Civil Service Fast Stream

[Jakolantern]

Has anyone got any experience or advice about applying for this? My son has just graduated from a prestigious university and is going back to do a masters next year. He is planning to apply to the civil service fast stream in October and is very motivated and excited by this prospect. He is highly intelligent, with excellent grades and good work experience and is a hardworking, very likeable young man who is committed to the idea of using his life to provide public service. He is not motivated by money, he just wants to be of benefit of others, but he does need to earn enough money to live obviously. I know he would be an asset to the civil service but as a white, middle class man with a humanities degree I feel as though the odds are stacked against him before he even applies. I haven’t mentioned this to him, of course, and I am just a passive spectator to his life now really, but if there was any help or advice I could give him it would be much appreciated.

Easy least then if we follow these instructions

My DH is a senior science officer for the civil service and is white, middle aged and from a rather privileged background.

I wouldn't worry.

My very white middle class son finished the fast stream a year or so ago. He hasn’t mentioned any bias towards or away from himself

I know a lovely Fast Streamer. He's thirty now so got in some years ago. He's white and middle class and even says he's a rare bird because he didn't go to private school or Oxbridge (he is however fluent in arabic and one of the most capable young people I know - definitely ambassador material).

I also know lots of others of all stripes who didn't make it who are now doing other great jobs.

What’s th e point in the masters?

Not any more according to the BBC article that's just been published today. You are going to be asked what job your parents so they can employ 'working class' people.

But Imperial is out of the question for many families in the middle whose kids don’t get full loans and who aren’t as a family on uber high incomes. Accommodation in London is ££££ and families are having to increasingly look at cheaper unis closer to home. Your uni absolutely shouldn’t be part of the selection process particularly when you consider the privately educated are over represented in the top unis
anyway.

And despite the fact that Mummy didn't get involved with his application.

Wow, what a spiteful comment.

Incredible - overt discrimination is allowed, apparently. Makes a mockery of DEI .. but oh apologies, it only works one way doesn’t it, especially with the nasty Labour Party. Sooner they’re out the better.

The university blind thing is a red herring. You have to be incredibly smart to get onto the fast stream. The recruitment process is really rigorous.

I'm a civil servant in a major Whitehall department. There are lots of white middle class men, but once you're in I think it's pretty meritocratic.

Agreed

Approx 45% of civil service is men. And about 83% of those men are white. It is very competitive but it’s possible. I would consider applying for other options as well if he is open to that.

No idea what Imperial is like but most of my friends at my London university lived with their parents in the suburbs and commuted in on the bus.

I'd say this is great advice for any interview, with one addition: don't tell me you are going to use the Star format to answer a question. It's a good way to structure your thinking, but no one needs to mention it.

I disagree. Universities like Imperial do a huge amount of outreach and have financial support for students who are struggling. The degrees they offer are more intellectually demanding. Of course proven ability is relevant.

What gets me is those on the lowest incomes are already getting full uni loans and contextual offers which is great but when you weigh up how the other end of the scale is over represented the squeezed middle whose kids get nothing and have no private school or wealth privilege are being further and further screwed.

Is there any party that actually prioritises and helps the squeezed middle?

My fast streamer is a white man with a humanities degree, no idea of his class really but he is a truly excellent employee. Civil service internships being used to broaden representation in the civil service is not new... for example there are care leaver schemes, disability schemes and others. I don't see why you'd discourage him, the first stages of the process are done blind i believe ( e.g. psychometric testing). The fast stream tends to be very competitive though so it would be worth him applying to join through advertised roles as well.

Of which those in the middle on lower loans would not be eligible for.

Well 49% of the uk population is men. And 82% is white. So that’s kind of an accurate representation of the population. To skew it otherwise is discrimination.

Not really helpful for those that don’t live in the South East. 🙄

I have interviewed Grads from many universities and I wouldn't limit my search to the elites - you have a higher opinion of them than they deserve. Being successful in the world of work is not about your ability to get 3 A*s. If only it were that easy!

No one has mentioned AI yet.

I assume - but don’t know - that applications are initially screened by AI. So encourage your DS to do some research into what he needs to include.

My DS is in a similar boat & im advising him to look at more oblique routes to public service. Not that he listens to his mother!

You’re hilarious.
A white middle class man “with the odds stacked against him” 😂😂
I hope he doesn’t share your view and recognises his privilege. Here’s to hoping the next generation are more self aware.

Haven't worked in this field myself but know.people who have. My recommendations for your son would be:

Consider more than just the Fast Track. Friends have built successful careers by applying directly to a civil service job, and through a (non fast track) graduate trainee scheme (no idea if that exists anymore).

If you get to selection / interview stage, practise what is expected. My friend got an MoD job at the fourth time of getting to the interview stage, when she finally mastered the expected style they expected for answers. And I know 2 junior colleagues from my place of work who applied to the same civil service scheme - the very junior one was offered a grade higher than the more experienced one. There is no way he had the more knowledge/experience of the two but he had taken the interview prep very seriously and I think gave an amazing interview.

Be persistent, it's not unusual to be unsuccessful,.so it may be a case of reapplying the following year.

What’s stopping him from applying for CS outside of fast stream?