Civil Service

theshoefairy

I have been going out of my mind for a few months now regarding a job I applied for. I appplied and have an interview at the beginning of July. Two weeks later I had an email telling me that I had been successful and had passed the interview and would be placed on their reserve list for 6 months. I have a friend who works there and he told me that he knows a few people who have been placed on the list and that they will be using all people from it.

It's starting to drive me nuts now waiting. Is there anyone here who works for the CS who can shed some light on this at all? Also is there anyone here who was placed on the reserve list who actually got a job at the end of it?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

theshoefairy

Hi, thanks for your reply. It was an AO in BDD for a business administrator officer.

daniellaoxox

I also work for the civil service. If you had to fill a CRB out that might be why you're waiting, I waited two months for mine to come back x

theshoefairy

I haven't gotten that far yet. I am on the reserve list waiting for positions to become available

badskindollheart

Merit lists usually last 6-12 months. You're all put in merit order after the interviews, so you could be fairly far down the merit list. Often the list expires before you're offered a post. It's positive that you're on the list, but don't see it as a guarantee if a job. Keep applying for other things and hopefully they'll contact you at some point before the list expires.

We're doing a campaign at the moment and expect to have around 50 on the merit list - there are only 5 positions at the moment. We won't make it all the way through the list but it's a back up for us, should there be an influx of leavers.

theshoefairy

Many thanks for the advice and information.

I received an email from them today which is as follows:

Dear Candidate,

You are currently on a reserve list for an AO Business Survey Administrator. Office for National Statistics are advertising for Part Year Business Survey Administrators and as a successful candidate you are eligible to take one of these posts. The Part Year vacancy works on a specific survey between January and June only each year. Salary can be paid for the 6 months between January and June, or pro-rated over the whole year.

We can offer you one of these posts, but this would be as an alternative to the full time post.

If you accept this post, you will not be able to transfer to a full time post in July.

If you do not wish to take this post, then you will remain on the reserve list and will be contacted in due course for a full year post.

The full job description can be found below.


Business Data Division (BDD) is responsible for data collection and validation for a wide range of annual, quarterly and monthly business surveys.

We are looking for a team of staff who will work, primarily on the Annual PRODCOM survey from January until June only each year. This is an interesting survey dealing with the products which businesses manufacture. Successful candidates will be given all necessary training and will have a permanent part year contract. These vacancies would particularly suit those people who need to have the summer holidays free and are prepared to return to work after a 6 months break. After initial training which requires full time attendance, we may be able to accommodate some requests for part time working (minimum 30 hours).

Key roles and responsibilities are as follows
- managing an allocation of UK businesses, ensuring that sufficient data is obtained and validated primarily via the telephone
- contacting businesses to investigate anomalies and movements in data
making and maintaining comprehensive records of all actions taken on relevant databases and systems
- working collaboratively as part of a team
- making good use of IT skills, programmes and packages
- looking for ways to ensure continuous improvement


Please let us know if you wish to accept the Part-year post offered, or if you wish to remain on the reserve list for a Full-year post by emailing ONS.Resourcing@ons.gsi.gov.uk

Regards

Georgia

I am hoping that as it states that I will be contacted in due course that there will be a full time position coming up for me if I am reading it right.

TELLIT01

July to October isn't long in CS world! It's not unusual to hear nothing at all for months. Whether to accept the 6 month contract or not is a decision only you can make. You refer at the end of your post to "a full time position". Do be aware that the vast majority of recruitment into CS is on fixed term contract these days, not long term 'permanent' basis.

badskindollheart

theshoefairy wrote: »

I am hoping that as it states that I will be contacted in due course that there will be a full time position coming up for me if I am reading it right.

Again, don't take it as a guarantee, they'll contact you in due course, it might be to offer a post, it might be to say the list has expired. I'm conscious this sounds very pessimistic; just want to manage your expectations .

On a positive note,it's possible that others higher up the list may take the part time posts, bumping you up.

Also, for others reading this - if you're on a merit list and other posts come up with the same competencies, the vacancy owner can choose to use the merit list rather than go through a recruitment campaign.