Civil service jobs

[Workfear]

Sorry not really an aibu but I keep seeing a lot of people saying how much they hate working for the Cs, and to get away from the job I hate I recently applied for the Cs.

Is it really that bad? Bit nervous now about going for it.

I've been a civil servant for 17 years working my way up from admin to a recent Grade 7 promotion. Dh is also a cs and we both love our jobs. It can be hard work but the variety of roles available is amazing, as is the flexibility. We both get to wfh and travel abroad for work. Would highly recommend. We are central govt btw

The CS is so varied, it'll be hard to gage an exact response!

My work isn't without its frustrations, but it's interesting and varied, my colleagues are amazing and I've had plenty of opportunities to progress. On the whole my experience has a been positive one.

Totally agree with Nettletheelf lazy people not pulling their weight , whingers . The amount of money wasted on accomadating staff to do their job is ridiculous. Would never happen in Private sector and can be so frustrating especially as these members of staff usually get moved around and given special jobs whilst the rest of us just get on with the job in hand.

Lots of scope to move around.....but there are bugger all pt internal jobs so I'm stuck.

I love the flexibility as ive been able to vary my work days to suit school holidays etc.
Good annual leave allowance.
It's given me the opportunity to leave admin and get an actual job.
However, as they're process mapping, admin is vulnerable and it means we've got stacks to do and all the admin. It's stressful.
I got in by temping for a job share, then fixed term contract and now I've been in a totally different dept for nearly a year and it's permanent.
Well, as permanent as a job can be these days.

I love the CS. Good pay, good pension, good security, good flexibility. I work from home at least one day a week, get good top cover support, fascinating topics of work, and the ability to move around once you’re in meaning you’re never bored and if you don’t love one particular post/department then you can find one you enjoy more. However, don’t go into CS if you are expecting non-stressful work and the ability to become a millionaire...

I’ve worked in and out of the civil service. The civil service is less stressful than the private sector.

Oddly though, most of my former CS colleagues were never happier than when they were complaining about how stressful their jobs were, or how morale had never been lower. Before leaving at 5 pm on the dot.

Hopefully it won't be too bad. Don't want to say too much on the job incase anyone from recruitment is here, and knowing my luck there would be. The job does sound interesting and I know I can do it, just don't want lumbered with tons of work like where I currently am while other people sit doing nothing watching YouTube.

I’ve worked for the MoD on and off. Most of my roles have had very little to do all day and no real line management The pay isn’t as good as the private sector. In my last role I did very little and nobody noticed. Well, I got a “good” in my appraisal anyway!

In my current role, I have my own office and the base is almost all military personnel. I generally work the hours they do such as finishing early on a Friday.

I’m not particularly motivated by working for the civil service, that’s for sure!

Most sectors are over stretched these days, but the CS definitely has better perks than private; and I had found the pay higher for less responsibility, although I guess it depends which part you join maybe! People who haven’t had any other job tend to moan, whilst those who have experienced working for the private sector tend to appreciate it. As with anything it is what you make it, but plenty of opportunities and just as it isn’t as good as it once was, it still trumps a lot of jobs.

I used to work in the private sector. More money, non contributory pension, business class travel, first class on trains, buildings that aren’t falling down with serious damp problems etc.

If you work in a shop or a factory in the private sector I’m sure it’s worse than the CS. I think areas like banking and finance are better! Due to my location, my CS job is the best I can get. If I move back to London I’m going back to banking...

My current job underpays us all a lot by the rest of the industries standards, just due to location. And what I and my partner earn is just enough to get us by, we save nothing, in constantly stressed, and my credit card bill looks bad.

Pay for this job is better and the area costs less to live in, so I'm hoping that it will be a good move for us. if I get it of course, hoping I get a chance at an interview.

These sum up life at MoD quite nicely:

www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Employee-Review-UK-Ministry-of-Defence-RVW18686057.htm

www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Employee-Review-UK-Ministry-of-Defence-RVW22603572.htm

www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Employee-Review-UK-Ministry-of-Defence-RVW17935298.htm

Depends on which department you’re in and what work you’re doing really. You can really generalise about “the Civil Service” as a whole. Different departments have very different cultures - my dept is very small and people from bigger departments can think we’re a bit incestuous as no one ever leaves! But generally people move around departments quite easily so it’s easy to get variety into your career. The learning and development offer is good, for instance all civil servants have access to free career coaching.

I have worked front line and back office, and it’s so different. Because of the services the govt has to offer, front line roles (e.g. DWP and HMRC) can be hard. I wouldn’t go back to it.

You find you get used to the foibles of the crap decision making, and you think everyone is mad when you start and a year later you realise you’ve become just as mad...

Personally I like the job security, I’m on old terms so everything is very generous leave and sick pay wise. I left CS once and specifically sought out a CS job after a few years in private sector, for that reason. I’ve had a number of health problems and have been supported through them all.

I think in general CS people are generally aware that life is as important as work, and that we’re all human, and this reflects in the day to day of our work and lives. My work life balance is insanely good.

It really depends on the department and what level you are at. I love my job as it’s internationally- focused policy work. If I had to do some bureaucratic, admin or customer facing role I’d be miserable ( to clarify - that’s because it’snot where my skill set or passion lies - fine for others who are good at it!!).

The one fly in the ointment is the prospect of getting conscripted to do no deal brexit work. I’m worried about that.

Hi. So I really want a role within the civil service, however I keep getting rejected when I put through an application and it usually gets to the point where I just get put off of applying for a couple of months and end up questioning whether I have enough experience.. I was just wondering if there was someone who would be able to give me some hints or tips or if they could help me through the application :)

Civil service still have excellent terms and conditions (compared to the private sector) and a lot of flexibility. I think a lot of people in the civil service haven't worked in the private sector for a long time and don't quite realise what a privileged position they are in. I moved to the civil service 2 years ago after working in a call centre and it was a whole new world! No one bats an eye lid of you have a medical appt during work time, if u need to leave to pick your kids up from school or need to work flexibly etc. I've worked from home during the entire pandemic! We still get paid sick leave and compassionate leave, during lockdown we were given paid time off for homeschooling etc. Work/life balance is fab. Obviously, ylthis is what all employers SHOULD be like.

We are understaffed, it's true and this has really pinched during covid - leaving people over worked and stressed but that's the same in every industry or workplace right now!

Civil service is still hugely middle class witha very white, straight, sheltered employee base. A lot of employees have pretty high expectations (i.e. a sense of entitlement to security and comfort) and maybe don't have a lot of awareness of whay life is like for people working in private sector jobs right now.

Like most jobs there is good and bad. I have worked in a variety of roles across operations and policies as loads of teams. the vast majority have been great although there have been some toxic teams and they aren't dealt with well.

On the upside there is great flexibility with working, lots of opportunity to try out different roles, there's a great variety of people to work with and obv benefits inc flexible working, pension, maternity and sick pay etc.

Downsides being we are often understaffed, in operations it can be very micromanaged and in policy you're left to your own devices a lot of the time. plus you get to read in the papers what layabouts you are whilst you work long hours because the recruitment process is so slow that you are still waiting for new staff to start.

@nettletheelf A for accuracy

I love it, definitely don't feel underpaid, yes i could earn more in industry but the work life balance, working hours, holiday, sick pay, maternity pay and job security are worth that.
I sit at a desk all day and get paid more than a lot of professions which are more important which blows my mind.

Pros:

• Good hours, interesting work, doesn’t discriminate against women, possibly of flexible working, job security, cool office locations.

Cons:

• CS rarely sack people, so you will have some colleagues who, if they were in the private sector, would be quickly fired for laziness/incompetence.
• Slow pace compared to private sector (this drove me crazy!) and work may be done just because it’s always been done that way, even though it achieves nothing.
• Budget is a constant worry: if something takes two hours longer but saves the budget £10 you may be expected to do it the slow way.
• Loooong meetings when a quick phone call would achieve the same objective.
• Progression is slow compared to private sector (although most in CS seemed to think that a promotion every 4 years was great).
• Pay is insanely low.
• Crap IT.
• The really serious important civil service work is farmed out to management consultants because the government wants it done properly.

I won’t be going back, but I wish you the best and hope you find a role that suits you. Watch out for red flags however: you don’t have to take the job, find out as much as you can before joining. And don’t assume that what you are told is true: the CS marketing literature tells you what they wish was true not how it is- like many jobs.

I absolutely loathed it - in fact I walked out after 7 weeks without working my notice. My career was investment banking, but after being made redundant in 2016 and not having any luck after 10 months, I needed a job. I took an AO Apprenticeship at HMRC. Within a week, the apprenticeship aspect was withdrawn, I didn't have a PC for a fortnight, I still didn't have a phone the day I left.

The bureaucracy was staggering. I wasn't allowed to call the photocopier engineer when they broke because I hadn't been trained to do that. I suggested the lawyers used dividers labelled 'x, y and z' for their case files, because we had boxes and boxes of 'x, y and z' but they wanted to order more full sets so they could use 'a, b and c'. I was told it wasn't my job to opine. I wasn't given any work to do, but got told off when I did some online training courses I didn't technically need to, in the absence of any actual work. There was simply zero commerciality.

I finally managed to get another IB job and ran away as fast as I could!