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NCS Summer Work

Out of interest, has anyone else ever applied to work for NCS - the challenge?

I was wondering how competitive it is and whether it was enjoyable?

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Hi,

I applied for a summer job this year and was successful, I'll be working 24 days as a 'Community Facilitator' but there are lots of roles available.

In terms of numbers, they get 15,000 applications per year, give 7,000 invitations to assessment, and give 3,000 job offers after assessment, so competition is high. The assessment takes 4 hours and is comprised of lots of group work, role playing potential situations, and presenting your own ideas.
The more youth work experience you have, the better, as this sets you apart and should make your skills more refined at assessment.

The work itself is very enjoyable, I've worked with NCS before. Tough situations come up but there is plenty of support available from the staff team, most of the time you just work with the young people on their projects and it's a light-hearted, motivated environment.
The pay is not bad at all, and getting the job lets you do it again the next year without the application process. They do ask for a lot of information on the website but it's pretty standard for a youth work application.

if you have any questions then please ask :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by Star Light
Hi,

I applied for a summer job this year and was successful, I'll be working 24 days as a 'Community Facilitator' but there are lots of roles available.

In terms of numbers, they get 15,000 applications per year, give 7,000 invitations to assessment, and give 3,000 job offers after assessment, so competition is high. The assessment takes 4 hours and is comprised of lots of group work, role playing potential situations, and presenting your own ideas.
The more youth work experience you have, the better, as this sets you apart and should make your skills more refined at assessment.

The work itself is very enjoyable, I've worked with NCS before. Tough situations come up but there is plenty of support available from the staff team, most of the time you just work with the young people on their projects and it's a light-hearted, motivated environment.
The pay is not bad at all, and getting the job lets you do it again the next year without the application process. They do ask for a lot of information on the website but it's pretty standard for a youth work application.

if you have any questions then please ask :smile:


This is great! It was exactly what I was hoping for it to be.

I have a feeling that I'm applying a bit late for this year... but the adverts are still up on job sites so I don't know.

I'm applying for the Residential Mentor role... but I have a feeling that I won't be accepted because I don't have experience with young people in a residential setting... I have lots of voluntary experience outside of this though so fingers crossed.

What's the assessment, if you don't mind me asking?
They have application deadlines in waves - check the website for the next one, sooner is better though.
You can choose to apply for multiple roles, and if you get assessed, they choose which job would best suit you, even if you didn't originally apply for it, so you might as well apply for all the roles you wouldn't mind doing. Voluntary experience seems to go down very well with them, so milk that as much as you can.

The assessment day has 30-40 applicants at it, split into groups of 10-12. You get assessed by different assessors, doing different tasks. Some tasks are group work: planning a social action project and presenting it, role-playing challenging situations you might encounter, other stuff probably. Individual work includes telling your group about a charity visit they'll be doing but keeping them interested, running an activity whilst people misbehave, presenting a pre-planned icebreaker activity, and things I can't remember.
There are also group discussions where a question is asked and people take turns answering. The questions are about why you want to work with NCS, situations you might encounter, how young people benefit, stuff like that.

Or it might be totally different outside of Manchester for all I know!
Hi,

Ive been invited to an assessment centre in 2 days for the enterprise practitioner. Ive been asked to prepare a 5min workshop demonstrating my skill?! Did you have to prepare something similar? /know anyone at the assessment centre who did and do you have any tips?

Thankyou! :smile:
Original post by elliebarnes_
Hi,

Ive been invited to an assessment centre in 2 days for the enterprise practitioner. Ive been asked to prepare a 5min workshop demonstrating my skill?! Did you have to prepare something similar? /know anyone at the assessment centre who did and do you have any tips?

Thankyou! :smile:


Hi,
My assessment day was for a couple of roles, not including Practitioners unfortunately, but I've worked with some succesful Practitioners last year on the programme. Chances are that 5 minutes means exactly 5 minutes because they love timing things, so make sure it lasts at least 5 minutes - better to go over than under.
Your workshop is to demonstrate your ability to engage rather than enterprise skills - you're given a set curriculum to deliver on the programme, so focus on delivery over innovation. That said, you need something to deliver, so try to come up with an interactive, interesting workshop. Putting a group discussion in is good as you have to say less, maybe even a short game/quiz as well. They want you to keep 16 year olds interested in the least exciting of their 5 skill options, so enthusiasm and engagement is vital.
(I'm assuming the skill you're demonstrating is your teaching/youth work, unless they're actually asking you to show competency in Enterprise directly)
keep smiling and be confident!

I was asked to prepare two short icebreaker games so I think definitely delivery over content is what matters. Do a bit of reading up on the programme itself because they like asking what you think the kids gain from it or what you gain from it.
Thankyou so much for your help!
Reply 7
Original post by Star Light
They have application deadlines in waves - check the website for the next one, sooner is better though.
You can choose to apply for multiple roles, and if you get assessed, they choose which job would best suit you, even if you didn't originally apply for it, so you might as well apply for all the roles you wouldn't mind doing. Voluntary experience seems to go down very well with them, so milk that as much as you can.

The assessment day has 30-40 applicants at it, split into groups of 10-12. You get assessed by different assessors, doing different tasks. Some tasks are group work: planning a social action project and presenting it, role-playing challenging situations you might encounter, other stuff probably. Individual work includes telling your group about a charity visit they'll be doing but keeping them interested, running an activity whilst people misbehave, presenting a pre-planned icebreaker activity, and things I can't remember.
There are also group discussions where a question is asked and people take turns answering. The questions are about why you want to work with NCS, situations you might encounter, how young people benefit, stuff like that.

Or it might be totally different outside of Manchester for all I know!



I've actually applied for Manchester!

Unfortunately I couldn't see anything about application waves... it just said it was a rolling scheme.
Thank you so much for your help, it sounds right up my street :biggrin:
Reply 8
Original post by elliebarnes_
Hi,

Ive been invited to an assessment centre in 2 days for the enterprise practitioner. Ive been asked to prepare a 5min workshop demonstrating my skill?! Did you have to prepare something similar? /know anyone at the assessment centre who did and do you have any tips?

Thankyou! :smile:



How did it go? :smile:
Anyone done the practitioner assessment yet? Got mine in a few weeks and was just wondering what its like.
I have my assessment tomorrow for mentor/ facilitator and was wondering if you had any tips? :smile:

I'm fairly nervous... I'm guessing it's about making the assessors like you as a person and showing them that you're capable in high stress situations?
Reply 11
I had a really positive phone call about my experience in relation to my application for role as Residential Support Worker! Fingers crossed :smile:
Reply 12
How long have people waited to hear after an assessment day the good/bad news?
Reply 13
Original post by Afgpodd
How long have people waited to hear after an assessment day the good/bad news?


Like a week or two.. I did the assesment day last year and i failed to get the role as a senior mentor, despite i tried my best in the assessment and also being a former participant of NCS the challenge.

Trust me that assesment day isn't fun at all, you have to play an act to get the job :frown:
Reply 14
Original post by O.Ozz
Like a week or two.. I did the assesment day last year and i failed to get the role as a senior mentor, despite i tried my best in the assessment and also being a former participant of NCS the challenge.

Trust me that assesment day isn't fun at all, you have to play an act to get the job :frown:



Yeah, my assessment day was Wednesday. Shocked about how many people they actually reject!
Reply 15
Original post by Afgpodd
Yeah, my assessment day was Wednesday. Shocked about how many people they actually reject!


Do you feel it went well?

i went to the assessment day in April last year, They made it seem that even if you dont get the desired role, you would probably be offered a different role. I think the reason why i wasn't chosen was because i was not in university and the people from the assesment where basically studying in uni's so i think the staff were picking a particular part of people
I heard back after about a week but was offered a role that I didn't apply for so I think I'm going to have to turn it down due to me not being able to travel every day :frown: Bit of a shame

I agree that the assessment is rather stressful
Reply 17
What advice can u give to me with regards to preparation for the group assessment?

Mine is next week... Senior Community Facilitator

How many people assess the group?

Do they finish on time?
Hi, I've applied for the role of a support worker,and have my assessment day next Wednesday, I've got to prepare 2 icebreaker games .. think I've got a few ideas but just wondering if anyone has any tips that have been to these days before ?

So nervous lol :')
Reply 19
Hi Guys,

The assessment is not that bad. You just have to relax and be yourself. It's not about giving your best, it's about showing the skills needed for the particular role. I have worked with The Challenge for 2 years and I have an assessment for another role tomorrow. If you read as much as you can about the programme and how inspiring it is, you will get inspired yourself and then you will come across as a very positive person. That's a very important thing they are looking for. No one likes people who complain all the time. Make sure you show that you like working with young people, have some experience, no matter what kind of experience you have, talk about it at the one-to-one interview.

After my first assessment, I was sure I didn't get the job, because there were some confident people, and I wasn't. I couldn't even speak English properly back then. I was so nervous and just wanted it over. I was so happy after the assessment, because this was my first assessment ever (4 hours is a long time) and it was non-stop. First, it was the group assessment, then the one-to-one interview and finally, some specific tasks related to my role, calculations and organisational stuff.

So after being sure I would't get the job, they emailed me the very same day and told me I got the job. So don't be nervous, be yourselves and you will get it. You will probably have the best summer in your life, I certainly did, because you meet very positive and open people and you make friends for life.

Good luck everyone :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)

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