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DWP Recruiting Again - 2012
Comments
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Yes Black Country.... What the hell... here is another one of my answers .... Feedback much appreciated
Delivering a Customer Focused Service
I have been fortunate in regards to my working life been highly customer orientated working within the retail environment as well as the third sector.
Through experiences during my time at Asda, I believe that in order to ensure excellent customer service you must be able to think like the consumer and treat them as you would want to be treated if in the same situation. On occasions I have identified poor customer service whereby colleagues were pointing to products rather than taking the consumer to the product. I proactively sought out colleagues opinions on the benefits they and the company can derive from, taking the customer to the product, building a rapport with the customer making their shopping a pleasant experience. Not only does this make the customer that extra special but I believe extra self motivation and confidence may arise through interacting without various people, building on communication skills, more importantly going that extra step further leading to long standing relationships with the organisation
To be honest this is really vague. You haven't given a specific example of how you've actually helped one or a group of customers, it's more just vague buzz words about treating customers well and sounds like you're just saying things they want to hear. You need to say what you actually did in one situation and the only place you've really done that is when you sought out colleagues. The rest is just padded out with how you think that makes the customer feel and why treating them well is a good thing. It's kind of stating the obvious.
Sorry if that sounds really blunt. I would go back and think of a specific example and say what exactly you did. 'I took the customer to the product, I advised my colleagues of the importance of taking them to it, I suggested to management that staff should be reminded this is good customer service...' etc.0 -
Ok got my scores for Bham & Solihull and they were not that great at all. I believe my competencies were not bad yet I got remarks which are almost offensive with awful scoring. That's me out, think I would rather work elsewhere now anyway especially with the remarks given.0
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gettingready wrote: »Got an interview on the 24th, just got an email.
Nope, not with DWP.... with NHS LOL
By the time DWP gets their act together .... LOL
Fingers crossed - so want to get that job......the NHS one
No change in DWP status of course....
I wish you well with that!0 -
I wouldn't be surprised if 80-90% of people filled it in like that though, since the competencies page wasn't really specific about one example per point it just had the vague "Enter your statement describing your skills and experience against the stated competence." with a link to the framework.
Maybe that's one of the reasons it's taking so long to sift.0 -
So the general vibe is the first one maybe a 5 and the second one a justified 3... how about these two
Building Capability
Having graduated in Economics and Management I studied a diverse amount of modules related to Economics, Finance, Statistics and Management. As part of my course I did a one year voluntary placement within the third sector to demonstrate my commitment to the local community and to develop skills and capabilities under a working environment. Due to the success of this I was offered a paid position assisting over 50 local residents within the Sandwell borough with key employability skills. I was adept in this role through being fortunate enough to have a fantastic mentor who supported me throughout my initial placement year. I paid close attention to my excellent working relationships within the workplace and my academic career which also assisted me within the role.
I understand the importance of continual development and to share this within the wider community which is why I am looking into the prospect of doing the prestigious ****** management course. I am also in the process of applying for the ****** scholarship which will allow me to look at best practice measures in other areas of the world and applying such measures in delivering exceptional service delivery within the UK.
Managing People and Performance
During my time in university I have been in several groups where through my own initiative and persona have taken the lead in organising meetings; motivating team members and facilitating a group effort through allocation of tasks. This is a role that I have earned through my pro-active and assertive attitude. Through feedback from my co-workers I have demonstrated that I am an effective leader which has been further evidenced through the high grades achieved in these group modules.
I was once involved in a team in which we were required to produce a presentation as a virtual car manufacturer, within which I was appointed the managing director. Members within the team were very worried, for example the marketing and operations director within the team felt they were unable to conduct the presentation to a satisfactory level and feared their role would jeopardise the teams overall performance. In response I booked a projector and practice room facilities to provide the opportunity for the group to rehearse the presentation, to provide members with a greater level of confidence and motivation. I increased members self esteem by discretely pointing out areas of weaknesses and placing greater emphasis upon their strengths. Combined this increased team spirit and a more pro-active approach developed. The final outcome was that the group achieved a mark of 76% which was amongst the highest in the business school.0 -
Hi,
Has anyone had feedback from Gloucestershire and West of England yet?
Thanks0 -
From what I understand with the competencies, given how they've wanted them laid out, they want:
a) A specific situation, in which you have demonstrated most of the skills relating to the competency in question;
b) Your actions in this scenario, and why you took them.
c) The result of your actions in this scenario, and (recommended) how you might improve in future, perhaps.
I didn't adhere to this, as I didn't know when I did the app they were using STAR. However, from the scores I see people getting, they are being really erm...picky about this. They essentially want it all spelled out for them (no inferences) and painted by numbers - to get inside your head and to have everything explained clearly. I also think there's an element of your writing style involved - writing something that will 'grab' the marker, who has thousands of apps to go through.
Personally, I do think it's excessively prescriptive, so am not holding out hope.0 -
So the general vibe is the first one maybe a 5 and the second one a justified 3... how about these two
Building Capability
Having graduated in Economics and Management I studied a diverse amount of modules related to Economics, Finance, Statistics and Management. As part of my course I did a one year voluntary placement within the third sector to demonstrate my commitment to the local community and to develop skills and capabilities under a working environment. Due to the success of this I was offered a paid position assisting over 50 local residents within the Sandwell borough with key employability skills. I was adept in this role through being fortunate enough to have a fantastic mentor who supported me throughout my initial placement year. I paid close attention to my excellent working relationships within the workplace and my academic career which also assisted me within the role.
I understand the importance of continual development and to share this within the wider community which is why I am looking into the prospect of doing the prestigious ****** management course. I am also in the process of applying for the ****** scholarship which will allow me to look at best practice measures in other areas of the world and applying such measures in delivering exceptional service delivery within the UK.
Managing People and Performance
During my time in university I have been in several groups where through my own initiative and persona have taken the lead in organising meetings; motivating team members and facilitating a group effort through allocation of tasks. This is a role that I have earned through my pro-active and assertive attitude. Through feedback from my co-workers I have demonstrated that I am an effective leader which has been further evidenced through the high grades achieved in these group modules.
I was once involved in a team in which we were required to produce a presentation as a virtual car manufacturer, within which I was appointed the managing director. Members within the team were very worried, for example the marketing and operations director within the team felt they were unable to conduct the presentation to a satisfactory level and feared their role would jeopardise the teams overall performance. In response I booked a projector and practice room facilities to provide the opportunity for the group to rehearse the presentation, to provide members with a greater level of confidence and motivation. I increased members self esteem by discretely pointing out areas of weaknesses and placing greater emphasis upon their strengths. Combined this increased team spirit and a more pro-active approach developed. The final outcome was that the group achieved a mark of 76% which was amongst the highest in the business school.
Your first one is again too general and the 2nd one has an example but it it hidden in the middle and again the word count is over 200!! I can see what you have tried to do - give examples of what you think the competency is about and how you feel you might meet them instead of giving a example specific example of how you meet the competency. What I have highlighted in the 2nd example is what you should have focused on as it was a specific example.0 -
So the general vibe is the first one maybe a 5 and the second one a justified 3... how about these two
Building Capability
Having graduated in Economics and Management I studied a diverse amount of modules related to Economics, Finance, Statistics and Management. As part of my course I did a one year voluntary placement within the third sector to demonstrate my commitment to the local community and to develop skills and capabilities under a working environment. Due to the success of this I was offered a paid position assisting over 50 local residents within the Sandwell borough with key employability skills. I was adept in this role through being fortunate enough to have a fantastic mentor who supported me throughout my initial placement year. I paid close attention to my excellent working relationships within the workplace and my academic career which also assisted me within the role.
I understand the importance of continual development and to share this within the wider community which is why I am looking into the prospect of doing the prestigious ****** management course. I am also in the process of applying for the ****** scholarship which will allow me to look at best practice measures in other areas of the world and applying such measures in delivering exceptional service delivery within the UK.
Managing People and Performance
During my time in university I have been in several groups where through my own initiative and persona have taken the lead in organising meetings; motivating team members and facilitating a group effort through allocation of tasks. This is a role that I have earned through my pro-active and assertive attitude. Through feedback from my co-workers I have demonstrated that I am an effective leader which has been further evidenced through the high grades achieved in these group modules.
I was once involved in a team in which we were required to produce a presentation as a virtual car manufacturer, within which I was appointed the managing director. Members within the team were very worried, for example the marketing and operations director within the team felt they were unable to conduct the presentation to a satisfactory level and feared their role would jeopardise the teams overall performance. In response I booked a projector and practice room facilities to provide the opportunity for the group to rehearse the presentation, to provide members with a greater level of confidence and motivation. I increased members self esteem by discretely pointing out areas of weaknesses and placing greater emphasis upon their strengths. Combined this increased team spirit and a more pro-active approach developed. The final outcome was that the group achieved a mark of 76% which was amongst the highest in the business school.
You would have had a great example of building capability if you had concentrated on the journey for the 50 people, how you planned the course, how you gave, received feedback, how you motivated and encouraged and the positive outcomes.
Building capability descriptors Level 2
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/building-capability.pdf
Your second example doesn't really start until the second paragraph and again if you had built on this part and then it would likely have scored higher.
Have you0 -
Lucinda_Stark wrote: »Hi,
Has anyone had feedback from Gloucestershire and West of England yet?
Thanks
Not a sausage. Not even 'on hold' yet.,,:(0
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