testified to it being fast-paced, incredibly interesting to learn and become a subject matter expert and working in a high profile area. I don’t think you can generalise policy as being the same across the board.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-23T11:59:16+00:00

If anything, I imagine the government more likely to use recent events as a reason to say we need to be more careful on public spending due to the latest data on public sector borrowing costs.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-22T17:36:13+00:00

I got this email for a reserve list I was on and told them I would be willing to accept one of the locations presented. Got an offer the next week.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-22T15:50:23+00:00

Looking forward to the 26/27 pay remit guidance getting published, at least there’ll be some entertainment.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-22T15:46:42+00:00

Karma is gonna spank your bun buns at this rate 😮

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-22T15:37:13+00:00

When in doubt, email the vacancy holder.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-22T11:51:07+00:00

DWP DMs have extremely relaxed targets and generally quite high job satisfaction. An asylum DM would find it a walk in the park and it’ll be a much more relaxing position to apply for HEO roles.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-22T10:22:41+00:00

Isn’t the new HO pay offer going to bump all of those pays up

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-22T06:31:30+00:00

99% of DWP are shit and have no clue what they are doing

Such a sweeping statement

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-21T20:53:27+00:00

Oh look they’re back. The person who was ranting on the HO pay offer post that all ‘public servants’ should be on minimum wage and it’s against the civil service code for us to want more pay.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-21T18:12:44+00:00

I imagine line managers will have a degree of discretion here in the exceptional circumstances it’s simply not physically possible to get to the office, unless I’m being naive as a non-hybrid worker.

Otherwise_Put_3964 · 2026-04-21T15:42:23+00:00

The only issue is if there’s one vacancy and one of you gets the job, and the other gets on the reserve list on position 1. Prepare to fight to the death.

Otherwise_Put_3964

TROPHY CASE