I’m terrible at my job, AIBU to try and get in to the civil service?

[overthinkersanonnymus]

I work in finance admin and although I’m extremely organised and proactive, numbers are not my strong point. I also have no pension to speak of so I feel like I need to concentrate on finding a role that won’t give me searing maths anxiety and has decent benefits.

from what I’ve heard it’s quite difficult to get in to, but if I can, what departments would be best to get apply to so I can get my foot in the door?

@overthinkersanonnymus

I don’t think you’re saying you’re incompetent at everything, just your current job?

I mean you could apply to the civil service but as you have rightly said, it is not easy to get into and attracts a high calibre of candidates.

What are you good at, rather than focussing on what you’re not good at?

It’s worth bearing in mind that whilst the civil service does have a good (but not longer “fabulous” and certainly not “good plated”) pension, the pay is much lower than private sector equivalent roles. I would say that any for given role in the civil service, the private sector equivalent in terms of responsibility, stress and workload would be paid at the rate of a grade higher than that role.

So you might be better off staying in the private sector and just paying into a pension.

So people who aren't retire work 24 hours a day 7 days a week then?

Or the NHS.

Laughing at the replys here as you are basically saying you are shit at your job so the civil service will take you, I’m feeling pretty sorry for anyone that actually works for the CS reading this.. 😳

The vast majority of the people who are eligible for blue light cards are public sector with a small number of voluntary sector employees being the remainder. The vast majority of private sector employees cannot have one.

As for it not being an employee benefit, how do you come to that conclusion? It saves you money and is something you become eligible for if you work in certain parts of the public sector. Of course it's an employee benefit!

You could join the Treasury🙂. You would fit in there.

Yes of course they are different but for a simple explainer of public versus private sector pensions, it works. Public sector pensions are outstanding compared to private sector ones. That's the point.

Not really. Ministerial decisions, direction and outcomes are led solely by the Minister and their desires. HMT has highly qualified, and very talented staff but they’re hamstrung by Ministers (as are all Whitehall policy departments).

If we’re being serious, incompetence does feature heavily at HMRC and DWP. Both are ops heavy and it is within ops where incompetence displays itself to the world.

Who said that?

So absolutely nothing to do with the Civil Service then

You were the one asking what they did that gave them time to post om a forum which is odd as it eems to imply you think no one should be posting (except you and other retirees apparently). Why would you need to ask?

Because I felt like it.

Well, since you asked, I am a SAHP, although until recently I also looked after an elderly relative in her 90s.

Before that, I was a commercial manager in the private sector for about 20 years - some as an employee but mostly self employed, working freelance for prime contractors to central government procurements across a variety of sectors. So, I've had a LOT of experience dealing with senior civil servants from the other side of the table in tender or competitive dialogue situations, commercial negotiations, and ongoing contract management.

They are uniformly poor. Some are hamstrung by impossible demands from politicians, for sure, and others are kneecapped by piss-poor instructions and requirements from public services (the NHS, for example, is thoroughly incapable of specifying what it needs the Department of Health to buy for them, while the MOD constantly second-guesses what the Forces ask for). But others are simply in jobs they are not competent for; partly this is down to the decades-long British preference for generalists who move around rather than specialists, partly because of the 'Buggins' turn' doctrine for promotion and career advancement, and in no small part because they have got so used to not having consequences that failure holds no particular fear for them. There is not an ounce of commercial acumen in any of them (the same is true for the public sector at large) and as a result they frequently give the impression of operating in a parallel universe. Occasionally they will get contractors in from the likes of PWC or E&Y to actually do the work, and most of them pull their hair out too, for the same reasons.

Either way the end result is the same - extremely poor value for taxpayers and fortunes pissed up the wall in fees - and millions spent on stuff that is neither what the public asked for, nor what they need.

The early retirement? NHS retirement age is normal retirement age

The 6 months full pay? This is based on length of service and sickness record, it is not automatic as you suggest

Because it’s not provided by the employer so it can’t be considered an employee benefit.

And private sector employees can have a blue light card - look at nursing home workers, carers, Red Cross and even retired workers

This was exactly my first thought.

Welcome aboard!

They recruit from the civil service. But anyone who has dealt with local councils etc, would say the same. What they get away with is shocking.

I'm public sector and we can't get a blue light card. A bit unfair. We don't get offered free flu jabs either despite being public facing .

Public facing is a little different to getting close enough to carry out intimate examinations/procedures or working where there are people who are there because they are ill. Flu jabs also offer protection to people who associate with people who are immunocompromised

Now you can add obtuse to your skill set. Oh, and a bad memory.

I’m terrible at my job, AIBU to try and get in to the civil service?

You wrote that as your thread title. goady.

just so you know, it is not easy to get into the civil service. There are loads of people who are great candidates, good at their job who would outshine you. Plus they are cutting jobs and there is a recruitment freeze atm,

so try something else.

I think people are being deliberately obtuse to enable them to make snarky comments.

You have found yourself in a role not suited to your strengths which is affecting your job satisfaction, and you have come to ask which civil service departments might be a better fit.

All perfectly reasonable.

Ignore the idiots.

It's a benefit that employees benefit from, mostly in the public sector. You're massively splitting hairs.

The Red Cross is not private sector. A significant percentage of carers are not private sector. And retired workers only get the benefit if they have retired from the eligible sectors (i.e mostly the public sector).

No the Red Cross is a charity - not public sector. You’ll find care companies ARE private sector. Very few are employed by councils or NHS. Councils commission carers from private agencies

Youre just convinced that anyone who works for the public sector are somehow always at an advantage when they’re not.

Ive worked both - the benefits I got in the private sector outshone those in the public sector

The Atomic Weapons Establishment is technically the Civil Service. Do we think they are incompetent simpletons who down tools at 10am.

OP - perhaps try not working in finance if you’re numerically illiterate.

Maybe a job in a Local Authority?

It's not the Atomic Weapons Establishment, but if you get a job in charge of the stationery cupboard in a school, with special responsibilities for compasses, protractors, set squares and so on, you'd not really need to be numerate but you'd still be working with weapons of math instruction. And get a decent pension.