and promotes the interests of crofting in Scotland
to secure the future of crofting.
Applying for a job at the Crofting Commission
17/08/2022
Working at the Crofting Commission
Crofting Commission have been doing a good deal of recruitment this year in response to staff leaving and the expansion of the Regulatory Team. This is partly in response to some additional funding that has been allocated by the Scottish Government.
We are working hard to build a strong organisation and a key part of this is having the right staff and ensuring they have the right training to help deliver the Commission’s services.
The organisation is a great place to work and staff enjoy the flexibility of working here with both flexi time and options to work from home some or most of the time. Permanent staff are also Scottish Government employees which brings a host of benefits, please refer to the Work for Scotland website for more info Our Reward Benefits - Work For Scotland (work-for-scotland.org). We are also able to offer part time contracts which gives great options for those who want to work part time due to childcare or other reasons.
We are excited to now be able to offer jobs to candidates across the crofting counties which allows us to offer employment opportunities in some of the far flung parts of the crofting counties that may not have been able to take a job with us previously due to location. These won’t be home working posts but staff will be based from their local RPID office and will be able to work from home the majority of the time.
Application
The application is the first thing that a recruiting panel will look at when assessing candidates for a role. This is assessed on the four essential criteria for the post which are listed in the job advert. Candidates should prepare an answer which is based on a real experience that they have had which demonstrates how they meet each criteria. For example if the criterion is about effective written communication skills the candidate should think of a time where they had to use these skills such as when they have prepared a written report in the workplace or when they wrote a letter of complaint. They should breakdown the example using the STARR approach:
Situation
Task
Action
Result
Reflection
So you would write a sentence or two explaining the situation, a sentence or two explaining the task you had, a paragraph explaining exactly what action you took, a sentence or two on result and a sentence on reflection. The majority of the answer should be on the ‘action’ part explaining in detail exactly what you did and linking this into the criteria. So if it was about written communication the ’action’ part might contain how you went about structuring the piece of written communication, how you chose the right language to suit your audience and get the appropriate tone. You should explain why you did things in this way which will demonstrate your capability of this skill to those assessing your application.
Interview
The approach used for recruitment is based on evidence of what an individual has done before. So the panel assessing your application and in the interview will be looking for previous examples of what you have done with demonstrate you capability. It is really helpful to have someone read through your application to proofread it and ensure it makes sense and is sufficiently explained to someone who is not familiar with the background to your examples.
If you get selected for interview this will be a competency based interview. This means you will be asked questions based on the Scottish Government skills for success competency framework: this framework can be downloaded here.
So for example if you are asked a question on the self awareness competency such as ‘tell us about a time that you had to learn new skills in order to take on something new?’ you should think of a real example where you had to take on a new process in the workplace or from something at home such as when you have to take on some renovation work. You should then follow the STARR approach outlined above similar to the application and go through each of these aspects in particular the ‘Action’ so how you identified what new skills you needed and how you went about gaining these. It is often helpful to think about some examples that might be appropriate for the various competencies prior to the interview and practice talking through these in the STARR format.
For external recruitment (i.e. recruitment that is open to candidates that do not already work in the Scottish government) an additional form of assessment may be required. This might be a presentation that you prepare ahead of time and deliver to the interview panel or it might be an online assessment run by an external company.
Please do consider working with us and best of luck with your application if you do.
