HMRC Recruitment process and the job itself

bainbridge

bainbridge

bainbridge

Soldato
Joined
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Bristol
Hi folks

I've applied online on the Civil Service website for a role as a Compliance Caseworker for HMRC.

Does anyone know approximately how long the recruitment process takes or have any first hand experience of working for HMRC?

I've done the online tests as part of the application and got:

Numerical reasoning: scored above 79% of people who took the test.

Verbal reasoning: scored above 89% of people who took the test.

Civil service judgement test: scored above 69% of people who took the test.

It's been a week now since applying and taking the tests but my application status just says: "application on hold following civil service judgement test".

The 69% above others who took the test was ny poorest score and the feedback says making effective decisions is a development area for me. One of the specific job requirements is making effective decisions!

Just wondering if I've put the kibosh on my application with that poor score or am I reading into this too much?

Also like I mentioned above if anyone works in HMRC compliance I'd appreciate a few words from them about working there

Thanks
 
Not HMRC but another Government Dept, until the recruitment period has ended nothing will probably happen with your application. Once the vacancy has ended the recruitment manager will shift out those he feels doesn't match the criteria and invite for interview those who do, that's normally pretty quick providing he has half decent personal admin.

New entrants to the CS can take upto 5 months at the moment as the Security Clearence take a rather long time, I've just taken on a lady who we offered a position to in December.

When it comes to the shifting process they can use your judgement test score as a decider but that's generally after they have scored the competency questions and used that.

The whole process from applying to getting an answer can take a couple of months depending on the numbers of applicants and schedule of the recruiting mangers etc
 
Just wanted to say that it can't all that bad working for HMRC... A significant percentage of all the directors and partners in my practice worked there at the beginning of their career
 
Moses said:
They used to have people on courses which would result in qualifications with which they could jump ship to the private sector. No longer. They also used to train people properly. No longer. Then it used to be the case that the terms and conditions were great... they're still not bad, but they're slowly eroding them whilst only giving real terms pay cuts year on year... so less money in real terms every year for a worse working environment.

All the older people I know who work for them tell the younglings to get out asap, and all the younglings I know who work there try and jump ship asap (eg. bail to another department... which you can in many instances do straight away, but for some jobs you just need to serve your probation... so once you're out of that the Civil Service is their oyster).
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A fairly dark picture you've painted there moses :(

Surely it can't be that bad?
 
Moses said:
For new people it's okay right now, if you accept they won't fund qualifications with which you can easily jump ship to the big four. The problem in the medium term is the change to regional centres - 5/7 shifts with a number of weekdays being 12-8 and weekends being 8-4 would obviously make it significantly worse than a normal 9-5 job, for example. Morale overall is terrible because all the old people are on full flexi contracts and are just sitting on them until they retire or kicked out if they can't or won't move to a regional centre... so their hours are okay, but they've been having pay cuts for quite a while now (which in a sense has affected new starters... even though obviously someone starting a job now is getting less in real terms than the job got five years ago, for example).

Have you applied for the Bristol HO jobs? I think they're pencilled into to be moving to their regional centre in about a year, so you may avoid 5/7 for a while... because so many people are still on the old contracts, loads of offices are still mon-fri with full flexi for new joiners (the 5/7 contracts being suspended/not invoked yet).

Personally I'd view it as a good means to an end... get in, do stuff which helps competencies, develop yourself, etc, etc... then move on if it's not great. The rank and file tend to be great people, tbf. I think the area you're in can also make a massive difference - large business/FIS/etc being better than ISBC where you might just grind through basic areas on tax returns.
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Thanks for the response Moses.

I'm in Bristol and selected Bristol only on the application but have no idea which actual office they want me in. The application says that there will be 2 possible training routes: Either as a tax professional or the tax roadway.

I have an easy commute at the moment so having to bus it (the metro still isn't open) into town every day will be a pain.

If I were to take the job as a means to move on in a year or so which department would you recommend?

Also what are the big 4?

Thanks
 
It varies by department/agency too.
It took me 2 months to start after being offered my role because of the system central recruitment have in place.
Those that have been there a while have the old, the replacement and now the new pension to look forward to. Civil Service used to be good to get into, now it's just a stepping stone.
 
bainbridge said:
Just wondering if I've put the kibosh on my application with that poor score
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I wouldn't have thought so, I'd imagine you'd be rejected outright if they considered it that bad. I guess it depends on how many vacancies they have and the calibre of applicants (i.e. what is the raw score, are you just getting 69% because most people who applied are muppets and really they'd only want someone who scored better than 80% of applicants), it puts you in the top third so I would imagine with the other scores being decent they wouldn't want to dismiss you at this stage.
 
I interviewed in April for Bristol and got 3 x7s, put on reserve list in June, the in August received a provisional offer now 6 weeks later nothing.

Been told I’ll be doing 5 days min - fri shift patterns range from start at 7am until finish at 8pm but delay in recruitment is difficult

Any advice?

Thanks

Moses said:
The big four as in KPMG/Deloitte/PWC/E&Y.

The new building should be completed by the end of the year... then they'll move people in next spring. And tbh all the checks etc can take so long that you might not have to work elsewhere for very long. The new place is right by Bristol Temple Meads.

You can apply for lots of stuff straight away, but some jobs don't accept people on probation. I mean anywhere across the civil service... so anything that interests you.

Not sure what they mean by tax professional vs routeway... I thought everyone just does the routeway - lots of online learning and some face to face stuff where you get a broad grounding in most areas.
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man from bath said:
No it’s 42 hours shift from 7am until 20:00
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man from bath said:
I’m not sure if you’re deliberately being daft, shift times will vary but total 42 hours gross per week.
You can start at 7 some days or finish at 8 on others!!
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Not sure its me who is daft. I think you're missing a key bit of info in your statement then. You stated the start and finish times. The shift is not from 7am to 8pm. Its variable (flexible) start and finish times between those times to make up a 42 hr week.
 
vanandjuanunited said:
Not sure its me who is daft. I think you're missing a key bit of info in your statement then. You stated the start and finish times. The shift is not from 7am to 8pm. Its variable (flexible) start and finish times between those times to make up a 42 hr week.
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I mean, I understood what he meant very clearly in his first post:
"Been told I’ll be doing 5 days min - fri shift patterns range from start at 7am until finish at 8pm" Pretty obvious what he meant from that.
 
Hi Moses

I start in mid November in Bristol

My initial offer said Monday to Friday then formal offer said 5 out of 7?

I’m guessing this is preparing me for when the new building opens,?

Anyhow I’m looking forward to it, any advice,?
 
I applied for the same role in Manchester back in April and had the same experience. The whole process was poorly explained and badly organised.

It's nice to actually see someone being offered a position, congratulations! I did much worse on the interview (mainly 5s) so I don't believe that I will ever be offered a role anyway. I'm sure there were hundreds of interviews for each role so I must be way down the list.
 
im applying for civil service jobs at the moment myself

the application process is a bit of a mess since they've started to change from competency's. for example all of my paperwork says ''personal statement - give an example of such and such - no more than 500 words'' but the form on the webpage for personal statement says to give examples of skills and experiences no more than 1200 words

however i just detailed my skills on the webpage before this one called 'cv'

on a plus note ive done 3 verbal reasoning tests now. the most recent one i got 97% in 6.40 minutes as id had most the questions before. almost feels like theyre just going to think i cheated or something



one question though... it tells me to not include personal info such as name , age and educational institutions to prevent me from being identified. Do i include my employers names in the employment history section though ? doesnt say i shouldnt but surely i could be identified from this ?
 
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