r/TheCivilService

So he’s blaming civil servants at the FCDO for hiding the fact Mandelson failed vetting and was approved anyway. I wonder if he’ll name and shame them?

Good to know that the party leading in the polls for the next election is essentially proposing Orbanification/What Trump is doing to the US civil service...

https://x.com/i/status/2046230938451914833

Hi everyone, looking for a bit of a reality check on timelines.

I had an interview last Wednesday (it was a small field; there were only 6 slots total on the booking system). The final interview for the role was later that same afternoon.

I haven't heard a peep since. Given that it's been nearly a week and there were so few candidates, should I assume I’m out of the running? Or is it normal for the panel to take this long even with a tiny pool of applicants?

I'm probably overthinking it, but the suspense is killing me!

I was wondering if anyone knows when they give interview feedback? Is this the same time you receive a rejection or an offer ?

Just wondering since it was a panel interview and they gave the exact date they would update us on offers but in regard to feedback when do you tend to receive this by?

I recently applied to a mass recruitment round (15+ roles) for policy SEO. I received the following email last week, but I'm not sure how excited I should be - any insights?

Congratulations on your success in the Senior Policy Advisor campaign.

We are currently working through the matching process and hope to have further details on the outcomes shortly. Therefore, you have initially been placed on the Reserve List pending a potential match.

I've waited 8 weeks since applying but this week I have managed to get an interview (via zoom) for a probation officer role.

I've not had an interview in 6 years never mind one over zoom. So I'm nervous and excited in equal measure.

I'm spending this week going over the job description again and competencies/behaviours to try and plan what they may ask. But if anyone has any tips or hints or ideas.id be really grateful to hear them.

ATM I've spent 6 years in retail due to COVID/kids/family but My background is 12 years in healthcare working in healthy lifestyle promotion and preventative work. So alot of 1:1 and group work with patients working on behaviour change to achieve a desired positive health outcome. So I feel the skills I've developed in that role should hopefully align to this even though it's a completely different ball game.

Thank you

I am trying to figure out why theres such a big gap for the pay bands here: HEO London £37k to 45k. In interview will they likely ask what I am expecting? I'm at O grade going for promotion, my current department has HEO positions that has a much higher minimum pay band, will the figure go up every so often?

Hi everyone,

Throwaway account. I’ve just reached the interview stage for an SEO role.

I know the 4 Behaviours but I’m considering asking recruitment for the specific questions in advance

I’ve seen more posts lately saying they've received the questions when asked and it's becoming standard practice to help provide better evidence

Is it a bad look to ask for questions? I want to be proactive without appearing pushy

Any advice? Cheers!

In Pre-Recorded Virtual Interviews, if you seem very nervous, are you unlikely to pass? I'm naturally quite a fast talker, so sometimes I end up getting ahead of myself and stuttering or having to repeat myself at the best of times, so I definitely end up doing it in these awkward interviews.

I'm quite new to interviews, so I'm honestly so nervous. In the first question, I honestly started off strong, then kept talking myself into a hole in the last 30 seconds, and sort of had to pause a few times and stuttered.

I feel that I answered well in the other questions, but I seemed nervous. I'm not even nervous in jobs; it's just interviews, the idea of constantly talking without any feedback is so uncomfortable.

I have recently been successful in securing a promotion on my team. However, I applied for this job over 6 months ago and didn’t expect for it to take this long. I most likely won’t start until June due to background checks (no idea why civil service do this for internal candidates). I’ve been planning to have a baby this year for the past few years and I really struggle with my overall health (won’t go into it), so it’s really now or never as my body will not be able to handle it if I get any older. I’ve had fertility issues for the past few years and I’m currently in the middle of IVF and due to have my transfer in 2 weeks, so will most likely start the role already 2 months pregnant. I’m really worried about how this will go down as I will most likely only be there 7 months before maternity start. I really want the job and plan on going back to work full time after maternity leave. Can they get rid of me at all? For reference I’ve worked on this team over 8 years. Anyone else gone through similar at all?

Hi all,

I’m preparing for the Cubiks Situational Judgement Tests used in Civil Service applications and wanted to ask for some advice. Specifically, the format where you rank four responses from inappropriate to appropriate

I’ve already done some practice, but I’m finding it tricky to consistently judge the nuances between options that all seem partly reasonable.

For those who’ve been through it AND successful:

- What mindset or framework helped you rank responses more accurately?

- Are there common mistakes people make with this format?

- How closely should answers align with Civil Service behaviours vs. general workplace logic?

Any practical tips or examples would be appreciated.

Peace be with you all, and thanks in advance for any insight.

Hi all. I’m a former civil servant, working in policy, and still work in policy in another organisation. I left the CS as an SEO but would be keen to come back. I’ve had several G7 level interviews in the past but have not been successful yet at this level, and right now with the increased competition for jobs it’s hard even getting interviews for policy roles as an external candidate. I find CS-style interviews tricky but I’ve done as much as I can to improve my technique. I’ve applied for private sector roles too but it’s hard to find a better paying role that doesn’t require a lot of experience.

Since leaving the CS, I have obtained a masters-level qualification in social research methods, and have experience of both quantitative and qualitative research from my previous roles. I’m considering applying to SEO-level social research roles in the CS, and trying and make my way up to G7 that way. I was hoping others could share some thoughts on this approach - would I have a stronger chance to progress my career this way? To note, financially this approach wouldn’t change things too much for me.

I've been applying to HEO roles, out of curiosity I looked at a few SEO roles and they have very similar requirements for essential criteria, the behaviours for both grades are also grouped together in the success profiles. Has anyone had any success to make this jump? I feel like if theres 8 HEO roles I've applied to I can be a bit more ambitious and go for 1 or 2 SEO Roles too

For context: 

I graduated from university two years ago and this is the only office job I’ve done (for 1 year and 6 months now). The only other work experience I have is working at a student nightclub. I got A* and As at A-levels and GCSEs and did a History degree at UCL. I failed to make it onto the fast stream (I scored average on the numerical test). 

In terms of work:

• I have a micro-manager who doesn’t know the difference between your and you’re and has clear biases in the team. He blocked my EOI transfer on the ground of ‘business needs’. 
• Other teams monitor and report us if it looks like we’re ‘relaxing at our desks’. Some of the nastiest people I’ve ever met in my life have been my older colleagues who seem to have massive chips on their shoulders.   
• The people in general in the Jobcentre seem to have no ambition and constantly gossip and chat shit about each other. 
• I get verbally abused by customers when I tell them they need to look for work to claim UC. I’ve had death threats made to me. Mentally I’ve never been so drained and uninspired.

 

I would love to change roles and move to another department but the experience and skills from this job doesn’t seem to impress in applications. I’ve applied for EOIs as well but they were blocked by my manager on business grounds. 

Has anyone who’s been in my situation managed to get out? And if so to which role and how? I’m already a lead and have tried going beyond just the work coach role but the managers gatekeep opportunities so it’s hard. I made the fatal error of challenging my manager when he blocked my EOI and since then he’s sidelined me for any development opportunities.

I can’t help but lowkey feel like a failure as well. I have friends from my university who got onto the fast stream who are working on major government projects. At this point, I just want to move on from this job and be happy.

I'm currently struggling with a lot of debt (overdrafts, credit cards, council tax arrears). I'm considering getting some kind of debt management plan but I'm awaiting my security clearance checks (I've done the employment history and identity checks already).

Should I wait to get the debt relief until after the checks? It's for a RIS HMRC job, standard security clearance.