The Recruitment Process

Application

Miles Advisory, an executive search agency, has been appointed to assist with this appointment.

To apply for this post, you will need to submit the following documentation using the ‘Apply Here’ button below by no later than 23:55 27^th August 2024.

1. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years
2. A Statement of Suitability (no longer than two pages) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification
3. A completed Diversity Monitoring Form. All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence, will not be provided to the selection panel and will not affect your application in any way. The completion of the Diversity Monitoring Form is mandatory but it includes the option ‘prefer not to say’.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

If you are unable to apply online please contact emma.roxby@miles-advisory.com in the first instance.

Selection Process

Paul Gray, a Civil Service Commissioner, will chair the process. The Civil Service Commission has two primary functions:

• Providing assurance that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. For the most senior posts in the Civil Service, the Commission discharges its responsibilities directly by overseeing the recruitment process and by a Commissioner chairing the selection panel.
• Hearing and determining appeals made by civil servants under the Civil Service Code which sets out the Civil Service values – Impartiality, Objectivity, Integrity and Honesty – and forms part of the relationship between civil servants and their employer.

More detailed information can be found on the Civil Service Commission website.

In addition to Paul Gray and Mark Bourgeois, the other panel members will be:

• Freya Guinness, Director General for Corporate Services and Chief Operating Officer at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
• Ravi Chand (Director for Civil Service People and Places, Cabinet Office).

Shortlist

You will receive an acknowledgment of your application through the online process.

The panel will then assess your application to select those demonstrating the best fit with the role by considering the evidence you have provided against the criteria set out in the ‘Person Specification’ section. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application.

The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, and all shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter.

Assessment

If you are shortlisted, you may be asked to take part in a series of assessments which could include psychometric tests and a leadership engagement exercise. These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Shortlisted candidates may be invited to meet with a Minister for a candidate engagement conversation prior to the final selection panel interview. A representative of the Civil Service Commission will be present to receive feedback from the Minister on areas to probe at interview. You will be given further details about this after the shortlist meeting.

Shortlisted candidates will also have the opportunity to speak to Mark Bourgeois and/or one or more members of the GPA Board, prior to the final interview to learn more about the role and the organisation. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

You will then be invited to a panel interview. You may be asked to give a presentation, or prepare an item in response to a scenario or information shared with you ahead of the panel interview. The panel interview will involve  having a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification with the panel.

Full details of the assessment and interview process will be made available to shortlisted candidates.

Offer

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible after the final interview.

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments and the interview date, 1/Oct, is likely to be firm. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, in order to meet the dates given. Please contact June Wang (june.wang@miles-advisory.com) immediately if you think that the dates for assessments or interviews could present a problem for your involvement. Please note that these dates may be subject to change.

The anticipated timetable is as follows: