This role is for an Associate Consultant: an entry level role in our public sector focused management consultancy. We are seeking a small number of excellent individuals to join us in January and April 2025.

About The PSC and what we look for

The PSC is a team of public service consultants who exist to make public services brilliant for organisations, society and individuals.

We work together with ambitious leaders in some of the UK’s biggest public service organisations, creating lasting public value and helping to build a sustainable future. Our expertise has been recognised by the Financial Times, The Economist and The Guardian.

Our Associate Consultants are a key part of our team and from day one you can expect to get stuck into a client project, collaborating with other consultants, senior clients and front-line public service staff. Your day-to-day work will involve approaches and deliverables that have impact and make a real difference to our clients, including data collection and analysis, conducting research with the users affected by public services, collaborative problem solving, and communicating clearly with key clients. Every team member plays their part in designing evidence-based solutions, then implementing them via hands-on performance improvement, agile software development and impactful capability building. 

We rely on exceptional individuals who can deliver our mission through our core values: curious and bold, honest and respectful. We’re looking for candidates who share our intellectual curiosity, passion, enthusiasm and dedication to solving the knotty problems required to improve public services. We are believers in growth mindsets and that no employee is the finished article. Therefore, we look for people who:

• Show potential and a willingness to learn

• Embody entrepreneurial spirit and thought leadership

• Are exceptional problem solvers, with excellent interpersonal and analytical skills

• Are passionate about achieving lasting change in public services

Like the rest of the team at The PSC, you will benefit from a supportive and flexible working environment, that include:

• A variety of training including Delivering Fast Effective Projects, data analytics, digital skills, communication and equality and diversity

• Merit-based progression

• Flexible working options, equal maternity and paternity policy

• Pro bono time up to 1 day per month

• Option to work from abroad for short periods of time 

• 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays and the option to buy additional leave (up to 5 days per year) 

Start dates: Available start dates for this role are January and April 2025. During your application you will be asked to indicate your preferred start date, with the option of choosing a second start date if you are available for more than one. Please note, we are asking you commit to the start date/s you choose and if your application is successful, you will receive an offer for your preferred date. If you are not yet ready for the available start date, we are planning a further recruitment round in early 2025. Please follow the Career page on our website for any updates.

The application process

There are four stages to the application process, please read the details below carefully and prepare your responses before proceeding.

At The PSC, equality, diversity and inclusion is important to our hiring practices and overall firm culture. Therefore, we ask all candidates to fill in this short REALrating form before starting our application process. Whilst your answers are used for monitoring purposes, we may also use the contextual information provided to inform how we measure academic potential. The information produced from REALrating cannot put you at a disadvantage, but it may provide a positive uplift for your application based on your academic achievements. You can find out more about REALrating here.

First stage

In the first stage of the application you are asked to provide us with your contact information and a copy of your CV. We pride ourselves on removing bias from our application and interview processes - part of this includes not reviewing CVs until the end of the assessment process.

Second stage

The second stage is a timed test. This multiple choice 'Problem Solving Test' asks you 17 questions typical of the type of work we do for clients, testing numerical and analytical ability through a case study. It's the best way we've found to help you understand the work we do and to help us to gauge your ability to do the job well. There are a few things to note:

• During the test you cannot use the 'back' and 'forward' navigation in the browser window. If you do, your responses will be lost.

• Some questions are easier than others, most of them require you to look at data in tables and charts, so work through them carefully, but keep an eye on the timer. You can find some example questions here: https://thepsc.co.uk/careers/how-to-apply/.

• We are looking for candidates to score above a set threshold in order to progress to the next stage, so if you don't know an answer make your best guess and move on to the next question.

• Make sure you have a good internet connection during the test. Unfortunately, if you lose internet connection during the test, you'll need to start again.

• You may wish to have pen, paper and calculator handy.

• You have 60 minutes to complete this test. When the timer runs out your entries will no longer be scored.

Third stage

You will be invited to the third stage if you scored above a set threshold on the 'Problem Solving Test'. The third stage is three short questions for you to show us why you would make a great addition to our team. You will have one week to finish the assignment.

Final stage

If you are successful we will invite you for an interview. We conduct two rounds of interviews which will be held in person in our London office.

If you require any reasonable adjustments (e.g. extra time for timed tests), please email recruitment@thepsc.co.uk to let us know so we can determine the best way to make the application accessible. We will aim to get back to you as soon as possible, but please keep in mind we work Monday to Friday, and it may take up to 48 hours to respond to your request.  

Finally, we appreciate the time that goes into your application, we will be in touch as soon as we can. If you haven’t heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, do drop us an email to check in: recruitment@thepsc.co.uk.

Joining The PSC

Equality, diversity and Inclusion: We believe that diverse identities, experiences and ideas are essential to tackling the complex problems and are actively seeking candidates from diverse background. Successful applicants will become part of a diverse, high performing team united by the same mission. The PSC is an equal-opportunities employer and operates an anonymised recruitment to ensure candidates are assessed on their skills, capabilities and potential. We are proud to partner with upReach, a charity which works to improve social mobility by creating conditions for undergraduates from less advantaged backgrounds to access and sustain top graduate jobs. If you have any accessibility needs, please contact us at recruitment@thepsc.co.uk

Sustainability: The PSC is committed to driving positive, sustainable change across public services. Our sustainability policy sets out our specific commitments to use sustainable suppliers and expand our positive impact with clients and partners. You can read more about this here: https://thepsc.co.uk/page/sustainability/

Visa Sponsorship: We can offer visa sponsorship to successful international candidates who are eligible to apply for the Skilled Worker visa. Please note that this only applies to our Associate Consultant permanent position.

Degree disciplines and recruitment criteria: We do not have specific degree criteria, and our team possesses a mix of degree disciplines including STEM, humanities, languages as well as applied disciplines such as public health. We are looking for exceptional problem solvers, with excellent interpersonal and analytical skills. Applicants should be motivated team players who share our genuine passion for delivering better experiences and outcomes for public service users. 

We are running a webinar on 3rd October where we will share more about what we do, the application process and what we are looking for in candidates. If you are interested in joining, please apply here.