About the job

Job summary

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

This role will be key to driving delivery of new resourcing strategies that break us away from approaches that have been relied on but that no longer enable us to fulfil the capacity and capability requirements of the organisation.  In particular, we need these strategies to accelerate workforce growth in our new regional offices in Birmingham and Leeds where the labour markets differ significantly from the London markets that we have relied on for many years.  As part of this, in an ongoing tight labour market combined with operating in new regional locations, we need to build our presence and appeal as a great place to work to attract talent that likely won’t have worked in the civil service and may never even have considered this as part of their career planning. The activation of an impactful employer brand strategy will key to this.

We are looking for someone who can create and implement resourcing delivery plans, working collaboratively with internal stakeholders and external partners to ensure plans are workable and to then activate them at pace.  As such, tangible outcomes will matter to this person. As many of the approaches will be relatively untested within the organisation, this role will also be key to the engagement of internal stakeholders, taking them on the journey, and ensuring their cooperation and involvement.  Continuously improving new approaches as they are rolled out will also be important.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Define practical recruitment plans that implement resourcing strategies, engaging the business to get their buy-in and cooperation and working with external delivery partners and internal delivery stakeholders to ensure that plans are realistic and achievable
• Use workforce demand plans to support choices around the best recruitment delivery routes to suit requirements. These may include setting a schedule for volume recruitment campaigns or deciding when to use recruitment agencies, Executive Search agencies and targeted in-house search using LinkedIn (or alternative recruiter search tools)
• Co-ordinate the implementation of the recruitment delivery plans, managing external partners and internal stakeholders to resolve issues and mitigate risks that impact on delivery
• Implement plans to fully leverage our employer brand to grow awareness of DfTc as a great place to work and to strengthen our appeal in the talent markets that matter most to us. In the short-term there will be focus on growing our workforces in our Birmingham and Leeds offices

 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 have good drafting skills with the ability to produce high quality documents.
• 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.
• We are looking for someone who is proactive in seeking resolutions and can resolve issues that arise through their quick thinking. 
• 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.

As part of this role, you will also be expected to be a full or part-qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or willing to work towards this, or equivalent professional qualification or HR knowledge

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. 

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.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Within your CV and Personal Statement please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following: 

• Resourcing plans – experience in defining practical recruitment delivery plans, working with multiple stakeholders to assure the achievability of the plans using project management best practice
• Leveraging employer brand – experience in leveraging an employer brand to build presence and appeal in markets that matter through activities such as enablement of staff as brand advocates, recruitment marketing, employer outreach activities etc
• Recruitment Agencies – experience working with recruitment agencies and Executive search agencies; able to shape a brief and work collaboratively with external recruitment partners to ensure delivery
• Building and managing relationships and partnerships – experience in engaging and influencing key stakeholders, both internal and external to get buy-in to plans in order to achieve delivery success through collaborative partnerships

Please fully utilise the 1000-word count when completing your personal statement.

The sift is due to take place from Thursday 8th February 2024.

Interviews are likely to be held from Thursday 22nd February 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
• A presentation

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.