About the job

Job summary

Would you like to make a real difference to the wellbeing and effectiveness of the Royal Air Force and those with whom they work?

Would you like to use the power of your analyses to influence strategy and policy to the benefit of the Service and the public that we serve?

Would you like to work flexibly, have a generous holiday entitlement and contributory pension, and support for at least five days of professional and personal development each year?

If so, you will be interested in this opportunity for a graduate psychologist to work within Headquarters Air Command at RAF High Wycombe.  The successful applicant will assist in providing occupational psychology research output for the RAF and the wider MOD, in support of current and future personnel strategy. This is to be achieved through supporting and conducting bespoke in-house research; exploitation of existing research; synthesis of externally derived research, and the application of professional knowledge.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

The main responsibilities will include assisting with the planning, management, conduct and reporting of applied research into occupational psychology issues. Providing data analysis, (both quantitative and qualitative) for survey projects, conducting preliminary literature reviews, conducting survey, sample and data checks for in-house surveys and producing research outputs including dashboards, infographics and communication material.  There will also be responsibility for assisting stakeholders to understand current context and exploit research findings, as well as ensuring best practice in research approaches and adhering to ethical standards.

Key Duties

• Support the planning, management and application of applied research.
• Assist stakeholders to understand current context and research findings. 
• Support the synthesising of multiple research findings and provide analysis and advice.
• Support the intelligent customer capability for the RAF regarding social science research.
• Maintain active liaison with colleagues and stakeholders. 
• Maintaining and promulgating an up to date awareness of occupational psychology and associated ongoing developments in the RAF, MOD and 
  other Armed Forces.
• Adhere to professional and ethical standards under supervision.

Person specification

Key Criteria

The successful applicant will:

• Meet the qualification and membership requirements listed below.
• Demonstrate application of research skills and statistical analysis to answer research questions.
• Have the ability to respond to short notice requests for advice and information.
• Be able to draw together different evidence sources to present an overview.
• Have the ability to provide comment on evidence and research.
• Demonstrate collaboration with colleagues and be willing to learn from experiences.
• Have a continued interest in developing their professional knowledge and skills.
• Demonstrate delivering quality pieces of work.
• Have experience using statistical data software such as SPSS; as well as Excel experience.

Applicants must be highly motivated, have good interpersonal skills and the ability to work with staff at all levels. They must also have an interest in conducting bespoke research as well as reviewing and synthesising externally derived research to inform personnel policy and strategy.

Qualifications

Essential: A British Psychological Society accredited Honours degree in psychology (or equivalent) and been awarded Graduate Basis for Chartered membership (GBC)

Desirable: British Psychological Society accredited MSc in Occupational Psychology.

Memberships

Graduate member of the British Psychological Society.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,300, Ministry of Defence contributes £7,641 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, Experience and Technical skills.

Application sift, behaviours based interview and presentation assessed against the MOD Occupational Psychology Framework (Awareness level) and the person specification.

A CV will be required for this position, this cannot be uploaded to the advert. You will submit using the CV template provided on the CS Jobs dashboard in part two of your application, detailing job history, full qualifications, previous experience and skills.

A Personal Statement will also be required. Please state your suitability against the job requirements and person specification.  

At interview, you will be assessed against the following Success Profiles Behaviours:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing 
• Delivering at Pace

And the MOD Occupational Psychology Competence Framework:

• Occupational Psychology 1 - Professional Standards (Awareness)
• Occupational Psychology 2 - Consultancy and Promotion of the Profession (Awareness) 
• Occupational psychology 3 – Application of Research skills and Knowledge 
  (Awareness) 

The Presentation will need to be relevant to your Degree and describe how you conducted analysis to answer a research question. It should be approximately 10 minutes long.

The sift will take place in late February and interviews will be held in March.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk  

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.  

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn. 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.