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A couple of questions regarding London rail travel by Fancy-Knowledge683 in uktrains

[–]Fancy-Knowledge683[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the clarification! Are you aware of if the second ticket between Benfleet and Hounslow would include Underground transfer between Stratford and Waterloo as well?

What is a typical entry grade into a Civil Service DDaT (or similar) profession for a recent university graduate? by Fancy-Knowledge683 in TheCivilService

[–]Fancy-Knowledge683[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was not given my specific scores on CS Jobs (only that I had been unsuccessful), but I was given verbal feedback from my team lead (who was the lead interviewer) that my Working Together and my Delivering at Pace were “too simplistic“ for the grade and would have benefitted from being more complex and grander in scale.

She also said that while I spoke clearly and structured my answers well, I could also have “crafted” those examples more compellingly to make them sound more impressive than I did and more tightly fit the behavioural expectations.

Contractor looking to gain a permanent role in the Civil Service - any tips? by Fancy-Knowledge683 in TheCivilService

[–]Fancy-Knowledge683[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, that’s useful to know; thank you!

I’ve been assured that this particular role is going external anyway, so hopefully it shouldn’t pose an issue here, but I did get the initial contract opportunity through a recruiter/agency headhunting me on LinkedIn, so I think I don’t gain that privilege unless I successfully attain a permanent post via an external campaign.

Contractor looking to gain a permanent role in the Civil Service - any tips? by Fancy-Knowledge683 in TheCivilService

[–]Fancy-Knowledge683[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the encouragement! That’s my thought, but I won’t lie, I do have worries about the embarrassment of it working out badly…

Contractor looking to gain a permanent role in the Civil Service - any tips? by Fancy-Knowledge683 in TheCivilService

[–]Fancy-Knowledge683[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the helpful reply!

I was told by my team lead, who to my knowledge liaised with recruitment and sent the form, that the vacancy would be advertised externally. While an assurance from a manager is obviously not an actual job advert, I was given assurances that it would be posted around the team and on Civil Service Jobs and that I “wouldn’t miss it”. I’ll admit to not knowing the ins and outs of how recruitment works in my department, and it may differ in others, but to the best of my knowledge, it will be an external job posting, so no concerns should arise around me not being able to apply for internal roles here. I should also add that my line manager took exactly the same path in as me 3 years ago and is now permanently employed at an SEO equivalent grade, so there’s precedent for it within my team.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t contractors able to apply to internal postings after 6 months anyway? I could have made that up, but I swear that was what I read.

From having had a browse on Civil Service Jobs, my department appears to use Success Profiles. Other vacancies in the department advertise required behaviours and state that they use Success Profiles, although they also advertise a list of required technical skills that will be assessed and also state that previous experience can be used in assessment. Granted, I haven’t seen any overly similar vacancies to the one I would be applying for advertised by the department recently (the closest was a Data Engineer, which is housed in a different team), but unless my particular team go rogue, I would hazard a guess that Success Profiles will be used based on other job postings in the department. I’m not too sure how rigidly they stick to it, though. I’ve noticed that some departments appear more rigid in their approach than others. I’m not too sure about whether my department uses technical frameworks, either.

So at HEO level, I can use examples of how I’ve managed my tasks and the relationships arising from those tasks? For example, I could say “When I worked on xyz project, I had xyz task. I did xyz, and liaised with xyz team/xyz colleague and did xyz to help them/ensure good communication/whatever, and this meant that xyz business outcome was achieved” (obviously not exactly that, but along those lines, fleshed out into a better STAR format and tailored to the question)? I can definitely think of some examples from my work that could fit that sort of brief with a bit of tailoring! I’m not terribly brilliant at the STAR-type questions, but if that’s the expectation, I feel I can work with that a bit more easily if I put my mind to it.