DWP Recruiting Again - 2012

gettingready

It is after the test now... so does not matter.

Anyone could have done it, easy.. and competencies could have been written by someone else too BUT - what about interviews?

Really, REALLY bad way of recruiting

LookingForNipsy

Hmmm, I think on the whole people are fairly honest so while there'll be a few who cheat most people will have written their own competencies and completed the test independently...or maybe I'm just naive. They could have had test centers I suppose but I'm guessing that would be very expensive. I do think they could've had the test first though and wasted less people's time over competencies.

As a person without much job history though I'm really glad there wasn't too much emphasis on that and that I was able to (hopefully) demonstrate in the competency statement that I have some skills and get a chance (hopefully) to further show that at an interview - most employers just throw your CV out if you don't have how ever many plus years of experience and there are so few entry level positions available.

poiuyt

Lorac05 wrote: »

But is that the total number of applicants or applications? I put in 3 applications as I am located close to 3 geographical areas and I know from reading this thread several others on here have made more than one application. Even if I get three interviews and possibly three job offers (wouldn't that be nice) I would only be able to take one. So there may have been 60,000 applcations but only 40,000 - 45,000 applicants - which I will admit is still a lot and I'm guessing the on-line test will (unfortunately for some) have a higher impact than may have origionally been the plan of the DWP!!

I think the number is inflated by people applying to multiple districts and also people supposedly making dud accounts.

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. Quite a messy system. Working Locations should have been incorporated into the application form. I find it funny in the email they say working locations forms wont affect applications being progressed, but then they say it MUST be received by 11am Friday.

gettingready

LookingForNipsy wrote: »

they could've had the test first though and wasted less people's time over competencies.

My thoughts as well

mommarat

ladygea2001 wrote: »

I still have not heard anything about my test or application submitted on Sunday. Same message there saying they are reviewing my application.

Anyone else still got this message? Applying for Black country area.

I received the email today saying that we need to send back working locations form which I have this morning - it would have been helpful if they had sent it to me in the first place for me to do that!

If it wasnt for this thread I would not have a clue what was going on!

I have applied to the Black Country too and I dont think they are looking at the comps until next week so we will probably hear by the end of next week or into the week after. There is a band b recruitment soon so need the band c's in place to see how many band b's they need

mommarat

cn2004 wrote: »

I am an existing dwp employee...

Ask your line manager. Its your hours worked in a day if you are full time your FTE would be 1 so for example because I am part - time mine is 0.68

Xena_007

What was your feedback score mommarat if you don't mind me asking?

agrinnall

LookingForNipsy wrote: »

Hmmm, I think on the whole people are fairly honest so while there'll be a few who cheat most people will have written their own competencies and completed the test independently...or maybe I'm just naive. They could have had test centers I suppose but I'm guessing that would be very expensive. I do think they could've had the test first though and wasted less people's time over competencies.

As a person without much job history though I'm really glad there wasn't too much emphasis on that and that I was able to (hopefully) demonstrate in the competency statement that I have some skills and get a chance (hopefully) to further show that at an interview - most employers just throw your CV out if you don't have how ever many plus years of experience and there are so few entry level positions available.

I agree with pretty much everything you've said, in particular taking the test first.

My situation is different to yours in that I have lots of work experience, but because I took a career break and went back to university to do a Masters degree I have no work on my CV for nearly 4 years so I'm pretty sure mine gets thrown out too! This at least gives people a chance to get to interview stage based on something you have done rather than having your application binned because you don't tick every HR box, whether they are relevant or not.

drwho2011

gettingready wrote: »

It is after the test now... so does not matter.

Anyone could have done it, easy.. and competencies could have been written by someone else too BUT - what about interviews?

Really, REALLY bad way of recruiting

Unfortunately due to the way the public sector recruits and the equality and diversity policies of the civil service this system was devised to give the best cost/benefit ratio whilst up keeping the core values.

It is accepted that its not 100% perfect and if people chose to optimise their chances by cheating they could do just that, but the interviews are designed to weed out those people.

They used to sift on competency statements before testing but it meant huge delays. They have run these exercises with test centres but it was a very very expensive way of doing it, plus if you passed you got the interview, test meant that 30% people got interviews and so you would have sometimes 4x as many candidates who were successful for each job leading to start delays and not enough jobs.

It was an incredibly expensive way of doing things, not to mention slow, someone I knew had to wait 6mths from offer to start date.

scooterchick

agrinnall wrote: »

I'm doubtful if that is correct, I have applied in 5 regions and my percentile figure is exactly the same in all of them, which to me suggests that the figure is against the entire body of applicants.

Incorrect. Your score is measured against a test group of 300 people who took the test previously. It's the only fair way. Everyone is measured against the same group meaning your score will not change regardless of how many people take the test.

tinshed wrote: »

Yes, but your scores will only compare against people in each of the districts you applied in to select who moves to competency sift. Why would they compare your score to an area you havent even applied to.

Incorrect. See above. It's a control group you're being measured against, not each other.