Hello!

Happy spring to you all.

For March, spring, Easter I was thinking new beginnings, so I would write a post about how to join us in Government KIM (GKIM). I sometimes think CS recruitment must be a mystery to eexternal people, so here is a 2 minute dymistification for you.

Finding jobs

CS Jobs is the main website. Does it have all CS jobs? Nope, but most of them. Many departments / agencies are listed on the site but will take you to another site to actually apply. 

Searching CS jobs can be done in a number of ways and there are some quite good filters, but they are dependant upon the metadat entered so key works will be your friend. I have posted a couple of filters / searches for you below:

Filter by KIM & Library roles  

Search for library 

Search for information manager 

Once you have set up your search(es), if you have a created an account you can set up alerts simply by clicking 'email me jobs like these' at the bottom of the filter, and then manage alerts in the top right. 

Applying

Civil service application are based on the success profiles which you can read here, and they will look at technical experience, strengths and behaviours primarily. Most(?) applications will be done on the CS Jobs website, which means if you do one application it is easy enough (sort of) to copy information from one application to the next. Though fair warning, these days they all ask for slightly different things in terms of evidence length and structure. Use the word count and make you evidence very clear in how it is addressing all the essential criteria.

Evidence for behaviours in particular, but also for any evidence presented in a statement, should use the STAR format which is Situation, Task, Action (what YOU did which should be the majority of your answer) and Result (Everything was a massive success and I got loads of positive feedback etc etc). This is how your interview answers should be structured too for bahvioural questions, e.g. 'Can you give me an example of when you have worked on a project with a team?'. Strengths are generally more short sharp answers, technical questions can be more theoretical but always good to base your answer on experience where possible. For general help, search for Jac Williams CS applications videos on YouTube.
 
Waiting

Congratulations! You have been offered a role in the CS. Now you just have to get through pre-employment checks and clearance. Clearance could be anywhere from baseline to DV and could take weeks or months to come through. Be prepared to wait and do not quit your current job until you have passed all checks. Once you're in, everything will go smoothly...

Anyway hope that was useful to someone, post any questions or comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Emily Powell
GIG Member Secretary