Civil Service Graduate Fast Stream 2014

Hi there. I was lucky enough to get on to the EFS this year. In terms of advice for preparing, it is absolutely crucial to be comfortable with the two stages of online testing (otherwise there is no possibility of showing what you can do in the flesh). To that end, I would to the example tests on the website and perhaps visit your university careers service for some sample maths and critical thinking tests. The E-Tray is a swine (it was for me, anyway) and there is an extensive (and time consuming) example on the website, which provides detailed explanations of the answers. I didn't bother with this, but had I had more time, I certainly would have done, because to be honest I felt like it was a little bit of a lottery for me.

In terms of FSAC: have a look at the competencies on the website and go and get as much practical experience (whether it be sports teams, organising events, travelling preferably with a purpose, leading and managing teams etc etc) that you can draw upon in the interview to demonstrate those competencies.

Best of luck!

That's a very good point! They stressed so much that we weren't competing against one another, but we must have been if we wait until everyone's finished!

I'm not holding out much hope, I got so tired half way through that I kind of checked out--there were so many questions!

Thanks for getting back to me
In the meanwhile, as you have mentioned, I am going to be looking for practical experience. I have already got 2 weeks worth of work experience in local government, and am doing a lot of volunteering. But aside those things and academic performance, is there anything else which would be particularly useful to have?

Hi, I am 17 and looking at working as a part of the civil service in particular to work in either the diplomatic or European sector. Is there any advice on specific uni degrees or life experiences that I should try to get involved with/ be aware of? The website is not that helpful for info for someone my age. Thankyou

The timetable seemed to incorporate "time to mingle". My timetable advised me to arrive at 9.50 yet the first exercise did not start until 10.45. I was a bit irritated by that as I had got up at the absolute crack of dawn to commute into London. There were other TiB-ers in the reception area and they hung around all day so you could speak to them before or after. You don't have to adhere to speaking before and after. I am sure they would be most understanding if you said that you will have to leave promptly after the interview and so it was nice meeting them and having a chat. Personally I found the programme manager who was lurking around a source of greater information than the TiB folk (not that it wasn't nice to meet them).

One important thing to note if you arrive intending to read through any notes - it isn't really possible since as soon as you get to the main reception room you tend to get drawn into the conversation of TiB folk and other interviewees - as well as with the programme manager. So if you intend to have a quiet read of your notes prior - I would suggest doing this in a cafe or somewhere close by before you enter the building.

I also found the day more enjoyable than FSAC so hopefully it won't be as tortuous as you imagine. Best of luck.

I sympathise. During the last bout of tube strikes I booked incredibly convoluted ways of getting into London (and avoiding all tubes and full buses) for three days and then they cancelled the strike after one day. Yet I still had to honour the tickets and take twice as long to get home for the full three days.

Just go in with a positive mind. Despite being a little tense I actually enjoyed my briefing and interview. You get a chance to show more of yourself, your abilities and ambitions - if that makes sense - since the interview is not as rigid as the competency based one at FSAC.

I suppose that makes sense. I had an independent moderator sitting in.

Yeah I also had the moderator sitting in mine. I felt this possibly contributed to the rigidity of the questions and absolutely no give away as to how good or bad my answers were. So very hard to judge, although I know the Q&A was poor from me and quite disappointed in myself to be honest.

Good luck all TiBs!

My assessors were really responsive, of course I'm sure they didn't give away too much but one lady was like "no one's ever answered THAT before" and made faces and stuff. It was REALLY off-putting actually. It definitely felt like they were trying to throw me off.

Interesting you should say that eggs_and_bacon... I had my FSB for TiB on 24/04 and had a similar experience. During the interview, the lead interviewer made faces during some of my answers. As I was already fairly nervous, this served to make me more self-conscious about the answers I was giving and certainly did not put me at ease!The two other interviewers were very polite and friendly which made the experience better but I was quite annoyed afterwards because of her facial gestures putting me off!

I had the same day, from 12-3, were you at a different time? I wonder if we have the same assessors? I remember the woman who made the faces was called Nicky, and there was an older woman and a younger man in there also.

I was the slot before you in the morning. It sounds like you had the same assessors...

I believe it's the 8th of May. I hope we'll hear shortly after.

I was on the 28th of April and the programme manager advised it would probably be 3 weeks although I wasn't sure if that was for the results or the full report.

I had a person like that in the leadership exercise at FSAC. I felt like I was speaking one language and she another. And when we still didn't get each other, she would sigh and stare at the ceiling. It was off-putting and at times I wanted to ask her to show a little more maturity ;-) I wished the assessors were a panel as I have never had any assessment experience like that. But then - you had a panel and it still happened to you.