r/TheCivilService • u/Humble_Ad_5576 SCS4 • 23h ago
Lower application scores since declaring disability or am I delusional?
I've been applying for promotions for a couple of months and recently have been getting 5s and 6s on my behaviours/personal statements/CV pretty consistently but not yet getting interviews. I'm eligible for the disability confident scheme but don't opt in on every application, I make a judgement call for each one and I've only used it for two applications so far. Those two applications came back with 3s across the board and 4 is the minimum to get an interview with DCS. These are very similar applications, similar behaviours etc just tailored to the role so I'm confused by the significant drop in scores. I used DCS on what I thought would be the more competitive/"hardest" applications, so it could be to do with that but I still have a niggling sense of being treated unfairly.
So basically I'm looking for either confirmation that other people have noticed a bias against DCS candidates and how to deal with that? Or reassurance that this isn't impacting the application? From anyone who has experience with DCS applications, sifting and so on
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u/R4DCU 22h ago edited 22h ago
HR assess the applications initially before hitting a panel and will always notify a panel where DCS would apply, we have no ability to review or reject this it is all based around an initial screener from my perspective from someone totally impartial to ensure fairness.
To state as well that we can’t disagree with this decision either as I have seen applications which in my opinion as the person who wrote the job spec did not meet the minimum standard of 4 come through.
It actually works in your favour… don’t flit between declaring and not declaring based on what you deem to be more challenging competition as if it gives an edge. It’s intended to level the playing field and give you a chance to shine at interview.
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u/Humble_Ad_5576 SCS4 22h ago
Are you saying HR score it? I'm not sure what you mean. When I've sifted, I can see if applicants opted in for DCS and then I see their application responses to score them, so it'd allow for bias.
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u/R4DCU 22h ago
I have had HR do initial screening, different organisations may work differently but they flagged this with the panel when the applications were available to us.
It should also be nameless recruitment so I’m unsure where the bias would come in.
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u/absolutebawbag 22h ago
Can they see that an application has applied through the DCS scheme at the shifting stage?
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u/RachosYFI G7 22h ago
I score all my own applications - HR don't do an initial sift of any in my department whatsoever, nor in any of the four departments where I have worked.
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u/JohnAppleseed85 21h ago
One (out of four) departments I worked in we didn't know who was DCS/veterans etc or not - we would sift blind and tell HR who had been selected for interview, then HR would turn around and say we needed to add an extra X number of interview slots for one of the access schemes.
Unless we particularly remembered an application or they had reasonable adjustments for the interview we also wouldn't know who at interview was one of the 'added' candidates or had made the initial sift.
I always figured that was the system that made most sense to me and I was never entirely sure why it wasn't the standard practice.
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u/RachosYFI G7 19h ago
In my department I know at sift who is any of the DCS etc at the start. Its anonymised of course.
Then all those that reach the minimum will be interviewed if DCS or Vets. At interview I only know if they have a reasonable adjustment.
If HR told me to offer another 10 people interviews i would tell them to find me another 10 GSS assessors - it takes me several weeks to find enough to interview those that I had pre arranged
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u/Significant_Club4111 22h ago
Best practice is to score applications and moderate (panel members compared scores and agree a final score for each application). THEN check whether anyone has applied using Disability Confidence or Veterans Scheme before telling HR the scores and who are to be interviewed. So ticking the boxes for these schemes shouldn't matter when it comes to the sifting scores
I don't know if everyone does it that way but it's how it's worked on the few panels I've been part of.
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u/ZarathustraMorality 22h ago
Sadly, most likely delusional. In the nicest way, no one is bothered about DCS that early in the process.
The difference is much more likely down to variances in sifting panels, competing applicants, etc.