Process Overview

DWP adapted it’s recruitment process for the Work Coach roles in September 2020. If you have applied for a Work Coach role since September 2020, the process set out below will be familiar to you. If this is your first application for a Work Coach role but you have applied for other jobs in DWP, you will notice some differences to the usual DWP recruitment process.

Here's what you need to know about the application process: -

Application Form

• Please complete all sections of the application form. You will be asked to write 500 words explaining your experiences against the Communicating and Influencing Behaviour (Level 2). Find more information here. The evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. If evidence of plagiarism is found your application will be withdrawn..
• If you apply for more than one vacancy in this campaign you will have to take the online test for each advert. If you pass the online test your form will be sifted once and the score applied to all of your other applications. If successful at sift you will be interviewed once only and the interview score applied to all adverts.
• For each vacancy you apply for, you can select up to 5 location preferences where you would prefer to work.

Sifting Form

• After submitting your application, you will be sent an invitation and link to complete an online Situational Judgement Test*. This is designed to test your skills for the Work Coach role. You must complete and submit the test by the deadline notified to you in the invitation. If you do not complete and submit the test before the deadline, your application will not progress.

*Please note that an online Situational Judgement Test may not be required on all vacancies. Please check specific vacancy adverts for confirmation whether an online test should be completed for that vacancy.

• You must pass the Situational Judgement Test to progress. You can access the link for your Situational Judgement Test from the notification email you have received or from within the myRecruitment system.
• Your written evidence will be sifted and if successful you will receive an invitation to a pre-recorded interview.
• No candidate feedback is given following the sift stage of the process, feedback will only be available after your interview.

Pre-Recorded interview

• You must complete your pre-recorded interview within 72 hours of receiving the invitation. The 72 hours begins at the point you receive the invitation from the myRecruitment system.
• The interview is a recording of a person asking questions to test your experiences in 3 Behaviours; Communicating and Influencing, Managing a Quality Service and Making Effective Decisions (Level 2). Further detail can be found here.
• Our recruitment delivery partners recommend you view the interview questions and 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 recording a response to a question before starting to record your responses.
• 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.
• During the interview, you will be asked a question and given a minute to consider how you want to reply. You will have 3 minutes per question in which to give your recorded 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.
• Your completed interview will be assessed and we will get in touch with your outcome.

Reserve List

Successful candidates not offered a role will be placed on a reserve list which will be held for up to 3 months. The reserve list will be used to offer future vacancies arising in your preferred locations. These further posting offers will be made in strict merit order.

Please note that if you have applied for Work Coach vacancies advertised from September 2020 through to March 2021 and have been advised that you are on a reserve list, you need not apply for the new vacancies unless your location preferences have changed. If you have not yet received an outcome for an application for Work Coach vacancies advertised during this period, you may wish to apply for the current vacancies in the meantime.

Vetting Guidance

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.

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

Location preferences

There are a number of roles available across various locations in the UK and we need to know which locations would be best for you if we make you a job offer.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to choose up to 5 location options (from those available in the vacancy) telling us where you would prefer to work if you are successful. In many of our vacancies, some of the site locations that are close to each other have been linked under one main location (cluster). If you do not see the specific site you are looking for in the City/Town section of the advert, please check the Jobcentre locations section as it may be available as part of a cluster. Please note that when you state a preference for a cluster location, you may be posted to any of the linked locations within that cluster. 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 for the Work Coach roles 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 offer you a role from available locations within a reasonable daily travelling distance of your home.

Please note, if you do not specify a preference for a specific location in your 5 choices, or there are no available vacancies within an informal guide of 60 minutes daily travel, you will not be offered a role for that location.

Resources

• CS Ability
• CS Behaviours
• CS Success Profiles Overview
• STAR and WHO models
• Application Top Tips
• Test and Interview Information

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