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?

😂😂😂

Not really. It’s pretty unkind really, given that around half a million people work for the CS and some of them will be reading this thread. How would you like it if people made a sweeping demeaning generalisation about a demographic you’re in?

I’m sure there’s some shit civil servants and some amazing civil servants, but let’s not lump everyone under the same umbrella

Are you really arguing this? The Red Cross is a charity yes... so not private sector! Care companies are sometimes private, sometimes public and sometimes charity/NFP. They are certainly not all private.

It might be worth considering that I'm a consultant specialising in employment including comp & bens. I work across private, NFP and public. Over the years, I've worked with hundreds of organisations across these sectors and seen hundreds of different benefits packages. It is literally my job to know the difference.

You could look for an admin management job in the NHS, especially in Greater Manchester.

Judging by the senior managers I've met they don't seem to worry about competence, honesty, how much they've lied on their CV/LinkedIn profile, or actual ability to do the job.

I'd suggest finding out where the execs and HR hang out (tennis club, wine bar, local Booths, whatever church they frequent) and sucking up to them first though, that way you'll only have to write "I want a job" on the form and they'll find you a nice cushy number somewhere.

There are exceptions of course, where there are excellent managers, but at the Trusts I've worked at, they're the exception not the rule.

And I have oceans of respect for the frontline and clinical staff who are trying to do the impossible with no resources at all. In fact, get rid of the useless managers, keep the handful of good ones, put the people in charge who actually know what they're doing, and the NHS would run far more smoothly.

The civil service runs the country and keeps everything going, and is full of dedicated hardworking people.

Like with any large, sprawling network of organisations there are indeed some dedicated hardworking people, but my God there is a great deal of utter dross in there too.

Very difficult to take some of these critical posts seriously when they show people think that Housing Associations/Local Authorities are part of the Civil Service.😐

Not really. Most people I talk to about it view public service provision in the round: if you perform the work of the state, and are ultimately paid by the state, then you ARE the state regardless of whether your employing organisation happens to be the Civil Service, a police force, an NHS trust, a local authority, a public transport provider, a housing association or even a Third Sector organisation providing NHS or LA services.

There seems to be a sizeable constituency of people in the UK who have had dealings with bodies like these and have found the public services they provide to be not good enough because of incompetent and lazy staff who are never held accountable. If you've ever tried contacting HMRC, or booking a driving test, or expect NHS appointment letters to arrive before the actual appointment, or have had to cancel a holiday because the Passport Office sat on your application for nine weeks, or your bus/train is cancelled because drivers didn't show up to work, or are staring into the gargantuan black hole that is the probate service at HM Courts and Tribunal Service you'll have the same incompetence fatigue as everyone else.

It may or may not be fair that they all get tarred with the same brush, but it happens because it all essentially comes back to the same public sector mindset - 'nice job, shame about the work.'

And since OP gave every impression this is what she seeks, she deserves the opprobrium from everyone else who has had enough of it.

Since when were bus/train drivers civil servants? Buses and trains aren’t public services - if people think they are - and HAs that’s worrying

Well you seem to struggle with identifying charities from public sector from private sector………you also seem to struggle with the differences between pensions schemes and employee/employer contributions

And I think you’ll find the vast majority care agencies are businesses - private companies - they are paid to provide care. They’re often commissioned by local authority or health boards/trusts. Marie Curie do provide certain services to end of life patients but that is a very very small minority

What do you do and where are you based? I’m a maths teacher that needs to leave so it sounds like your role would be a good fit for me!

People can believe that all public service provision is the same, but that doesn't mean that it's true. It means that they don't actually understand the sector that they're criticising, let alone have enough knowledge to perform a credible problem diagnosis.

Housing Associations are not run by Civil Servants

I never said bus and train drivers were employees of the Civil Service. I'm saying that for many, many people they are public realm workers who provide services which are funded or subsidised by the state. Many of them - including bus and train drivers - are jobs in industries in which workers were indeed once directly employed by the state.

A great many people, when faced with crap public services, simply do not care for any distinction between a LA worker, an NHS worker, a HA worker, a privatised utility worker clinging to decades-old public sector working practices, or a bona fide Civil Servant. If Corbyn and the like want to (re)nationalise them, even more so. Who employs them is genuinely irrelevant to most people outside of the service in question, what matters is that they are crap.

Users of public services don't care how it's provided, they don't need to understand the sector they're criticising and they don't need to diagnose the problems. All that matters to the public is that their taxes and fees deliver a competent service that's fit for purpose, and in many cases they are simply not getting that.

Not understanding the inputs to a public service doesn't invalidate criticism of the outcomes.

I know civil servants have typically had a bad reputation but honestly my team are really hard working, productive and results focused. All professionally trained and committed. So please don't lump us all together.

the CS are immune from the pressures to "pay your way".

what does this mean?

@FreyasCats why do you think it is that easy to get a job after networking? If it were as easy as you make out, I’d be a senior director for a City firm already. Instead I’m non-SCS management in Civil Service policy, one of the many idiots according to this thread 🤣

Now, what sometimes happens is you get a lead and a good word but you’re not given a job. To get a job handed to you, you have to be pretty good and OP has demonstrated she is not.

@LondonPapa You obviously have no idea how the NHS works in places like Greater Manchester. @FreyasCats does.

The comment perhaps wasn't aimed at OP, but it's one of the most recognisable, truest comments I've read in years on MN. It's sordid.

Criticise the outcomes all you want, but at least know who you're criticising and why you're criticising them! Otherwise it's nonsensical.

Why do you think civil service would employ someone who’s incompetent? Incompetence is not a requirement for working in civil/public sector. Despite general media view

You're not making sense. Charities are NOT private sector. Charities are NOT public sector. Charities are charities. They are 3 distinct types of organisation.

Marie Curie is absolutely NOT in the minority. They are a charity. In fact, most end of life organisations, (i.e. hospices) are charities.

Organisations that are commissioned by LG/CG/NHS and that are paid to deliver services are not necessarily private sector. They are often charities. I am not entirely sure what you are saying but I think you are assuming that companies that are paid to provide care are therefore private sector. They can be private, yes, but very, very often they are charities.

And with regard to your comment about employee contributions - at no point have I mentioned that so you are either mixing me up with another poster or you have just got that wrong too. (I'll also refer you back to my last post - I'm a very experienced management consultant specialising in HR including employee bens. It is fairly unlikely that I'm the one that doesn't understand pension schemes isn't it?).

MI5 are Civil Servants, as are the MOD.

I’m almost certain most of the people who work in these departments work a hell of a lot harder than you and have more of an impact.

Don't defend yourself to it

I am thinking of working, say, at the Financial Conduct Authority as a lawyer compared with private practice or inhouse. And don't get me started on pay for lawyers at local authorities. I had to check the positions weren't for admin staff