Civil Service Cyber Security Apprenticeship - Interview Prep: Help please!

Good luck @emo94 I'm rooting for you :smile:

it sounds like it went alright for you and the interviewers are nice!

The only thing that confuses me about the behaviours is that they are set out by 'grade', as this is an apprenticeship I was looking at the AA/AO grade behaviours but the pay grade is more EO Grade! I'm an existing Civil Servant at EO Grade, but this doesn't specify which grade category we should look at :smile:

Reply 42

Original post by CCooper1991

Good luck @emo94 I'm rooting for you :smile:

it sounds like it went alright for you and the interviewers are nice!

The only thing that confuses me about the behaviours is that they are set out by 'grade', as this is an apprenticeship I was looking at the AA/AO grade behaviours but the pay grade is more EO Grade! I'm an existing Civil Servant at EO Grade, but this doesn't specify which grade category we should look at :smile:

@CCooper1991 yeah, it can be confusing. But what I’ve grown to understand is with each changing grade when answering these questions the level of detail or examples they require be given must be more advanced the higher the grade. For example someone applying for an AO role answering a ‘delivering at pace’ question will not need to go into as much detail with their answer in comparison to someone applying for an EO role before they achieve the optimum or high mark. There is a greater marking criteria to meet at an EO interview than at an AO interview.

On quickly reviewing the job advert for this level 4 apprenticeship it states under the grade: Executive Officer. So I would advise you ensure you answer the questions as an EO should for those behaviours. If you go on your civil service jobs portal you applied through you will see this is indeed an EO role. I currently work as an AO on my level 3 apprenticeship I recently completed. This is a level 4 apprenticeship so I’m not surprised it is assign an EO role in this in demand field of study/industry.

Hope that clears things up for you.

Reply 43

Original post by emo94

@CCooper1991 yeah, it can be confusing. But what I’ve grown to understand is with each changing grade when answering these questions the level of detail or examples they require be given must be more advanced the higher the grade. For example someone applying for an AO role answering a ‘delivering at pace’ question will not need to go into as much detail with their answer in comparison to someone applying for an EO role before they achieve the optimum or high mark. There is a greater marking criteria to meet at an EO interview than at an AO interview.

On quickly reviewing the job advert for this level 4 apprenticeship it states under the grade: Executive Officer. So I would advise you ensure you answer the questions as an EO should for those behaviours. If you go on your civil service jobs portal you applied through you will see this is indeed an EO role. I currently work as an AO on my level 3 apprenticeship I recently completed. This is a level 4 apprenticeship so I’m not surprised it is assign an EO role in this in demand field of study/industry.

Hope that clears things up for you.

@CCooper1991 if you want to be more safe than sorry you can email [email protected] to confirm the grade for the role.

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@emo94 Yes that clears things up a lot! Thank you so much for your help :smile:

I'll have to let you know how it goes on Friday now!

Reply 45

Liamo996

3

Original post by CCooper1991

Hi @emo94 and @Liamo996, interview late on Friday and I'm so nervous, booked literally the last slot possible!

How are you both feeling now you've had time to experience the post-interview comedown :smile:

Hi mate,
Still thinking about the whole process every day and wondering if I've done enough to secure a place. Still unsure if I should be confident, guess it just depends on how the other candidates get on. I keep doing the annoying thing of checking the gov applications webpage to see if there's any updates. Counting down the days to the 26th. Good luck on Friday!

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@Liamo996 oh I understand!! I'd be doing the same, you sound like you gave it your all and there's more of a chance of getting it than not getting it due to the 50 interviewees /30 places ratio :smile:

Reply 47

Original post by CCooper1991

@Liamo996 oh I understand!! I'd be doing the same, you sound like you gave it your all and there's more of a chance of getting it than not getting it due to the 50 interviewees /30 places ratio :smile:

Hi @CCooper1991 hope everything went well today with your interview!

Reply 48

Hi @emo94 thank you for checking up :smile:

the interviewers were lovely, the whole process took 50 minutes and I got asked 3 behaviours not 4 (don't know if I should be worried). They said in total they have 4,000 applications so I think regardless of the outcome we can all give ourselves a massive pat on the back for getting so far.
They also said 100 people were interviewed

Reply 49

Liamo996

3

How many times you guys checked the application portal today then?

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Too many times haha! Any news yet?

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No news unfortunately. I hope they don’t drag it on beyond this week.

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Original post by emo94

No news unfortunately. I hope they don’t drag it on beyond this week.

I know they definitely said it would be this week, just checked and nothing yet ! :smile:

Still nothing. 🥲

Let's hold on for tomorrow!! :redface:

Reply 55

They're really making us wait aren't they @emo94 @Liamo996

Reply 56

They really are mate. At this rate we’re gonna find out at the end of the week or worst yet maybe next week 🥲.

Reply 57

Liamo996

3

They probably think they're under a DOS attack with how much I'm refreshing the page

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