About the job

Job summary

We recognise the challenges that people with protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

Can you communicate confidently and professionally with a diverse range of stakeholders including senior officials?

Have you got exceptional organisational skills with the ability to thrive in a faced paced, varied environment?

Do you have an interest in government and policy?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Job description

We are looking for talented individuals with a passion for working with others to join the Private Office team supporting ministers, special advisers, and the permanent secretary. The posts offer a unique opportunity to work at the very heart of the department and gain invaluable experience of how ministers, Parliament, and large government departments work. You will be a vital part of a small, dedicated and friendly team, working directly to ministers, special advisers, and permanent secretaries to help deliver their objectives.

The role offers invaluable development opportunities, as you will work directly with ministers and senior officials and so will see first-hand how to effectively make decisions and drive forward large projects.

You will not be required to have existing knowledge of a policy, but you need to be willing to learn quickly, be a team player, and bring a can-do attitude to the job.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Responsibility for substantial areas of a minister’s policy portfolio to ensure the provision of a high-quality private office service that meets ministerial needs.
• Assisting and supporting the minister at meetings, external visits and events.
• Assisting the minister in their parliamentary business, including attending debates and oral questions in the Houses of Parliament.
• Liaising with officials, press office, parliamentary branch and others to ensure that the minister has good quality information in advance of meetings, visits, speaking engagements and parliamentary business.
• Reviewing submissions, correspondence, parliamentary questions, briefing and other papers, and preparing them for the minister's attention.
• Monitoring progress, exploring problems and negotiating solutions to make sure the minister's priorities are effectively delivered.

For further information, please see the attached Role Profile.

Person specification

About you:

To be successful in this role you should have the following:

• Experience of working effectively across different teams to deliver objectives.
• Experience of communicating effectively with others.
• Experience of working to tight deadlines even when under pressure.
• Experience of using excellent organisational skills to deliver pieces of work to agreed timelines.

Additional Information:

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business, or carry out detached duty in another DfT workplace, will also count towards this level of attendance. 

This is a rewarding and demanding role, and some additional hours will be required. Hours will vary throughout the year and are balanced with shorter working days during parliamentary recess. A private office allowance of 20% on top of the basic salary is payable to reflect the extra hours worked.

There may be occasions where you will be required to travel to other DfT offices and attend meetings and visits around the UK. This is likely to occur 2-3 times per month, depending on business needs. There may be some international travel required. This could occur 1-3 times a year.

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. We offer generous annual leave, attractive pension options, flexible working, inclusive working environments and much more to support a healthy work/life balance.

Find out more about what it's like working at the Department for Transport

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

When considering applying please look at how your experience relates to the role, and within your CV and Personal Statement.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a CV, Personal Statement and evidence of 1 behaviour.

For your Personal Statement, please provide detailed evidence of the following:

• Experience of communicating effectively with others.
• Experience of bringing together a range of information to make decisions or recommendations.
• Experience of using your knowledge of wider organisational priorities when delivering a piece of work.

For your behaviour examples please provide evidence of when you have demonstrated the following behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace

Your Personal Statement will be limited to 750 words. Each behaviour example will be limited to 250 words.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour which is Delivering at Pace. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

The sift is due to take place from week commencing 8th January 2024.

Interviews are likely to be held from week commencing 22nd January 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include:

• An Interview

This interview will preferably be conducted face to face at our London office. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview. We can accommodate a MS Teams interview if needed.

You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within.

The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

For further information on Success Profiles visit our Careers website.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email DRGComms@dft.gov.uk for assistance.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role

Pre-employment Checking

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.