Expression of interest

holidaypain

Hi,

I've really limited experience of applying for internal roles. Spent much of my working life in private before entering public sector couple of years ago.

My current management have said I and 3 other colleagues can put in an 'expression of interest' to try for a permanent role. Not a promotion but a sideways move into perm.
I'm presuming this is where I need to write a cringe statement?

If offered an interview which is likely going to be in front of a panel of team leaders whom I've worked with for nearly 2 years, with being interviewed by such close connection, how does bias get removed? if it isn't a silly question.
It is scored? 

I really don't like the idea of going up against colleagues and just want to run away. 

Massive thanks for any insight.

MeteredOut

No-one can answer this as every company will have its own criteria, sometimes documented, sometimes transparent, sometimes made up on the spot. Often all 3.

Likewise, whether there is bias will depend on the people and the company culture. It's a very hard thing to prove.

Easy to say from the outside, but you are overthinking it. Just because its an internal move, that does not mean you should treat it any different to any other job you might apply for. If you're interested, apply, and its very likely they'll chose the best candidate. Why would they not?

elsien

Make sure you tick all the boxes they are asking about,
Because people know you it can be easy to assume that they know what you do already so then you miss important things out of your answers which they can’t take into account in the scoring. 

Treat it like an application/interview for people who don’t know you. 

Brie

The interviews I saw in a large corporation would include having a set of questions that were used for all candidates, the answers given were noted and then rated on a 1 out of 3 scale and supposedly the one with the most points got the job.  That's when the bias would sneak in with people contributing personal comments ... "this guy is a PITA and no one wants to work with him which is why his current manager is being so cooperative about him moving" or "I was in a training session with her and she is blinking brilliant".

SiliconChip

As it's public sector I would be very surprised if they don't publish the criteria for job applications, very likely some form of SMART, so I would use those as a guide to writing your expression of interest and also to answer questions in the interview if offered.

Emmia

I'd use the STAR or SOAR approaches to writing the application and in an interview.

monkey-fingers

SiliconChip said:

As it's public sector I would be very surprised if they don't publish the criteria for job applications, very likely some form of SMART, so I would use those as a guide to writing your expression of interest and also to answer questions in the interview if offered.

Came in to say this. Public Sector love SMART and you'll get a score for each one.

maman

I'd look at the job specification and match the skills you offer to SMART criteria. Sell yourself! 👍

holidaypain

SiliconChip said:

As it's public sector I would be very surprised if they don't publish the criteria for job applications, very likely some form of SMART, so I would use those as a guide to writing your expression of interest and also to answer questions in the interview if offered.

It is a contact centre for the public sector. I am simply asked to email the expression of interest. There is no real form and it is quite strange as all of us contenders are on different lines as it is. 

The only thing that sadly has become clear that there is no hope that the current fixed term will be extended again.

Furthermore, I tried earlier this month for another further short FTC beyond the contact centre on encouragement from a peer, HR were really guarded with whereabouts in the organisation the role actually sat as the job advert was flaky, to be honest I grew really unsure then too, there were apparently masses of interested candidates and around 2 weeks later heard I hadn't made the shortlist for interview. So I'm sort of doing this from bit of a rejected place. When I read another site about failing internally, it indicated my CV was perhaps poor I think.  

Thank you for the guidance all. 

Brie

So you send the email and say "I'm really interested in this because it would allow me to progress my interest in <topic> which would enhance the work done in this sector."  Or something.  Show them you aren't just interested but you'd really like it and they would get a positive something from you.

Emmia

monkey-fingers said:

SiliconChip said:

As it's public sector I would be very surprised if they don't publish the criteria for job applications, very likely some form of SMART, so I would use those as a guide to writing your expression of interest and also to answer questions in the interview if offered.

Came in to say this. Public Sector love SMART and you'll get a score for each one.

Actually as a civil servant the recommendation is STAR (Situation, Task, Action Response) or SOAR (Situation Opportunity Action Response), not SMART  - this is used for objectives when in the job.