New to Public Sector Contracting - DWP

[courtg9000]

Civil Service interview questions will be along broad competency lines which are very fluffy and have nothing to do with your ability in a given role.
There is a group on Reddit full of mock answers which you just need to tailor to your previous roles.
You have to pass a certain grade according to the interviewer in each competency area.
Theres lots of PC twaddle stuff in there.

[malvolio]

I'm glad your broadband went down.

I always welcome a helpful critique. That wasn't one.

And FWIW I had made all the same points the other guys did.

[PCTNN]

I have my first (and apparently the only interview during the hiring process) interview (the recruiter said 20-30 minutes at most) with a DWP hiring manager later this week.

Yes, that's in line with my experience of interviewing for contracts in the public sector.

In my 3 contracts in the public sector:
- first interview was 23 minutes on the phone
- second interview was 17 minutes on the phone (but probably because I was going back to the same team/department)
- third interview was 45 minutes on MS Teams

All interviews were quick and to the point and the hiring managers were solely interested in understanding if I'd be able to get the job done and had the right experience. No useless questions such as competency based and other fluffy stuff.

"Can you do xyz?" "Yes, I did xyz when working for client abc on project efg..." and that was it. All three times I knew the outcome of the interview within 24-48 hours.

The hiring process is incredibly quick and painless for contract roles; on the other hand if you want a permie job in the public sector be prepared to go through some of the most irritating and unnecessarily cumbersome recruitment processes you'll ever experience"

[malvolio]

Yes, that's in line with my experience of interviewing for contracts in the public sector.

In my 3 contracts in the public sector:
- first interview was 23 minutes on the phone
- second interview was 17 minutes on the phone (but probably because I was going back to the same team/department)
- third interview was 45 minutes on MS Teams

All interviews were quick and to the point and the hiring managers were solely interested in understanding if I'd be able to get the job done and had the right experience. No useless questions such as competency based and other fluffy stuff.

"Can you do xyz?" "Yes, I did xyz when working for client abc on project efg..." and that was it. All three times I knew the outcome of the interview within 24-48 hours.

The hiring process is incredibly quick and painless for contract roles; on the other hand if you want a permie job in the public sector be prepared to go through some of the most irritating and unnecessarily cumbersome recruitment processes you'll ever experience"

Definitely agree with the last point!

I can see them sticking to the point for purely technical delivery where you can define the skills need quite clearly and you aren't involved overmuch with their own people. Different picture for the managerial and business change things though which is where I worked - and the OP is a manager after all.

[Guy Incognito]

Therefore the interview structure is usually based on competency based questions. e.g. 'please describe a time when you did X' or 'can you give us an example where you achieved Y'. I've come across this style as an interviewee for contract roles in several public sector organisations.

I remember going for my first job with British Rail in 1994.

The interviewer had boxes to tick if you could demonstrate competencies.

As my eyesight was good I could read them upside-down and just made up stories of times I'd done the things on his list.

[edison]

I remember going for my first job with British Rail in 1994.

The interviewer had boxes to tick if you could demonstrate competencies.

As my eyesight was good I could read them upside-down and just made up stories of times I'd done the things on his list.

That sounds pretty much like the plot from The Usual Suspects LOL

[sreed]

Update - The interview was with a panel of 2 - the hiring manager and a peer. Took about 20-25 minutes, very focused and to the point, essentially digging into the details of my past experience of managing projects in the tech/digital space, albeit with the focus on the PM part rather than the tech.

On the whole, it went quite well but given that all my recent PM experience was with small/mid-sized fintech firms, I wasn't really able to cite any comparable experience with respect to client size and the public sector so that might be a stumbling block.

Anyway, overall it was a pleasantly streamlined process. The hiring manager said that I'd know before eod today so let's wait and see.

[sreed]

Got the contract, starting in the new year. AMS/PSR were pretty quick with all the vetting.

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

[malvolio]

Got the contract, starting in the new year. AMS/PSR were pretty quick with all the vetting.

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

Nice one. Have fun!

[BigLadFromBeeston666]

Befriend the permies as much as possible and try not to piss off anyone senior. Public sector can be a bit Game of Thrones at times. However, every department and team is different, so it really is luck of the draw in terms of what you get.

GL HF.