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Civil Service Fast Stream

Commercial Fast Streamer, CCS at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: The process is very competitive- most applicants are lost at the numerical test so make sure you practice!

Interview Advice: Be yourself and be honest.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

European Fast Streamer, at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Be consistent and self-aware.

Interview Advice: Be enthusiastic and know why you want a place on the Fast Stream, not just in the Civil Service as a whole.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Business Support, at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Practise the psychometric reasoning tests.

Interview Advice: Work with the other candidates to show you are a team player. It isn't a competition between all the candidates.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Business Support, Digital and Technology at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Practise psychometric tests as much as possible.

Interview Advice: Work as a team.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Higher Executive Officer (Development), European Fast Stream at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Consider how your skills, knowledge and experience relate to the Civil Service Competency Framework. When pointing these out, always push yourself not just to state them but also to explain them and why they make you a stand-out candidate.

Interview Advice: Relax and try to act naturally, like you would if you already worked for the organisation and you were in a meeting. Practise talking honestly about what interests you in the work and why you are a strong candidate - don't just regurgitate the competences, explain them in relation to concrete points of your application.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

European Fast Stream Trainee, European at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Make sure you know what competences are being tested in each part of the assessment centre and have a clear picture of what you need to do.

Interview Advice: Prepare some examples of how you demonstrated the competences tested in advance.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service

Procurement Advisor, Commercial at Civil Service

Application Advice: The process can seem long but it really helps prepare candidates for the assessment centre.

Interview Advice: Approach it like you would work, it's not a competition. Don't be intimidated by the experience of other candidates.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Fast Stream Graduate, at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Be prepared, there is plenty of guidance out there but the assessments really will test all your skills. You don't have to be from a certain background, this is about your skills and capacity.

Interview Advice: Apply your experiences to the civil service competencies.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Statistician, Marine Management Organisation at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Read the competencies carefully as all selection tasks centre on these. Always have evidence to demonstrate a competency.

Interview Advice: Read the competencies carefully as all selection tasks centre on these. Always have evidence to demonstrate a competency - it isn't enough to say I am sure I could do that.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Policy advisor, EU at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Prepare for the selection process. There is a lot of good practice material online.

Interview Advice: Read the civil service competencies and prepare examples of when you demonstrated them.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Lead Strategic Commercial Manager, Commercial at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Study all the guidance and information provided carefully - everything you need to know to succeed in the process is in there. The Civil Service Competencies inform everything you do in the job and how your performance is measured, not just how your application is judged, so it is important to understand them and be able to demonstrate them through your experience at this stage.

Interview Advice: The focus is on demonstrating all the Civil Service Competencies through your experience so make sure you have a few good examples for each one.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Commercial Fast Stream, Crown Commercial Service at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Read the competency framework.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

European Policy at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Look up exactly what will be required in advance of each stage of the recruitment process (the information is publicly available and easy to get hold of), and take a good amount of time to prepare for it. Talk to people who've got through it (and people who haven't).

Interview Advice: The actual interview itself will be almost entirely competency based. Make sure you understand what this type of interview involves, have a look at the civil service competency framework, and prepare examples in advance. Note however that it's only a small part of the application process.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Fast Stream Trainee, at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: The process is very fair and anyone can be successful. Find out as much as you can about each stage in the process before you complete it (try online forums like studentroom). Also, make sure you read the instructions for every exercise very carefully.

Interview Advice: If you don't know what a competency based interview is then look it up before you do competency assessment exercises. This also applies to the questionnaire in the first stage.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Digital and Technology Fast Streamer, Digital and Technology at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: The application takes a long time and the tests are best done with peace and quiet. Research the competencies beforehand, and do the practice tests that are available online. Try applying for as many roles as possible that look interesting, you would be surprised at the specialist schemes you may find yourself interested in.

Interview Advice: Make sure you understand the civil service competencies (the guidelines are available online), and have several good examples for these. They don't have to be from work. Try to talk to someone currently on the scheme.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Policy Advisor, Water Quality, Defra at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Be clear and articulate about why working for government is important to you. The process is long, but don't give up!

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistician, Strategic Analysis at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Be aware that a statistician job in government is often more about reporting and data extraction/matching that in statistical analysis. Make sure you check what your exact role will be when being offered positions.

Interview Advice: The FSAC for fast stream required a lot of energy and confidence (real or otherwise...). Make sure you rest up and have lots of 'innovative ideas'.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Assistant Statistician, Performance Insight at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Prep well beforehand for the competency interview having varied examples to hand from different experiences.

Interview Advice: Travel the night before, it is quite an intense day so best to be well rested!

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant statistician, Statistics at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Think carefully about your experiences and how they relate to the Civil Service Competency framework.

Interview Advice: All based on civil service competencies.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistician, at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Don't leave it until the last minute! Be honest.

Interview Advice: Research Civil Service competencies and prepare your answers around these.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant statistician working on developing housing conditions evidence, Welsh Government at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Give examples of how you have used statistical techniques.

Interview Advice: Think about how you would explain statistical terms in a simple way.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistician, at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Work on being able to explain statistics in a simple way, use examples you have of disseminating statistics to a wider audience and having impact.

Interview Advice: Explain statistics in a simple way, using examples of projects that you have worked on.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistican, ONS at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Focus on answering the questions concisely. Do the practise tests for all the online tasks - and don't panic with the time limit, it's meant to be tough.

Interview Advice: Focus on answering the competency questions and having examples prepared for these. Don't worry too much about generic interview questions - these don't really come up it's all about the competencies which they tell you beforehand.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

, at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Revise key words/concepts and their definitions.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Assistant Statistician, at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: - Be thorough, consider the questions in light of the competency framework that you'll be marked against. Find other literature that provide advice on how to write your answers, the internet is genuinely your friend and there'll be loads of places that pr

Interview Advice: The Civil Service Fast Stream Assessment Centre is really difficult - but you can prepare for it, and it will be worth it. Do loads of reading prior to the FSAC, ensure that you have a good grasp of key political and business issues (which hopefully you will have already from pre-existing interests or your education). But remember, that the FSAC whilst long, and tiresome, contains some generic parts. Generic parts are: one on one interview (although come armed with examples which demonstrate the competencies) - but think about how you would perform well at any interview and group exercise (I used the internet to figure out optimal behaviour(s) and think about how to organise the discussion before hand.). As for the other parts, I ensured that I was 'commercially' savvy and on the ball with any key considerations for broader central government issues/ initiatives.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistician, DECC at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Research the job role, read about the experiences of other applicants, speak to family and friends to see if you already might know anyone in the civil service who can talk to you. Practice online tests!

Interview Advice: Be ready with answers to competency based questions with a STAR structured response. Ensure you have an example of when you worked in a diverse environment/team and the lessons you learned there.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistician, Education at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Put your whole heart and soul into your role and you won't be left disappointed.

Interview Advice: Memorise the Competency Framework.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistician, Home Office, Crime Statistics at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Read up on specialist knowledge for the assessment centre and go along with a creative and collaborative spirit and lots of thinking outside the box.

Interview Advice: Understand the value of diversity in a working environment.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Civil Service Fast Stream

Assistant Statistician, Statistics at Civil Service Fast Stream

Application Advice: Ensure that you revise your statistical techniques and understand assumptions/ basic principles of statistical theories. Only score yourself highly in techniques you feel comfortable talking about in interview. Think of times when you have had to apply these techniques and work this into your application.

Interview Advice: Be prepared to do a short presentation on some data that you are given on the day. Be confident about your anwers and take time to think about the questions and your response. Be vocal in the Fast Stream assessment centre and draw upon good examples where possible.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

, at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Provide detailed examples of statistical techniques and when you have used them rather than definitions.

Interview Advice: Think about interview example questions in advance.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistician, Department for Work and Pensions at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Brush up on your knowledge of statistics before the application/assessment centres. Read through the Civil Service competencies carefully before filling in the application form. Use examples for the competencies which provide clear evidence of your knowledge/experience. You don't need a maths or stats degree to become a government statistician - you just need a numerate degree. There are plenty of psychologists, biologists and engineers who have joined the GSS.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Lead Communications Analyst, Strategic Communications at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: Be flexible and willing to learn from a wide range of people.

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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Government Statistical Service

Assistant Statistician, DfE at Government Statistical Service

Application Advice: The assessment can be a bit scary, but this isn't a good enough reason not to try! You aren't being assessed outside of the exercises - don't feel like you have to talk to anyone!

Industry: Fast Stream (Specialist)

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