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.

Do you have exceptional communication skills?

Can you build solid working relationships with internal and external stakeholders?

Would you like the opportunity to work in an exciting, innovative work environment where no two days are the same?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Job description

The DfT Public Appointments Team supports DfT Ministers to appoint Chairs and Non-Executive Directors to DfT’s public bodies. Appointing capable, effective and diverse leaders is crucially important to the delivery of DfT’s priorities. You will play a key role in this high-profile work.

The team leads and advises on delivery of effective, fair and open competitions for appointments. This includes running campaigns from start to finish, providing policy advice to Ministers, promoting diversity, and liaising with key stakeholders including Cabinet Office, No. 10, Office for the Commissioner of Public Appointments (OCPA) and other government departments. Two key tasks are ensuring DfT adheres to and implements the Governance Code for Public Appointments and ensuring diversity in all its forms is promoted in our appointments.

You will be expected to professionally deliver regulated recruitment campaigns that comply with the Governance Code for Public Appointments, and those that are unregulated by the code, providing a quality customer service and establishing effective partnerships with officials from DfT and our public bodies.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Managing public appointment campaigns for DfT public body chairs and board members, often to tight timescales.
• Strategic and programme management of future and existing campaigns, forward look, risk management and compliance.
• Delivering/ maintaining high levels of candidate care and customer service throughout the campaign lifecycle.
• Carryout candidate search to find talented individuals considering board requirements and diverse backgrounds.
• Project managing specific projects for improving the work of the team, for example reviewing the procedures around sourcing independent panel members.
• Contributing to monthly process improvement meetings helping to identify opportunities to transform and improve the way we work.

For further information, please see the attached Role Profile.

Person specification

About you:

We are looking for someone who has exceptional communication skills and can express themselves in a confident and concise manner with colleagues at all levels. You will represent the department both professionally and clearly, ensuring key messages are delivered to both internal and external stakeholders in a timely fashion.

You will be someone who naturally enjoys working collaboratively with different business areas and likes the challenge of influencing others to achieve business outcomes. You can build rapport quickly with both internal and external stakeholders which enables you to build solid working relationships.

Excellent organisational skills are required and you will be able to manage and filter workflow as well as organise and prioritise your work to maximise productivity and achieve all deadlines. You will be highly adaptable and flexible, adjusting to the requirements of the role.

Additional Information:

A minimum of 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. 

You may occasionally be required to travel to other DfT offices for team meetings or when we host events in any of our locations. Events may be held in the evening and an overnight stay may be required.

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 . 

https://careers.dft.gov.uk/our-agencies/department-for-transport-central/">

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 please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following: 

• Experience of Public Appointments or similar recruitment to senior and/or high-profile roles in the public or private sector such as director or non-executive director appointments.
• Experience of understanding different customer needs and delivering an excellent service to meet those.
• Experience of working with a diverse range of stakeholders to achieve a shared goal on a time sensitive project or piece of work, with the ability to manage expectations and provide guidance.

Please fully utilise the 750-word count when completing your personal statement.

The sift is due to take place from Monday 8h January 2024.

Interviews are likely to be held from Wednesday 24th 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 be conducted online via MS Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

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.

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.