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This blog post was published under the 2015-2024 Conservative Administration

https://opss.blog.gov.uk/2023/04/27/8-tips-for-a-great-civil-service-application/

8 tips for a great Civil Service application

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Careers at OPSS, Civil Service Applications

Photo of application form

Our work makes a real difference to society, and we’re looking for talented people who can put the public at the heart of what they do.

We’re recruiting for a number of roles in the Construction Products team, we also need Business Compliance Team Leaders, Business Compliance Officers, and more.

Writing a Civil Service job application can be difficult if you’re unfamiliar with Success Profiles and the application process — it’s not only the content that’s important, but also how the application is written.

Here are eight top tips to overcome the most common mistakes people make when applying for jobs in the Civil Service.

  1. Go into detail when writing your CV, your CV should be a good summary of your education, skills and experience enabling you to successfully sell your abilities.
  2. Read the recruitment advert in detail and any attachments that are part of the advert. You must follow the selection process exactly and ensure that you provide what is asked so that the hiring manager can assess you properly.
  3. A personal statement will enable you to sell your experience: matching your examples with essential and desirable behaviours and skills.
  4. Ensure that the behavioural examples clearly demonstrate the behaviour. Provide good evidence for these examples and make your examples memorable.
  5. Only use about 20% on situation and task for the STAR model.
  6. Prepare your strengths in advance. There are 36 available strengths, go through them and ask yourself how you can demonstrate your personal strengths and your preferred ways of working.
  7. Be authentic. Panels can recognise if your example is recited by heart.
  8. Learn the difference between the sift and the interview. The sift gets you past the first hurdle, the interview is when you need to stand out from the other candidates.

Need help with Success Profiles? You can find out more on this GOV.UK page.

Click here to see our current vacancies.

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2 comments

  1. Comment by Mashair Saeed posted on

    hi i need help to apply for the ao roles please

    Reply

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