Vacancy -- KAS - Research Officers

Working for the Civil Service

The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

Vacancy Details

Health and Social Services Group
KAS - Social Research
HEO - £32,460 - £39,690
£29,100
Full time (applications are welcome from people who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time)
Other
2 Posts are permanent and 2 are Fixed Term
Fixed term posts are 12 months long
Pan Wales
'Pan Wales' means that the location in which the vacancy can be based is flexible, subject to the needs of the business. Please note it may not always be possible to accommodate a preference for a specific office location, but requests will be taken into consideration.
TBC

Purpose of Post:

This is an exciting opportunity to join a group of researchers working as part of the Government Social Research (GSR) profession. As a Research Officer at the Welsh Government, the postholders will work closely with policy colleagues and other analysts. They will provide support, in various forms, for projects across the full range of the team’s work. This will include full responsibility for small in-house exercises and contributions to larger commissioned studies or programmes of research.

Permanent posts:

  1. Research Officer – Visit Wales

The Research and Insights team at Visit Wales is aiming to become more proactive and visible in producing, collating and communicating market intelligence to influence decision making and to support the industry and stakeholders. This is an exciting role that is focussed on undertaking high quality analysis and interpretation of the key tourism surveys and other sources in Wales through leading a series of Market Insights. 

  1. Research Officer - WEFO

WEFO’s Research, Monitoring & Evaluation team has responsibility to ensure that the European Structural and Investment (ESI) Fund Programmes are fully compliant with European Commission monitoring and evaluation requirements. 

The post-holder will assist WEFO’s Head of Research, Monitoring & Evaluation, the Senior Research Officer for European Structural Funds Programmes and WEFO Programme managers in delivering a schedule of Monitoring and Evaluation.  The successful candidate will provide advice and guidance on monitoring and evaluation to European Social Fund (ESF) projects.  The successful candidate will assist with delivering the suite of evaluations required for the 2014-2020 programming period.

 

Fixed term posts (12 months initially):

  1. Research Officer – WEFO

WEFO’s Research, Monitoring & Evaluation team has responsibility to ensure that the European Structural and Investment (ESI) Fund Programmes are fully compliant with European Commission monitoring and evaluation requirements. 

The post-holder will assist WEFO’s Head of Research, Monitoring & Evaluation, the Senior Research Officer for European Structural Funds Programmes and WEFO Programme managers in delivering a schedule of Monitoring and Evaluation.  The successful candidate will provide advice and guidance on monitoring and evaluation to European Social Fund (ESF) projects.  The successful candidate will assist with delivering the suite of evaluations required for the 2014-2020 programming period. 

  1. Research Officer - Internal ResearchProgramme 

The IRP is an in-house resource undertaking small-scale research and evaluation projects for policy colleagues across government. The role requires researchers to scope, design, collect and analyse data, as well as authoring reports to inform policy delivery. The post provides an opportunity to undertake quantitative and qualitative research, as well as producing other outputs including literature reviews and evaluability assessments. Researchers may also be required to present findings to relevant stakeholders and promote the work of the IRP to colleagues internally.

Key tasks:

The key tasks outlined below provide an indication of core tasks that may be required across the posts. These may not all necessarily be required within the same posts and other tasks may also be required. 

Research programme/projects 

  • Assist policy colleagues, other analysts and external partners to scope and plan research projects in support of departmental priorities. 
  • Contribute to the commissioning and management of external research contracts, ensuring requirements are delivered and standards met. 
  • Examine and review monitoring data to ensure robust data are readily available to external contractors. 
  • Carry out data analysis to contribute to policy briefings and in-house research publications. 
  • Design and carry out small-scale research projects, including literature reviews, surveys, interviews and focus groups, analyse and write up results. 
  • Ensure that research findings are communicated effectively and feed into policy and service development, delivery and evaluation.
  • Ensure the work of the team is compliant with the Quality Assurance framework, ethics principles and any other relevant standards. 

Building links

  • Work with other public sector organisations where common areas of interest are identified.

Other research activities 

  • Keep abreast of relevant evidence and methods and communicate findings to relevant policy colleagues. 
  • Contribute to other areas of research and evaluation, as deemed appropriate by line manager. 

Management

  • Ensure projects and contracts are delivered within deadlines, resource constraints and to appropriate professional standards, by using project management techniques. 
  • Ensure that sound financial management procedures are followed

Corporate GSR activities 

  • Promote the effective use of social research in strategy, policy development and delivery across the Welsh Government and externally. 
  • Contribute to quality/improvement activities within own job, and corporately through the wider GSR network.

Development opportunities:

All posts offer excellent development opportunities, such as being involved in the development and evaluation of key Welsh Government priorities and working alongside senior officials and in some cases Ministers and Special Advisors. 

There will be opportunities to contribute to the work of the other analytical teams and to corporate GSR activities. The post holders will be encouraged to take up training and professional development opportunities as appropriate. 

The posts would provide any candidates with Welsh language skills with opportunities to use and develop these skills.

Closing Date:

08/10/2019, 16:00

Eligibility

Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:

Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.

Equality and Diversity

The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.

We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.

Disability Confident

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Welsh Language Requirements

The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace. 

The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

Not necessary to undertake the duties of this post

Social Partnership

In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.

Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
•         PCS
•         Prospect
•         FDA

This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
•         pay
•         terms and conditions
•         policies and procedures
•         organisational change.

Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.

The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.

Competencies / Job Specific Criteria

Competencies:

1.Effective decisions

Tell us about your ability to gather various pieces of information to analyse a complex problem, how you developed your thinking and communicated these in a comprehensible way.

2. Delivering at Pace

Tell us about your ability to deliver at pace and manage conflicting priorities, taking responsibility for managing both your own and others workloads to ensure milestones and targets are met 

3. Collaborating and partnering

Tell us about your ability to develop positive relationships with stakeholders to ensure that you reach shared objectives.


Job specific criteria:

Hold a minimum of 2:1 in an undergraduate degree or 2:2 with a postgraduate degree

 

AND

 

either

[qualification route] A relevant social science subject at undergraduate or postgraduate level which contains substantial social research methods training (we would expect social research methods to represent around a third of modules taken)

or

[experience route] At least 4 years’ social research practice experience (this would be experience designing, managing and conducting research in a research agency, market research agency or specialised research team.  For this route you must make explicit the breadth and depth of your research experience and skills)

 

 

2. Knowledge of social research methods – Tell us about your research experience, ideally including both quantitative and qualitative research, and how you decide on the appropriate methodology for a project.

 

3. Ability to manage or commission research – Tell us about your approach to managing a piece of research to ensure it meets the stated need (e.g. of the customer) and your approach to quality assurance.

Assessment Process

Other Information

  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
  • For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.

Posts currently available: 

  • With potential for further posts to become available during the recruitment exercise, or within the next 12 months 

There is possibility of permanency where there is a fixed term appointment. The permanency offer could mean moving post to a different team, but will still remain within the KAS-Social Research profession. 

This recruitment exercise will also be used to set up a reserve list for future RO level posts which may become available on a permanent, temporary or secondment/loan basis in the course of the next 12 months.  

Following all assessments, successful candidates will be placed in merit order which will determine the role / contract that they will be offered.


Candidates who are successful at the sifting stage will be assessed via Government Social Research assessment techniques:
• A written GSR knowledge test
• An oral briefing exercise
• A general competency-based interview, covering the competencies and job specific criteria listed in the advert
For more information and news about the GSR please visit the GSR website –
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/civil-service-government-social-research-profession

Tom Stevenson - 0300 062 2570

How to apply

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have a disability which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to a disability in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).

When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

Grievance and Complaints

Anyone who believes they have been treated unfairly, or has a grievance or complaint, about how the process was conducted should either write to the Head of Resourcing, Welsh Government, Cathays Park 2, Cardiff CF10 3NQ or email SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales.  If you are unhappy with the outcome of the complaint raised with the Welsh Government and feel that the principles of appointment on merit through fair and open competition have not been met you have the right to pursue your grievance with the Civil Service Commission.

This vacancy is closed to applications.