HMRC Tax Professional and Operational Delivery Higher Officer Caseworker

In only December 2015 I was an AO working for the home office, done 6 months as an EO with DWP and now I'll be moving up to HEO with these jobs so it can be done to move up quickly from AO to HEO. Study the competencies, ask your EO/HEO to look over your competency examples and keep refining them. Even if you don't get through on this campaign to me it seems inevitable that these roles will come up again in the future from what I've heard about the average age of staff in HMRC.

Anyone applied for the new campaign? I'm currenty a AO in DWP and whilst really interested, think I'd struggle to come up with HEO/HO level examples. So frustrating.

Quick question: if I have a provisional offer, is there any need, or indeed point, in applying for the new campaign??

I'd give it a go, if I was you. Large campaigns like this are much easier to be successful in than small campaigns. The benchmark will be lower than normal as they are looking to recruit so many posts.

When I interview candidates for a large campaign, anyone who's half decent gets through and onto the merit list.

They're sifting on making effective decisions so I would spend as much time as possible on that. I think they only sift on the other competencies if the standard is very high or there are small numbers of positions available or have limited amounts of interview slots available. That doesn't meant you should neglect the other competencies but just keep in mind how they will sift the initial applications. This is for the internal advert by the way, external applicants only need to submit evidence for one competency.

When I was asked in the last campaign to select a site and time to book my interview I could see how many slots were available across all the sites in the UK. There were around 1300 for 470 positions. I would estimate there would be around 900 people invited to interview with this campaign having 300 positions. I scored a 4 on my evidence at application so I imagine everybody who scored a 4 was invited to interview. 4 is also the minimum to be able to get through the sift.

If you don't mind me asking, which area of DWP do you work in? I'm a team leader on an ESA WCA team and I know that the work that my AOs do is quite straightforward, there's very little opportunities to get involved in the type of decision making that they're looking for at HEO level on the civil service competency framework. However, from my days an as AO with the Home Office working as a decision maker I would be regularly involved in having to make very complex decisions which is where I managed to gather my evidence from.

What I would suggest, if you're struggling to think of examples at HEO level, is think of evidence away from the workplace. You can use anything that you've done in life, it doesn't have to be about work.

The question I was asked at interview was "can you give me an example of where you have had to make a decision that you know is going to be unpopular?"

Whilst there is no guarantee you would be asked the same, have a think of anything you've been involved in outside of work where you've had to make a similar decision, the factors involved in making it, how you came to make it, weighing up different opinions/evidence/options, seeking more evidence to make a more informed decision, how did the recipient handle your decision and how did you manage their reaction? etc

Good luck by the way.

I got my formal offer on Friday and received my provisional on the 9th May...

I am a JSA benefit processor and i also did a 3 month stint on the inbound telephony team. I definitely agree about the lack of opportunities for DWP AOs (unless you want to be a deputy).

Thank you for the all suggestions, they have been really helplful.

Has there been a time when you have had an unusual case that wasn't catered for in procedures/work guidance? If so, you will have had to make a decision on what to do. You may have had to consider the available evidence, go away and gather more evidence, develop options, consider the risks and benefits of these options, involve specialists (eg policy, security) and then come to a reasoned decision.

Then you would need to explain why this decision was effective - did it prevent a complaint, safeguard services/resources, help meet PSS, what benefit did it bring or what risk did it avoid?

Where are you based and did you get your dbs certificate before your offer?

I didn't need DBS checks as I'm already internal and I will be based in Birmingham.

Anyone get full offer for Belfast yet??

Nope still waiting, dragging in now.