Should you have a disability that
restricts your ability to take the online tests please contact
our helpdesk at faststream@parity.net
or telephone 01276 400333 (office hours) to discuss the
options.
THE E-APPLICATION FORM.
For alternative formats in Braille
or audio please e-mail fast.stream@cabinet-office.gov.uk
The first recruitment round for 2008 closed on 31 October
2007. The second round opens on 1 February 2008 and closes on
30 April 2008. If you wish to apply for the Diplomatic
Service Economist you can only apply in Round 1.
If you are a dual candidate for
the Economist/Graduate Fast Stream scheme or the
Economist/Statistician scheme you can only apply in Round 1
for the Economist and Statistician schemes.
To progress through the
recruitment process you must pass each individual stage. Once
you have selected the option you wish to apply for you will
have a specific number of days to complete each stage
described below. You will be notified of your completion dates
on your "Scheme Progress" page in the
password protected area of the site. If you need an extension
of a completion date for a genuine reasons, it is essential
that you contact the Fast Stream Helpdesk on 01276 400333 or
send a message via the candidate website. The time
frame for each stage is set once you have completed the
preceding stage; any unused time is not carried forward.
The
recruitment process will involve:
1. REGISTRATION
Once you have registered you will
have a specific number of days to complete each stage
described below. You will be notified of your completion date
for your online tests on your “My Applications” page in
the password-protected area of the site.
2. COMPLETION OF
E–APPLICATION FORM
Please ensure that you provide
full details about the economic components of your degree. We
can only sift on the information you provide on the
application form so please ensure you complete the form as
fully as possible. The Economics in Government Team will
complete a manual sift of applications (see 5 below) based on
the following criteria:
Sift
Criteria - Essential Criteria:
UK, Commonwealth, or EEA
Nationality for GES posts
First or 2.1 in Economics
OR An MSC/MA in Economics
If a mixed degree with economics
as one of the subjects, or related subject, such as business
economics, then at least 50% of the course modules must be in
economics. You must have studied both macro and micro
economics.
If your first degree is in another
subject, you either need a Postgraduate Diploma in Economics
or a taught Masters which includes macro and micro economics,
please give details of modules on the application form.
If you graduated more than 18
months to 2 years ago you must be in an economics based job to
demonstrate that you have kept your economic skills up to date
Competences
It is important that you provide
written evidence of your achievements in the following areas;
working on own initiative, organising and prioritising time;
producing results/determination. You are allowed up to 300
words in total.
Desirable
·
internships/work experience which demonstrate
motivation for economic work (if you have any non economic
work experience please also give details of that)
·
extra curricular activities which demonstrate
you can build productive relationships with others (this may
be from voluntary work/sports clubs etc)
·
supportive tutor or employer reference. If you
have not yet graduated, the tutor reference must be to support
the predicted degree outcome of 2.1 or 1st. If you are on a
provisional appointment, the departmental report should
indicate that you meet the majority of the competency
requirements for the Fast Stream.
3. ONLINE PRACTICE TESTS
These practice tests will give you the opportunity to try
out the type of tests that you’ll have to pass to move on to
Stage 5 of the application process.
4. ONLINE TESTS
- Verbal
Reasoning
- Numerical
Reasoning
- Competency
Questionnaire
5. MANUAL SIFT OF APPLICATIONS
Once you have passed the online tests, your application
form will be passed to the Economics in Government Team who
will sift the applications based on the criteria outlined
above. Those
candidates who best meet the sift criteria will be invited to
attend the Economics Assessment Centre.
6. ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT CENTRE (1/2 day)
There are 5 separate exercises to complete at the Economic
Assessment Centre (EAC).
You will be assessed against 3 competencies throughout
the EAC; Knowledge of Economics, Application of Economics and
Communication. You must pass all three competencies to
progress to the next stage of the Fast Stream recruitment
process – the e-tray. Further
guidance, including a model answer on a topic and an example
of the short answer questions, is available on this website.
Preparation before
A common mistake
among applicants is to think that they have to impress the
assessors with advanced techniques. Assessors will give you
the chance to discuss your specialist studies, but
overwhelming they are looking for a firm grasp of the
fundamentals. They want to see that you can apply them, even
to unfamiliar topics. Rote learning advanced techniques will
not get you into the GES.
So in terms of
reading for the EAC process you may revise your strongest
area, but also make sure that you are also familiar with the
content covered in the latest editions of excellent
introductory tomes such as by Begg, Parkin or Sloman. A good
knowledge of core intermediate micro will also help, such as
in Nicholson or Varian (Intermediate). Cost benefit analysis
(CBA) is used extensively in Government but for EAC you are
expected only to understand its roots in welfare economics
rather than use advanced CBA techniques. So be well versed in
deviations from efficiency and distributional concerns.
Elementary econometrics may assist you and perhaps
intermediate macro as in Blanchard or Carlin and Soskice.
Of all these the
first year introductory texts and intermediate micro are the
most important. But this won’t help if you can’t apply
this knowledge. You may know the formula for the price
elasticity of demand but what is this formula applied to the
length of an elephant’s trunk with respect to the pull of an
alligator? You can define opportunity cost but can you apply
this to an asset? You may know MC=MR as a profit maximising
condition but what if there are no costs? Can you draw on
economics to shed light on the pros and cons of charging for
entry to museums? Should water be metered? What economic
concepts are relevant to a smoking ban or provision of early
childcare?
At least three weeks before your EAC you are given a topic
to research in advance. We expect this to take no more than 10
hours to research. At
the EAC you will be asked to produce (without notes of any
kind) two pieces of written work on the given topic. You
should consider a range of sources when researching this
topic.
For
model answers in respect of the technical report and the short
answer question paper.
At EAC
- i)
Technical report - on the given
topic. For this exercise you are encouraged to 'show off'
your knowledge, technical grasp and understanding of the
relevant economics. But remember you will be verbally
tested on what you write here as part of your interview.
You will have 30 minutes to complete this report at EAC.
- ii)
Policy report - for this report you must "translate"
your technical report into plain English for a non-economist.
You will need to write clearly and concisely and will be
marked down for jargon. You will have 30 minutes to
complete this report at EAC.
- iii)
Short answer questions - this will be a set of
questions (likely to be 10 in total) testing your breadth
of macro, micro and technical economics as an honours
graduate. It is not multiple choices. You have 30 minutes
to complete this at EAC.
- iv)
Presentation - a presentation to a 2 person
interview board on the policy recommendation. You will
receive your policy report and technical report back 30
minutes before your interview to allow you to prepare. The
interview board will be one academic economist and one
government economist. You will be questioned on your
policy report
- v)
Interview - this will follow on directly from the
presentation and will cover both your short answer
questions paper (including additional questions) and
topical issues, you may also be asked about your strongest
area of economics. On topical issues, the Board is
interested in the economic theory and application (not the
politics). You will want to demonstrate your ability to
think about things from first principles. The presentation
and interview will take an hour in total.
7. SUPERVISED E–TRAY EXERCISE
(1/2 day at a regional centre)
- Numerical
and Verbal reasoning re-test
- E-tray
exercise
8. FAST
STREAM ASSESSMENT CENTRE (1 day)
More details will be available on this event
when you are invited to attend.
9. FINAL
SELECTION BOARD – FOR DIPLOMATIC SERVICE CANDIDATES ONLY
More details will be available on this event when you
are invited to attend.
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