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 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. Read more on the Fast Stream website.
Our selection process is based on competencies – behavioural and technical. 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.
There are different groups of competencies depending on the job you are applying for:
- Behavioural competencies for Administrative Assistant (AA) to Senior Executive Officer (SEO) careers
- Behavioural competencies for Grade 7 to Grade 6 careers
- Technical competencies
Behavioural competencies for Administrative Assistant (AA) to Senior Executive Officer (SEO) careers
There are six behavioural competencies for careers at AA (Administrative Assistant), AO (Administratiive Officer), EO (Executive Officer), HEO (Higher Executive Officer) and SEO (Senior Executive Officer) levels.
The job description of the vacancy you are interested in will tell you which competencies apply to that job.
- Engaging effectively with customers
- Improving performance
- Making the best use of resources
- Leading through change
- Building constructive working relationships
- Developing self and others
Behavioural competencies for Grade 7 to Grade 6 careers
There are 7 behavioural competencies for careers at Grade 7 and Grade 6 level.
The job description of the vacancy you are interested in will tell you which competencies apply to that job.
- Engaging effectively with customers
- Improving performance
- Making the best use of resources
- Analysing and using evidence
- Showing effective leadership
- Building constructive working relationships
- Developing self and others
Additional competencies for specialist and professional jobs
Most of our specialist and professional jobs require additional competencies, specific to the job, as well as the general behavioural competencies. These are usually referred to as technical competencies.
We ask for this information to evaluate:
- your experience gained in the technical 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.