Some time ago I applied for a summer job with the National Civil Service (NCS). I applied for the role of Senior Mentor for NCS – The Challenge, and after passing the first selection stage I was invited to an assessment day in London. It was so much fun! It was an intense afternoon but in the end it barely felt like a stressful interview! We worked in groups and were mainly faced with decision making scenarios, but everything kinda felt like a friendly game! 😀 I met some great people, some of them from the University of Leicester too! A couple of weeks after that I received an email in which they offered me a place… but for a different role. I was surprised, but pleasantly so. 🙂
I had to sort out my DBS check and provide a couple of references, but if everything goes smoothly I will be working as a Community Facilitator! I received a call from them not long ago, they asked me again where and when I would like to work, and assigned me a couple of weeks in July/August. That’s great, although I hope they will assign me more shifts before summer starts. My role will involve assisting the groups of young people in their community project, something I expect will be very challenging and at the same time very rewarding! And that means I’m not going to spend my entire summer at home! 😉 I’ve heard from friends that working with NCS is great, well paid and lots of fun. The only downside is that the compulsory training for Community Facilitators is taking place on the 30th of May… when I have my last exam on the 1st of June! 🙁 That’s not gonna be fun. It just means I’ll have to be ready before then. May promises to be very intense…
But for now, if anyone is looking for a summer job, I suggest you apply asap (hoping it’s not too late)!
http://www.ncsthechallenge.org/
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Hi, thanks for the blog. Were you required to prepare a 5 minute workshop to deliver beforehand? If so, how did that go?
Hi, sorry I’m not sure I understand what you mean? 🙁 Do you mean before the training? In that case no we weren’t…
This was a great blog post, congrats on getting the job! I’ve actually applied for a Senior Mentor role too; do you have any tips for the assessment centre, if you don’t mind me asking?
Of course I don’t mind! 😀 Let’s see… well the activities were very different from each other! For example, on one occasion we were asked to read about a charity and report it to the group as if we were talking to our group of teenagers. Or in another session, we had to plan a potential course of action for our community project. In another, we had to roleplay and pretend to deal with behavioural issues. So see, it’s a lot of different things, and there are a number of skills and attitudes that come into play. 🙂 My main suggestion is to SPEAK UP! The way I see it they are looking for friendly people, who at the same time are not afraid to step up and be heard. Make them notice you! 🙂
Hope that was helpful, best of luck!!
Thank you so much for your advice and for replying 🙂 I’ll bear in mind what you have said and hopefully it goes okay! It sounds like it will be an interesting day 🙂