About the job

Job summary

As a Correspondence Officer you will draft correspondence replies on behalf of DCMS ministers, or respond to members of the public in your capacity as a government official. You will be expected to help cover other areas of work when needed.

You will be required to draft accurate, high quality correspondence in simple language within set deadlines. Effective management of your workload is expected through proactively progressing correspondence and escalating as necessary. You should be able to work under pressure and have excellent attention to detail. You will need to be able to work in a fast paced environment, be confident communicating with a variety of different colleagues and senior stakeholders, have a proven ability to build relationships and deliver through others. There is also scope to gain experience in other areas of the team, including working in our private offices.

Job description

Some of your responsibilities will include: 

• Drafting timely and high quality correspondence
• Establishing and maintaining relationships with policy colleagues and with ministers' private offices
• Prioritising work and making decisions on when to follow up on issues yourself and when to escalate to your manager
• Contributing to the overall effective running of the team
• Taking on other duties from within the wider Ministerial Support Team, such as answering FOIs or organising ministerial visit

Person specification

Essential Requirements

• Strong written and verbal communication skills 
• Ability to deliver high quality work at pace, and balance a range of competing priorities whilst under pressure
• Good attention to detail
• Strong relationship building and stakeholder management skills, and the ability to interact confidently and professionally with stakeholders of varying seniority
• Work flexibly across a busy team to achieve goals in a collaborative manner to meet deadlines

Desirable Skills 

• Experience of working in customer facing roles
• Experience of processing casework
• Keen interest in the work of DCMS

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,514, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £7,158 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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.

To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than 23:55 on 16/01/2024 via the CS Jobs portal:

• 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. Please refer to the essential requirements.
• A statement of suitability (max 500 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.
• A behaviour statement of 250 words on Delivering at Pace.

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behaviour only: Delivering at Pace. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

Interviews

In most cases interviews will take place remotely via Google Meet video call. However please refer to the Candidate Information Pack to confirm the interview approach. 

Reasonable Adjustment

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process.

In order to request an adjustment, please:

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or a verbal test rather than a written one. 

Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert.

If the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only., Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to DCMS from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. 

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

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.

DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the ‘Information for Applicants’ document.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.