Civil Service Fast Stream 2016/2017

Original post by royal1990

This may seem like a silly question, but this is for all those that have applied to the Civil Service Fast Stream 2017.

Whats the probability of me been based in London?

Thing is, I'm from the North-West and would like to be based in Manchester area. But obviously with it been the Government I presume it is London-centric. It states on the website that for some schemes (particularly ones I applied too) like Digital & Tech Stream it is Nationwide.

I feel like there is a high chance i'll need to work from London which means i'll have to be away from my partner for long periods.

I'm asking because I am not sure how flexible the programme is with location, as I also don't drive and it seems many grad schemes require both mobility/flexibility and for you to drive.

I am in a very similar situation. Being from Liverpool I would be able to commute to other cities fairly easily in the morning, but London would be a significant stretch both timewise and financially! My stream (European) would require and imply that flexibility though, I guess. I imagine that it would be a good thing to discuss during your interview stage :smile:

Reply 641

Kneale

10

I want to stay in Liverpool and was told last year that if you had a valid reason, like a family or owned a house, then I would probably be able to be based here/Manchester for the streams I was applying for - commercial and finance.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 642

Diffusion

14

Original post by royal1990

This may seem like a silly question, but this is for all those that have applied to the Civil Service Fast Stream 2017.

Whats the probability of me been based in London?

Thing is, I'm from the North-West and would like to be based in Manchester area. But obviously with it been the Government I presume it is London-centric. It states on the website that for some schemes (particularly ones I applied too) like Digital & Tech Stream it is Nationwide.

I feel like there is a high chance i'll need to work from London which means i'll have to be away from my partner for long periods.

I'm asking because I am not sure how flexible the programme is with location, as I also don't drive and it seems many grad schemes require both mobility/flexibility and for you to drive.

I'm not a Fast Streamer but I used to work in Manchester and had a FS colleague on my team. He told me that if somebody has circumstances that require them to be in a particular region - eg having a mortgage, young children, caring responsibilities etc - then they do their best to accommodate this. Everyone else is expected to be mobile and this is in all new civil servants' contracts.

In reality I think it's pot luck where you are posted, but from what I have heard the vast majority of roles are in London, with at least one posting out of London.

But having said that, I have a Fast Streamer friend who is on the DAT stream working for HMRC in Manchester. He moved up from London. So I guess it's possible. Make your preference known ASAP if you are successful.

Definitely don't need to know how to drive.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 643

gingerwizard

12

Original post by mjbx

Anyone who applied for the finance option heard back? Applied on the 29th but still yet to hear anything after the SJTs, getting a little worried now - especially after a friend had an invite for her E-tray, albeit a different path.

Finance was my first choice. Did the e tray today and almost certain I won't have gotten through. Didn't even finish it! Just got to sit tight now.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 644

linney

13

Emailed the fast stream about E-Tray results and got this response:

Dear xxx

Thank you for your e-mail, the E-Tray results are still due to come out in mid-November, the issue yesterday has no impact on the time scale for E-Tray results.

With Best Wishes

Reply 645

eilidhx

3

Original post by linney

Emailed the fast stream about E-Tray results and got this response:

Dear xxx

Thank you for your e-mail, the E-Tray results are still due to come out in mid-November, the issue yesterday has no impact on the time scale for E-Tray results.

With Best Wishes

Mid November seems so far away! The wait is so hard.

Reply 646

Caravan_Palace

6

Original post by linney

Emailed the fast stream about E-Tray results and got this response:

Dear xxx

Thank you for your e-mail, the E-Tray results are still due to come out in mid-November, the issue yesterday has no impact on the time scale for E-Tray results.

With Best Wishes

Mid November is... I mean, they said they'd inform us of we're successful by January, so I'm unsure how they want to for in online interviews and AC in December without disrupting the holidays or January deadlines.

Reply 647

gingerwizard

12

Original post by linney

Emailed the fast stream about E-Tray results and got this response:

Dear xxx

Thank you for your e-mail, the E-Tray results are still due to come out in mid-November, the issue yesterday has no impact on the time scale for E-Tray results.

With Best Wishes

No issue on timescale, just the fairness of them then...

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 648

royal1990

15

Anybody else waiting to hear back on SJTs and the behavioural test? I completed mine a couple days ago and wondering on how long others have waited?

Also, I would to love to hear from any prospective Digital & Tech Streamers; about your background, degree and if you've had any prior applications to the CS.

I'm applying to D&T for my first choice, having studied BA Design in Digital Media, second choice Government Comms, and thirdly, Houses of Parliament. Never had any prior applications with the Civil Service.

How much weighting do you think goes into what degree you studied? I can imagine many applicants have studied very traditionally academic subjects, unlike mine.

Reply 649

IllmaticDragon

13

Original post by royal1990

Anybody else waiting to hear back on SJTs and the behavioural test? I completed mine a couple days ago and wondering on how long others have waited?

Also, I would to love to hear from any prospective Digital & Tech Streamers; about your background, degree and if you've had any prior applications to the CS.

I'm applying to D&T for my first choice, having studied BA Design in Digital Media, second choice Government Comms, and thirdly, Houses of Parliament. Never had any prior applications with the Civil Service.

How much weighting do you think goes into what degree you studied? I can imagine many applicants have studied very traditionally academic subjects, unlike mine.

They are all about increasing their diversity. I dont know if they pay attention to degree/uni, just aptitude etc.

I wouldn't worry too much :smile:

Reply 650

HumanDancer

2

Original post by gingerwizard

No issue on timescale, just the fairness of them then...

Posted from TSR Mobile

Not sure if this contributes, but as someone who is still awaiting for my eTray to be set up properly, this e-mail below might actually shed some light/explain the lack of deadline for overall eTray results. It looks like they are struggling on a lot of fronts at the moment!

Reply 651

Eboracum7

13

Wow, so much drama surrounding the e-tray exercise. Who knew the fast stream application process would be this action packed! So many twists and turns.

I completed the e-tray without any problems and managed to answer all the questions, though I certainly couldn't tell you that I got them all right...I have no idea. Sorry to hear about the technical issues some people had. Hopefully they keep the process as fair as possible, different background documents and questions. You'd think they'd have a backup test in case this exact situation happened...right?

Reply 652

hodgey111

2

Yet to receive an invitation to the e-tray and sat the tests more than 3 weeks ago.

Reply 653

onthetsr

13

Ergh, getting increasingly impatient surrounding my application. Coming up to nearly three weeks since i completed the beginning tests.

Finding myself checking my e-mails far too often...

Reply 654

caitlinmaireadx

6

Just finished my etray. Wow! so much information.

As someone else said, I found it fairly easy to choose the least effective response but more difficult choosing the most. I suppose now it's a waiting game

good luck!

Reply 655

Whisper00

Just signed into my account and saw that I was unsuccessful again. That was a painful 3 week wait. No rejection email yet, but at least I'm out of my misery now. Good luck with the rest of your applications guys and thanks for all the helpful posts!

Reply 656

Caravan_Palace

6

Got a response to my email;

Thank you for this. I have sent this issue on to the technical team so that they can fix this and I will let you know as soon as it has been corrected.

I also called them again just before I got the email; the woman said not to worry about it expiring since they'll reset it so that's nice I guess. No word about how the new test will go so that's pretty annoying but what can you do eh.

Reply 657

Buck88

I completed the E-Tray recently and didn't think it was too bad. I found it harder simply because its more judgement based as opposed to verbal reasoning. Where there was plain evidence it was easy, but sometimes the response was more nuanced, akin to a situational judgement test, which I found harder to answer.