competencies for court jobs

missp1982

I am in the process of applying for a job with the Courts.


The application form asks you to provide statements describing your skills and experience relevant to each competency (for this job they are Pace, making effective decisions, changing & improving and leading & communication).


I understand from reading the supporting information that I am to structure the answers as Situation, Task, Action and Result.


Has anyone applied for similar jobs before, and can you offer any advice as to what type of situations they are looking for etc?

Guest101

Do you mean pace or PACE (as in police and criminal evidence act)?


Courts have a huge variance of jobs, from customer service or security guards and stewards, legal advisors etc etc. So obviously it depends on the job

BorisThomson

I think she means delivering at pace, I hope OP understands the difference given the context!

They are not looking for any particular situations. Your answers can be taken from work, home, volunteering, group/ team activities. Emphasis should be on what you did, the background setting is not going to gain you more points.

Guest101

BorisThomson wrote: »

I think she means delivering at pace, I hope OP understands the difference given the context!

They are not looking for any particular situations. Your answers can be taken from work, home, volunteering, group/ team activities. Emphasis should be on what you did, the background setting is not going to gain you more points.

Indeed, it was the capital 'P' that made me think twice.

ReadingTim

missp1982 wrote: »

Has anyone applied for similar jobs before, and can you offer any advice as to what type of situations they are looking for etc?

It really doesn't matter what the situation was - that's the point. What they're interested in is how you assessed the situation, decided on what course of action was necessary, how you went about doing it, and what the outcome was (or something along those lines).

I would suggest you limit your examples to something you do in a work context, or regular hobby/voluntary activity, but it doesn't have to be related to the role you're applying for now - they're not trying to catch you out. Obviously, it goes without saying that you shouldn't tell fibs or embroider the truth - chances are if you get called to interview they'll ask you the same sort of questions, or specifically about the examples you put in the application form.

missp1982

BorisThomson wrote: »

I think she means delivering at pace, I hope OP understands the difference given the context!

They are not looking for any particular situations. Your answers can be taken from work, home, volunteering, group/ team activities. Emphasis should be on what you did, the background setting is not going to gain you more points.

Thank you, and yes I do understand the difference. I just shortened the heading for that one. Do I have to describe the background setting though, or just briefly mention it?

missp1982

ReadingTim wrote: »

It really doesn't matter what the situation was - that's the point. What they're interested in is how you assessed the situation, decided on what course of action was necessary, how you went about doing it, and what the outcome was (or something along those lines).

I would suggest you limit your examples to something you do in a work context, or regular hobby/voluntary activity, but it doesn't have to be related to the role you're applying for now - they're not trying to catch you out. Obviously, it goes without saying that you shouldn't tell fibs or embroider the truth - chances are if you get called to interview they'll ask you the same sort of questions, or specifically about the examples you put in the application form.

Thank you, most helpful. Shall try to keep it work related.

Stylehutz

Lots of people fall into the trap that they have to be work related when they don't

ReadingTim

Stylehutz wrote: »

Lots of people fall into the trap that they have to be work related when they don't

No, they don't have to be work related, but often they involve teamwork and/or leadership competencies which are most often encountered in the working environment. That's not to say examples from your home life aren't valid - hobbies, pastimes etc, especially if you're involved in a club, society etc are also perfectly valid.

Like I said, try and stick to things that you do fairly often, rather than freak, on-off events which are completely out of character, and make sure you can talk about them, as you'll probably be asked!

BorisThomson

ReadingTim wrote: »

No, they don't have to be work related, but often they involve teamwork and/or leadership competencies which are most often encountered in the working environment. That's not to say examples from your home life aren't valid - hobbies, pastimes etc, especially if you're involved in a club, society etc are also perfectly valid.

Like I said, try and stick to things that you do fairly often, rather than freak, on-off events which are completely out of character, and make sure you can talk about them, as you'll probably be asked!

The panel will not refer to the application form answers. They will ask a fresh set of questions, often very similar to those on the application. The candidate could even use the same examples again and not be marked down for it.

Civil service interviews are very prescriptive in order to ensure all candidates are treated equally.

Kynthia

The background is covered in the "situation" part of the STAR format. Don't go into too much detail regarding the situation as they are more concerned about the actions you took and what the result/benefit/learning was as a consequence of these actions.

I'd stick to work examples where !!!!ible. However if I had a really good one or found I was using the same situation for more than one or two compentancies then I'd use a non-work one. The point is that if you have these skills they are transferable acrross jobs and situations, so you just need to evidence that you have them.