Job Description

Details

Reference number

328273

Salary

\xc2\xa332,000 - \xc2\xa333,600

There is no shift working requirement, and therefore no AHW allowance available for this role.

Job grade

Executive Officer

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

HO - Border Force

Type of role

Communications / Marketing

Working pattern

Full-time, Compressed Hours

Number of jobs available

1


Contents

• Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

Apollo House - Croydon, 2 Marsham Street (2MS) - London
About the job

Job summary

Border Force is a Law Enforcement arm of the Home Office. We are responsible for handling the UK border control by implementing immigration and customs regulations and working with the wider Home Office on counter terrorism, organised crime, modern slavery and trafficking. Learn more on the Border Force careers page.

Job description

As an Internal Communications Officer, you will support a dynamic portfolio of work to ensure the timely and effective delivery of colleague communications and engagement. We are looking for a highly organised, self-starting, team player to join the new core Border Force Internal Communications Unit. The role reports directly to one of our Deputy Heads of Internal Communications and sits within the Border Force Director General\xe2\x80\x99s Office at the Home Office. This is an exciting opportunity to be at the forefront of UK-wide Border Force internal communications, supporting top priority work to engage our 12,000 colleagues. The successful candidate will ideally be a communications all-rounder with experience of writing, filming, and general content design, as well as being confident advising and consulting leaders and teams from across Border Force and the wider Home Office, on communications and engagement. The role requires occasional travel to a range of UK Border Force locations. Due to the nature of the role this position is offered on a full-time basis only.

Person specification

The successful candidates will be responsible for:

• Be the first point of contact for requests for Border Force internal communications support, triaging the internal communications mailbox and advising on the best approach to update, involve, and inform our colleagues.
• Support the strategic planning of priority communications, events, and campaigns, updating the Border Force wide internal communications planner aligned to internal and external Home Office activity.
• Assist in the tactical delivery of our communications and engagement, helping to write, commission, and create high-quality content for our online and offline channels and activities. This includes intranet news, bulletins, operational and line manager guides, posters, videos, polls, and a range of colleague events, preparing scripts and briefings for senior leaders and presenters.
• Support the day-to-day management of the intranet, to increase its use and ensure it has up to date, relevant, timely and helpful information to support the experience of our colleagues at work. This includes scheduling key news updates in line with the internal communications planner and priorities, flagging comments and encouraging responses, and helping to plan and set up new online hubs and intranet pages to support priority campaigns and work.
• Gather regular audience insight and internal communications feedback to support the continuous improvement of our colleague communications.
• Build relationships with our internal communications networks, coordinating meetings, maintaining our network hub, and Teams channel to help colleagues connect and align on priorities.
• Act as a corporate brand and accessibility champion to maintain professional standards and ensure consistency across the organisation.

Essential criteria Candidates are expected to Demonstrate and/or have Experience of:

• Excellent writing, editing, and proofreading.
• Strong planning and organisation skills, able to manage multiple, competing priorities and deadlines.
• Ability to think creatively to produce engaging content from posters to video.
• Great interpersonal and relationship building skills to work with a range of colleagues at all levels.
• Ability to evaluate activities to assess impact and make recommendations.

Behaviours

We\'ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

We\'ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Communications Ideas
• Communications Impact
• Communications Implementation

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

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.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• A CV detailing job history/skills
• A statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 words)
• Provide evidence of the behaviour Communicating & Influencing (250 words maximum)

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. Please note your statement of suitability should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job description. For guidance on how to construct your personal statement, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links \xe2\x80\x93 Statement For guidance on how to construct your behaviour examples, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links \xe2\x80\x93Behaviours The sift will be held on the behaviour Communicating & Influencing and the statement of suitability (personal statement). The CV will not be scored. However, if a large number of applications are received, the sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability (personal statement) only. The statement of suitability will be scored first for all candidates. Those candidates who achieve the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability will progress to a further sift where the lead behaviour Communicating & Influencing will be scored. These candidates will therefore receive a sift score for both elements. Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability will not have their lead behaviour scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the statement of suitability. If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be a blended approach of behaviour-based questions and technical skills, all listed within the job advertisement. You will also be required to complete a written test before the interview which will be marked against the Technical framework (link opens in new window). Further details around what the written test will entail will be provided before the interview. The score from your written test will be added to your overall interview score. Sift and Interview dates Sift is expected to take place week commencing 8th January 2024. Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 29th January 2024. We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates may change. Interviews will be carried out via video. Candidates will be required to have access to:

• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Skype for Business/Microsoft Teams

Further information For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV. A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice. A location-based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role or similar role become available within that period you may be offered this position. When completing your application, you will have the opportunity to select your preferred location(s). Please ensure you select all locations you are interested in. Candidates who are successful at Interview will be placed in order of merit per location and provisional job offers will be made in strict merit order per location preference. Provisional offers are made, as they are on condition that you successfully pass all pre-employment checks. Note for Candidates: Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying of examples/answers from internet sources. If any is detected the application will be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving internal candidates. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants. If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, a contractor or contingent worker you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage. Are these Reserved Posts for UK Nationals only? UK nationals who hold dual nationality are able to apply for this reserved post. If a UK passport is not being presented, then candidates will need to provide alternative evidence of UK nationality in line with the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Flexible working Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estates capacity, by Spring 2024. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best. We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer. New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. 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. For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application. Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate\xe2\x80\x99s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details. Transfer Terms: Voluntary. If you are invited to an interview you will be required to bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks. Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents. Any move to the Home Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk Additional Security Checks: As well as successfully obtaining UKSV clearance and passing the right to work and pre-employment screening, anyone who applies to work for Border Force will also be subject to additional Border Force specific security checks, as part of the pre-employment process, to determine their suitability to work for the organisation. Please see the Home Office Recruitment Privacy Information Notice (PIN) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruitment-privacy-information-notice for more information on how your details may be shared for the purpose of additional security checks. Please see the Border Force Privacy Information Notice (PIN) on Border Force privacy information notice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information on how your details may be shared. Reasonable Adjustments If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the \xe2\x80\x9cAssistance Required\xe2\x80\x9d section in the \xe2\x80\x9cAdditional Requirements\xe2\x80\x9d page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you\'re deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the \xe2\x80\x98Contact point for applicants\xe2\x80\x99 section. Feedback
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.
Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• 
  Name :
  Home Office Resourcing Centre
  Email :
  HORCCampaignTeamBorderForce@homeoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• 
  Email :
  HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance HORecruitment.GRS@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.