
HR Support Apprentice
Job summary
The HR Support Apprentice will sit within the HR Delivery team, part of Dstl’s People Function.
HR Delivery provides professional, customer-focused HR services and support to employees, managers and HR colleagues across the entire employee lifecycle.
The team acts as a central point of contact for HR advice, guidance and transactional support, helping to deliver a broad range of people services. These include Recruitment and Onboarding, Learning and Development, Pay and Reward, Employee Relations, Employee Services which include all aspects of the employee lifecycle.
Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution.
Job description
Within this role you will complete a Level 3 Apprenticeship in HR support. 20% of your weekly hours (one day a week) will be committed to study for the apprenticeship through onsite face to face learning.
As an apprentice, you will gain exposure to a broad range of HR activities and develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for a successful career in Human Resources.
You will provide first-line HR support and respond to employee and manager queries on policies, procedures and people matters.
For more information on the job responsibilities please see the job profile attached below
Person specification
We are looking for individuals who have a strong interest in working in an HR support environment as well as in a customer facing role.
Important Information:
Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats.
For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.
This role will require full UK security clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years. For some roles Developed Vetting will also be required, in this case you should have resided in the UK for the past 10 years.
Qualifications
Evidence of a good standard of general education e.g. GCSEs or equivalent including English and Mathematics at Grade C or above.Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Describe a time when you helped someone solve a problem or answered a question. What was the outcome?
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £25,470, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory contributes £7,378 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).Benefits
Dstl’s full range of great benefits can be found in the information pack which includes:
Financial: An excellent pension scheme starting from 26% employer contribution (find out more here). In Year Rewarding Achievement bonuses and thank you vouchers. Rental deposit scheme and cycle to work scheme.
Flexible working: Options include alternative working patterns such as; compressed hours (e.g. working a 4 day week/ 9 day fortnight), job shares and annualised hours (agreed number of hours per annum paid monthly i.e. working term-time only).
Working hours: Flexibility around your working day (e.g. start time, finish time). Ability to bank hours in a 12 month reference period including the ability to accrue and use 3 days per calendar month.
Where you work: Depending on your role, blended working may be available including remote working to suit you and your team. This can be discussed at interview.
Annual leave: 25 days pro rata (rising to 30 after 5 years) plus 8 public holidays with the ability to buy/sell 5 additional days per annum.
Family: Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks with full pay, an additional 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid
Learning and Development: Dstl encourages and supports charterships, accreditations and provides employees access to fully funded apprenticeships up to level 7 (Masters Degree). Dstl will pay for 2 memberships with relevant bodies/institutions. Employees also have access to Civil Service Learning.
Facilities: Onsite parking, EV Charging points, restaurants, cafés and gyms.
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.We want you to have your best chance of success in our recruitment process, so If at any stage of the application process you would like help or assistance please contact the Dstl Recruitment Team dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk and we will do all we can to support you.
At the application stage, we will assess your submitted application against the essential criteria set out in the job profile.
Sifting will take place week commencing 3rd August with interviews to held face to face at Dstl Porton Down week commencing 24th August.
Your interview will consist of behavioural and technical competency-based questions.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
Open to UK nationals only.This job is not open to candidates who hold a dual nationality.
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Dstl Recruitment
- Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk
Further information
Should you wish to raise a formal complaint about the Dstl recruitment process you should email dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk stating the nature of the issue. We will respond within 5 working days.Attachments
20260713_HR SupportApprentice Job profile_v3 Opens in new window (pdf, 115kB)Dstl Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 4978kB)Salary range
- £25,470 per year
















