Trainee Official Auxiliary - Food Standards Agency - Wales & West

Job summary
Are you a driven individual with excellent communication skills?

Are you looking for a rewarding role that will have a real life impact on everyone in the UK?

If so, these exciting opportunities to join the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as a Trainee Official Auxiliary (TOA) are for you and we’d love to hear from you!!

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1300 people, with a big vision – to drive change in the food system so that it delivers “food we can trust”. As we have now exited the EU the FSA faces a significant period of change and activity.

Job description
The heart of the FSA’s mission is to deliver “food we can trust” and having left the EU and spent a year facing up to the impact of Covid-19, it is more vital than ever that every precaution is taken to ensure the food on Britain’s plates is safe to eat, and exactly what it says it is.

Our meat production systems in abattoirs are one of the vital points of contact between the FSA and the food industry and represent an important on-the-ground part of our work. By ensuring high standards of animal welfare, quality control and workplace best practice are adhered to, we can make an active and ongoing difference in both the quality of the meat that reaches our plates but also the reputation that our nation and its food exports have on the global markets. The work the FSA does in abattoirs and food processing plants across the country each day has impact far beyond those factory walls.

Our Official Auxiliaries are vital parts of this process, delivering these standards through a number of means. These will include the performance of ante- and post-mortem inspections of animals, unannounced inspections on working practices across your dedicated site, the collecting and dispatching of samples for offsite analysis and communication with both FSA team members and onsite staff to create the safest and healthiest factory environment.

About you
We are looking for driven individuals who are able to maintain focus on repetitive tasks. You will be comfortable working in a busy factory environment with early start times, working a core 37 hrs each week with an option to be deployed on a 5, 4 or 3- day working pattern based on business demand and operational requirements of the base plant allocated (please note this working pattern will only apply once you have successfully completed the training). You will have strong communication skills that will allow you to talk with onsite staff across company hierarchies to influence and guide decision making as part of our FSA team. A sharp attention to detail is required for this role, and as such we can regrettably only consider those with normal colour vision (trichromacy) for this role.

With on-the-job training, and plenty of opportunities for progression in the FSA, the Trainee Official Auxiliary gives you a strong first step if you’re seeking to build a career around keeping Britain’s food safe for all.

Things you need to know

Selection process details
Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack. 

Application and shortlisting
You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.  

Technical: 
You will be asked two questions to confirm that you meet the Technical requirements of the role. 

• You have a Full UK Driving Licence and access to a vehicle
• You are not already either qualified, or part-qualified to carry out
  Official Auxiliary duties in any capacity

If you cannot answer yes to these questions – you will not be able to proceed further with your application.
You will then be asked to complete a personal statement which will be used to assess you against the following essential criteria.

Essential criteria

Experience

• When have you managed multiple workloads successfully working within tight deadlines?
• Tell us about your experience of working in an operational (retail, hospitality, service industry) OR fast paced environment?
•  How have you used Microsoft Office or equivalent in your work, study or other tasks?

When submitting you personal statement, you are encouraged to use the full 750 words available to the best of your ability, as this will help the panel to determine your suitability to be taken through for interview.

Interview
If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in which we will assess you against the following Experience criteria:

Experience

• Experience of working under pressure and remaining calm in stressful situations
• Self-motivated and able to work with minimum supervision as part of a team
• Experience of building effective working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders
• Experience of being thorough and paying attention to detail


Timeline 

Advert closes: 24/11/24
Sift: Expected to take place week commencing 25/11/24
Final panel interview: Expected to take place week commencing 09/12/24
Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams.