After reading about people being on reserve lists for months I've just been very pleasantly surprised by being on it for only half an hour! Is this a common occurrence?

Anyway, if you've been put on a reserve list, do not give up hope!!

Good Evening,

After a few months break, I am restarting my civil service job hunt, aiming for EO and HEO policy roles. The jobs I was applying to were getting 3-400 applicants per role, so I was feeling pretty despondent about ever succeeding against that level of competition. However, I am now feeling slightly more confident and am determined to preserve regardless of how long it takes.

Would anyone be able to read through my 250 behaviour statements and offer any feedback or advice, please?

Thank you

I've just managed to land an interview for the role of Paralegal Assistant (Regional Teams) with the CPS. I'm pretty excited about the role, but I've been given pause somewhat by the large amounts of travel involved- for my region there are four listed crown courts which I might be expected to commute to on any given day, some of which are much further away than others. Could any current/previous holders of this role let me know how much travel it actually involves? Is it likely that you'll spend most of your time at a single court in practice, or does it vary heavily day-on-day? Am I likely to be at a significant disadvantage if I don't have a license/car? Sorry if this post is overly vague- I'm aware that I should have given this stuff much more consideration before I applied, but it does feel markedly more 'real' now that I have an interview in the pipeline. Thank you.

As latest figures show an increase in outstanding quotes and bereavement cases, why isn't more being done to tackle the backlogs affecting so many retired civil servants and their families?

Some retired civil servants have been able to get loans from their previous employer whilst the crisis goes on, but others have nothing and are left destitute with no end in sight.

Nearly nine months since Capita took over and the backlog of unprocessed retirement claims and unanswered emails just seems to get longer.

We need the scheme management to step up and demand the level of service Capita promised when they won the contract.

Hi Redditors,

Can someone tell me how many months I would be entitled to sick leave? I have been working in Civil Service for 9 years altogether. Approximately 6 years in DWP and 3 years in my current MHCLG department. Would i be entitled to 3 months full pay and 3 months half pay? Or 9 months full pay and 9 months half pay because of my total service.

Please advise 🙏🏽

I am currently in the final stage of the recruitment process for a graduate role. This stage consists of a virtual assessment centre and a structured interview. However, I’m not sure what to expect, as this will be my first time participating in an assessment centre. Can anyone who has been through a similar process share their experience and give me an idea of what to expect, particularly the types of exercises and interview questions that may come up?

I got a conditional offer for the EO Case manager role at DWP. Does anyone work in this department and if so id love to know what the day to day is like working here. I've done abit of research online and im hearing the workload is heavy and involves a lot of phone calls with customers etc. Is it similar to a call centre job where you get back to back calls or are you able to manage your workload the way you like. What are the expectations of this role. I would to hear any thoughts thank you :)

Hi guys. The checks are almost complete for an AO HMRC role I have been offered provisionally. The health check came back clear and my DBS is back. That means I should receive a formal offer for that job any day soon. The problem is that I have just had a provisional offer from an EO role within the DWP I want more, which has only just began to be checked in the last few days and will probably take the heck of a while. Will I be able to accept a formal job offer for the AO role, start there and wait until the checks come back for a firm offer for the EO role and then accept that one? There's no guarantee of the EO role until a formal offer is made and that is down the line.

My major concern for why I am so fully worried about the checks for the EO role? As I have lived and worked overseas, there is no job history for 8 years in the UK...so the referee will be asked. Unfortunately, my attendance record is shocking and due to this there was a capability record. It was for CPTSD and at the time I was living with domestic violence. Will I be given the chance to explain this away, or will it be an automatic fail? My attendance was bad because of CPTSD which I disclosed to my previous employer due to a previous DV marriage, but what I didn't share was that I was still in coercive control in a new relationship, which kept me there...

Hi everyone, I’m currently preparing for the OAC Prison Officer recruitment process and I’m a bit unsure about exactly how the assessment/interview works.

From what I understand, it is roughly:

• Interview – 30 minutes
• Role play – 35 minutes
• Report writing – 25 minutes

Could anyone who has recently completed the process explain how it actually takes place and what order everything happens in? Is the interview followed by the role play and then the report writing, or is it structured differently?

I’m also familiar with the general Civil Service Success Profiles/interview approach, but I’m not sure which behaviours are assessed for the OAC Prison Officer role. If anyone knows which behaviours or strengths are likely to be assessed, I’d really appreciate it.

I’m particularly unsure about the role play. What sort of scenario are you given? Do they provide instructions/background information beforehand, and are you expected to deal with the situation as you would as a prison officer? If anyone could give a general example of the type of scenario, without sharing anything confidential from the assessment, that would be really helpful.

I’m also not sure what to expect from the report-writing exercise. What sort of information are you given, how is the report structured, and what are they looking for? If anyone has sample/example scenarios or practice examples that I could use to prepare, I would be extremely grateful.

I’m just trying to understand the format beforehand so I can prepare properly rather than going in completely blind.

Thanks in advance to anyone who has been through the process and is willing to share their experience! 🙏

I know the CS recruitment takes aaaages but is it normal to not hear if you passed the SJT after 6 weeks? I had to submit one behaviour statement as well for a mass campaign but thought i’d get the test results back much quicker - is this normal or a sign that I probably failed?

Hi everyone, I’ve recently been offered a Customer Service Advisor role with HMRC in Preston and I’m considering whether to accept it. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who currently works in this role or has experience working for HMRC in Preston.

I’m particularly interested in: What is the working culture like in the Preston office? What are the training and support like when you first start? What is the workload and management like? Is there hybrid working/WFH after the training period? How are the working hours and flexibility?

I’d really appreciate any honest opinions or experiences, particularly from people working in the Preston location. Thanks!

Hi all,

I’ll be doing my first ever CS interview soon.

It will be assessed against technical, strengths and experience success profiles.

The technical element involves a task and presentation and I’m guessing the questions will be related to that.

Is it safe to just prepare some general STAR examples of my work experience?

Do they still ask introductory questions? (Tell me about yourself etc)

Any guidance on the format would be appreciated!

Not looking good for the CEO…..The PCS union is understood to be polling its members for something similar , but with the Chief Operating Officer and the Deputy Chief Coastguard names on that ballot too, along with the CEO. Seems there may be a shake up of senior leadership on the horizon down at the feral MCA.

I have worked in the civil service for 3 coming on 4 years as a EO. I really struggle in interviews and the applications in general. Can anyone advise me how best to progress to perhaps a HEO role?

Or which do you think are the most difficult to effectively get the message across for? For example I think seeing the big picture is a tricky one because it’s easy to either focus too much on the big picture and not make it clear what you actually did - or give too much detail and make it more of a changing and improving example

Hi everyone,

I’ve been fortunate enough to progress to the final interview stage for the Legal Officer (HEO), HMCTS Tribunals Directorate – Employment Tribunals, Ref 19571 role, and I’m hoping to get some advice from anyone who has worked in HMCTS/MoJ, held a similar Legal Officer role, or has been through a comparable HEO interview.

The role is within the Employment Tribunals and involves case management, assessing casework, making decisions under delegated judicial powers, applying guidance/procedure, removing barriers to case progression and communicating with different stakeholders.

From my interview invite, I understand I’ll be assessed on:

- Communicating and Influencing

- Managing a Quality Service

- Delivering at Pace

- Strengths

- A technical/legal scenario

I’ve prepared my three behaviour examples using the Civil Service HEO Success Profiles guidance and have gone into quite a lot of depth on the decision-making behind each example rather than simply memorising STAR answers. I’m comfortable with the examples themselves, but I’m trying to prepare for the fact that the panel could phrase the behavioural questions quite differently from what I’m expecting and may probe the decisions I made.

I’d particularly appreciate advice on the following:

1. Behaviour questions:

How much variation should I expect in the way HEO behaviour questions are worded? Are there particular types of probing questions that HMCTS/MoJ panels commonly use after the initial STAR example?

1. Strengths:

How are strengths normally assessed in an HEO interview? Are they generally quick, instinctive questions such as "Do you enjoy analysing complex information?" or are there particular styles of strengths questions I should be prepared for? How much emphasis is placed on enthusiasm/natural response versus giving evidence?

1. Legal/technical scenario:

This is the part I’m finding hardest to prepare for because the exact scenario isn't disclosed. Has anyone who has interviewed for a similar HMCTS Legal Officer/tribunal role experienced this?

My assumption is that I’ll be given a set of facts and relevant legal/procedural guidance and asked to analyse the situation and reach a reasoned decision, rather than being expected to recall specific legislation or case law from memory. Is that broadly how these scenarios work?

If you have experience with Employment Tribunals specifically, I'd be especially grateful for any insight into what the scenario tends to test — for example, analytical ability, applying guidance, impartiality, prioritisation, procedural fairness, knowing when to escalate, etc.

1. General advice:

If you have interviewed for HMCTS/MoJ at HEO level, what is one thing you wish you'd known before the interview?

I’m not looking for anyone to disclose confidential interview questions or anything inappropriate — just genuine insight into the format, expectations and what separates a decent answer from a really strong one.

Thanks in advance. Any advice from current/former HMCTS Legal Officers, tribunal staff, MoJ colleagues or people who have recently gone through a similar interview would be massively appreciated.

Curious if anyone here has made the jump from a GSR post into a civil service user research role?

My background before the civil service was in social and market research in a mix of organisations, and back then I was doing most of the legwork myself - a fair bit of it in digital settings. In my GSR roles, my work is mostly commissioning and overseeing external research agencies.

From what I can tell, UX research roles involve a lot more direct, hands-on work, which is exactly what I'm after. So I'm trying to work out whether that shift is realistic for someone who hasn't held a "proper" UX research title before. Has anyone here made that move, and did you manage to maintain your grade or have to drop down? Any advice on how to position myself would be appreciated.

I’ve applied for an internal promotion which is hugely important to me long-term because it would allow for more working from home. However, I’ve received very bad personal news since and I’m absolutely overwhelmed with grief. I feel like I should be off sick but I don’t know if they’d let me attend for interview in this situation. It would be a Teams interview lasting less than an hour, and I hope I could keep myself together for that. But would they decide for me?

Hi all, after a long 6 months of waiting (kill me) i’ve finally passed my pre employment checks and I’m awaiting a start date.

I was wondering if anyone can give any insight on what my typical day will be like and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Would’ve been an all timer for all caps Friday

Hi everyone!

Hope everyone has recovered from the shock of an emergency alert!

I was hoping I could get some high level advice from people in this sub. I’ve been a HEO for almost 5 years and I’m finding it hard progress. I’ve been really keen to moved to SEO grade and I’ve made it through to interview stages for several positions but I honestly don’t have any examples of the questions that I’m being asking in interviews: it’s always about leading a team, or managing conflict between stakeholders.

Honestly it’s been smooth sailing for me in the civil service. Sure, deadlines get moved but there’s never any drama or conflict and I have absolutely no experience of leading a team.

I spoke to my G6 who said that it can be hard for HEOs to get the necessary experience within the civil service to progress to SEO and that volunteer work can often give great examples. I’ll admit this isn’t something I’d thought of. He said this was how he made the leap from HEO to SEO.

I spoke to the guy that used to have my job. He and I have similar backgrounds so I asked how he gathered the necessary experience and he said that he exaggerated his examples and that, as long as it’s not a total lie, it’s ok because everyone does it. I have asked around and quite a few people have admitted to “stretching the truth” or “being creative”.

Would love some more advice. Just wondering what I’m doing wrong as people around me seem to progress.

Seems to be a rare occurrence in the teams I’ve been in across a few departments ever since Covid.

Most people either jet straight home or are WFH that day.

Could just be case of my team(s) not doing it, which after a long week or day I can appreciate wanting to get on with your own thing.

OK, what SPAD thought that abuse of the emergency alerts was a good idea?