Tips for Applying

Please complete all sections of the application form. You may be asked to complete a personal statement or behavioural statements depending on the role you are applying for. Please ensure you have read and understood the application criteria within the advert, as the selection process can differ depending on the role. The layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criteria separately, however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several key criteria. If there is a lead behaviour or lead essential criteria noted on the advert, please ensure they are evidenced within your application.

Further information can be found in the resources section. The evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. If evidence of plagiarism, or sharing of questions, information or answers throughout any part of the selection process is found, your application will be withdrawn. The same applies to all stages of your application.

After successfully completing and submitting your application, you may be invited to take a Situational Judgement Test. You have up to 24 hours following the vacancy closing date to complete the test.

There will be one test per vacancy and if you apply for multiple vacancies then you will need to take the online test for each one as your scores are not banked.

If you meet the test pass mark your written evidence will then be sifted. If you have exceeded the pass mark, you application may progress to the next stage and you will be notified of this immediately. Results are often released in different stages depending on the volume of applications, the number of posts available and overall test performance. If you do not hear back from us immediately, this means further reviews are ongoing and as soon as a decision is made, you will be informed of the outcome.

The results of the sift will be released once all applications have been reviewed. Please note, feedback is not provided at sift stage.

If you have passed the initial selection stages, you should be invited to an interview. However, depending on the volume and quality of applications and vacancies, we may increase the sift pass mark to control the number of interviews.

Your interview could be live via Microsoft Teams or a pre recorded video interview depending on the role you have applied for. Full interview details will be in the advert, along with any other additional requirements at interview.

If your interview is pre-recorded, please complete this within 5 days of receiving the invitation. The 5 days begins at the point you receive the invitation and will expire once the 5 days has lapsed. Please note, in the unlikely event of experiencing technical difficulties, we will inform you of who to contact on your invitation. Our recruitment delivery partners recommend you record your responses using an up to date web browser such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge or an equivalent. You will be given some time to familiarise yourself with the approach and practice question before starting to record your responses.

During a pre recorded interview, you will be asked a question and given a minute to consider how you want to respond. You will have 3 minutes to provide your response. There will be 6 questions in total and you can refer to notes at any time during the interview. The evidence you provide must relate to your own thoughts and experiences. If evidence of plagiarism is found your application will be withdrawn. If you have completed your response and there is time remaining you can fast forward to the next question.

It is essential that your full face is visible throughout your interview. You must not have anything covering your face (e.g. a PPE face mask) or be positioned in poor lighting where your face cannot be clearly seen. We must be able to clearly see you when you are giving your answers and we will use this to confirm your identity and verify that you are the person applying for the job. Please contact the recruitment team before undertaking your interview if you have any specific personal concerns about this. It is worth highlighting here that if we cannot see your full face your interview may be rejected and you could be rejected from the process at this stage.

For live Teams interviews, you will be given a selection of interview slots to chose from. If you are unable to attend any of the dates or times available, we will inform you of who to raise this with on your invite. Although slots are limited, we will try and accommodate where possible.

If you have made a request for a reasonable adjustment and have not received details of this in advance of your interview, please contact the email address on the invite.

Please refer to the Success Profiles which will provide more detail on Behaviours and Strengths and the levels we will be assessing you against. Further information can be found in the resources section. We recommend you familiarise yourself with this framework, however please remember the most important thing is to answer the question and provide lots of detail relevant to the question asked.

Your completed interview will be assessed and we will get in touch with your outcome.

Once a provisional offer is made, we will confirm this via email and you will have 2 days to accept this offer. If you do not accept the provisional offer within 2 days, your offer may be withdrawn. If you have any issues in accepting your offer, please contact our recruitment team for assistance. Offers will be made in strict merit order taking into account location preferences where applicable.

Successful candidates not offered a role, either due to location preference or number of vacancies available, will be placed on a reserve list which will be held for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months. The reserve list will be reviewed for future vacancies of the same grade which are similar in requirements, essential criteria, and location.

When an offer of employment is made to you there are some additional requirements that must be completed satisfactorily before you can start. The additional requirements are known as pre-employment or vetting checks and you must satisfy the requirement to prove your identity and your right to work in the UK and the Civil Service initially. When you successfully pass this first stage, further checks are undertaken to confirm criminal records, health and employment history.

Some roles within CFCD require National Security Clearance vetting in addition to standard pre employment checks, for example our Economic, Serious and Organised Crime. Details of this will be outlined in the advert. Please ensure you have checked your eligibility for these roles before applying.

You will need to provide DWP with various documents to prove who you are and where you live. Please ensure that you do so within 48 hours of the request for documents coming through to you. Please note that if you do not provide the appropriate documentation within the timescales, your application may be withdrawn. If you experience any problems with your documentation, please do not hesitate to contact us.

There may be more than one location listed on the advert.

In this case, you will be asked for your preferences for up to 3 locations (from those available in the vacancy) telling us where you would prefer to work if you are successful. Please do not select a location unless you are prepared to accept a role in that location.

Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles here.

Job offers made will be in merit order and there is a possibility that your preferred locations may no longer be available depending on your position on the merit list. If none of your location preferences remain at the point we make a job offer, DWP will try to offer you a role from available locations within a reasonable daily travelling distance of your home. If we are unable to offer you a role in your preferred location or an alternative location in reasonable daily travelling distance of your home, we will add you to a reserve list.

We embrace diversity in DWP and promote equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you require any further information or assistance with your application, please contact: DWP-Customer_Hub@gov.sscl.com or call 0345 241 5365.