Civil service interview

[unicareercrossroads]

I applied for an SEO role after a bad day - on top of a couple of years of feeling ground down (L, humanities, RG, not London or South East).

I have an interview for a good department. There would be a big pay cut, and not sure how I would manage financially, but there would be prospects. Any advice from people making the same move?

I made that exact move, not from academia, but from a think tank. If you take to it you should easily be promoted to a G7 within a year or two, and that's quite a significant jump in pay. The pension is also really good. I have really enjoyed it, interesting work, clever people. Do you know any civil servants who can help you with the interview process? It is very very specific and nitpicky imo. You have to have a well crafted STAR answer for each question. I know all jobs do this now, but this really is next level. It really is about providing the right answers and not about subject expertise.

I do have some CS friends who could help, though they'll be busy or on leave...

We run a session on the STAR format for students - but it's much easier to tell other people to do it, than gear up for it myself.

I'm getting over burnout, but will sit down and draft some sample questions and answers.

@peasepudding are you happy with the jump? Positives and negatives compared with think tank work?

It's very different. I used to completely run my own projects and could be really creative in how I did them. I'm never bored in the civil service, but I can't just design a project and crack on, I also miss just meeting people and chatting over whatever project it was. In the civil service each role is fairly tightly defined, so you might be an absolute expert in say bats, but not have an overview of wildlife policy in general. It is very fast paced though if you are in a Whitehall department, and people are very sharp

Honestly drill drill drill for the STAR. There will be loads of info online on CS recruitment. I have interviewed very bright people for SEO roles who could obviously do the job but who just don't jump through the hoops.

Thank you!

It's hard to foresee whether I would miss the loss of autonomy. I don't experience it as autonomy at the moment, though. Never being bored sounds great!

I got an offer! I'm mulling things over but thought people might like to know it's possible. I didn't have lots of time to prepare but it seems to have been enough.

congratulations! what an achievement 👏
have you decided?

were you able to get some of your questions answered at the interview?

I'm waiting on another interview result at the moment although it is much less likely.

There have been a couple of informal discussions, and lots of opportunity to ask questions! They are great people. Friends who know the department - former and current - sing its praises.

Congratulations from a lurker! That's no mean feat given what I've read about getting into the CS!

I've been reading these kind of threads for morale - fixed term contract coming to an end and I'm aiming to leave for CS or similar. It means a lot to even lurk on discussions with people who understand what it's like