Knowledge, skills and experience
You may need specific knowledge, skills or experience to apply for certain jobs within the Department. If you do, we will tell you this in the advert and we will ask you to tell us about the knowledge, skills or experience in your application form.
We may ask for specific educational qualifications for some high level or specialist jobs or for a graduate scheme.
We recruit some graduates every year from the Fast Stream, the Civil Service’s accelerated development programme.
- Fast Stream website.
Our selection process is based on competencies: behavioural and professional. Competencies are skills and abilities that you may have gained in any area of your life – at work, home, school, leisure activities or voluntary work.
We focus on competencies because we believe this helps us find the best person for the job.
- Recruitment support pack (57KB)
– updated September 2012 - Guidance on writing competency statements for a job application (43KB)
There are two types of competencies depending on the job you are applying for:
Behavioural competencies
There are five behavioural competencies:
- Analysing, improving and changing (29KB)
- Building capability (27KB)
- Delivering a customer focused service (23KB)
- Leading (19KB)
- Managing people and performance (28KB)
The job description of the vacancy you are interested in will tell you which competencies apply to that job.
Professional competencies
Many of our jobs, especially specialist posts, require additional competencies specific to the profession as well as the general behavioural competencies. We ask for this information to evaluate:
- your experience gained in the professional area described
- the breadth and depth of your experience
- the level of influence
- the level and size of the organisation
- the frequency of the experience
- how recently it was gained
- how the experience matches the job description.
The job description of the vacancy you are interested in will tell you which competencies apply to that job.
Operational delivery competencies
- Operational delivery competencies level 1 (97KB)
- Operational delivery competencies level 2 (100KB)
- Operational delivery competencies level 3 (100KB)
Audit competencies
- Audit competencies level 2 (31KB)
- Audit competencies level 3 (31KB)
Business administration competencies
- Business administration competencies level 1 (30KB)
- Business administration competencies level 2 (31KB)
- Business administration competencies level 3 (31KB)
Communications competencies
- Communications competencies AIO level (31KB)
- Communications competencies IO level (31KB)
- Communications competencies SIO level (31KB)
- Communications competencies G7/6 level (32 KB)
Contact centre competencies
- Contact centre competencies level 1 (31 KB)
- Contact centre competencies level 2 (31KB)
- Contact centre competencies level 3 (45 KB)
Customer insight competencies
- Customer insight competencies level 1 (43KB)
- Customer insight competencies level 2 (43KB)
- Customer insight competencies level 3 (44KB)
Economist competencies
- Economist competencies Assistant Economist level (31 KB)
- Economist competencies G6 to G7 level (31KB)
Finance competencies
- Finance competencies level 1 (30 KB)
- Finance competencies level 2 (31KB)
- Finance competencies level 3 (32 KB)
Governance competencies
- Governance competencies HEO level (32 KB)
- Governance competencies SEO level (31 KB)
- Governance competencies G7/6 level (32 KB)
Human Resources competencies
- Human Resources competencies level 1 (31 KB)
- Human Resources competencies level 2 (31 KB)
- Human Resources competencies level 3 (31 KB)
Information Technology competencies
- Information Technology competencies level 1 (31 KB)
- Information Technology competencies level 2 (31 KB)
- Information Technology competencies level 3 (31 KB)
Legal competencies
- Legal competencies G7/G6 level (31 KB)
Librarians and archivists competencies
- Librarians and archivists competencies practitioner level (30 KB)
- Librarians and archivists competencies management level (30 KB)
- Librarians and archivists competencies leadership level (30 KB)
Medical competencies
- Medical competencies G7/G6 level (32 KB)
Operational research competencies
- Operational research competencies level 1 (33 KB)
- Operational research competencies level 2 (32 KB)
- Operational research competencies level 3 (32 KB)
- Operational research competencies G7/G6 level (33 KB)
Policy delivery competencies
- Policy delivery competencies EO and HEO level (31 KB)
- Policy delivery competencies SEO level (31 KB)
- Policy delivery competencies G7 and G6 level (31 KB)
Programme and project management competencies
- Programme and project management competencies level 1 (30 KB)
- Programme and project management competencies level 2 (31 KB)
- Programme and project management competencies level 3 (32 KB)
Procurement competencies
- Procurement competencies level 1 (30 KB)
- Procurement competencies level 2 (31 KB)
- Procurement competencies level 3 (31 KB)
Psychology competencies
- Psychology competencies practitioner level (30 KB)
- Psychology competencies management level (31 KB)
- Psychology competencies leadership level (49 KB)
Risk management competencies
- Risk management competencies HEO level (33 KB)
- Risk management competencies SEO level (33 KB)
- Risk management competencies G7/G6 level (34 KB)
Social research competencies
- Social research competencies RO level (30 KB)
- Social research competencies SRO level (31 KB)
- Social research competencies G7 and G6 level (31 KB)
Statistical competencies
- Statistical competencies STO level (30 KB)
- Statistical competencies HSTO level (31 KB)
- Statistical competencies SSTO level (31 KB)
- Statistical competencies G7/G6 level (31 KB)
