Career change - want to join civil service

[Plant2628]

I am in the North. I would like to give it a shot finding a role in the civil service. I am a qualified solicitor. But I do not want a legal role. I work in governance currently. I do a fair bit of line management and training which I like.

I want a change - operational, learning and development, events, policy

I am open to being flexible.

Has anyone any suggestions? There are a lot of jobs - not sure what to target level wise etc or which of the above I would have a good shot at.

Anyone work in any of those areas and can share insight?

Posting here for more traffic.

Thank you everyone!!

Also interested!

I changed career a couple of years ago and joined the Civil Service, it's been a great move for me!

If you are looking at Governance roles, there is usually an expectation of a Project Management qualification, but there are other Project and Delivery focused roles which are less reliant on that (and when you are in the CS there are lots of opportunities to gain new qualifications).

Rather than thinking about specific roles first, it might be useful for you to read up on the professions within the CS. (Nearly) all roles are aligned with a profession, and this cuts across all Departments.

Professions | Civil Service Careers

Once you've identified a profession (or professions) you are interested in, you can then go further into researching the various levels / grades of jobs within them - the idea is that these are all becoming increasingly standardised across departments.

In terms of locations, each Department has a number of locations throughout the UK where they have staff. When roles are advertised on Civil Service jobs, you can filter by office location.

Civil Service job search - Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK

Also, definitely worth reading up on application and interview techniques for CS roles, as they are quite specific!

Loads of info online about it all, and there's a good reddit forum too

Search on secretariat if you want pure governance roles - there's a huge amount of decision-making in CS and other government departments, sometimes involving millions or billions of pounds, and it all needs a paper trail. If you want to stay in governance then one of the ICSA short courses may help. Also read up on Cabinet Office rules in terms of minutes and running meetings.

Interested more in operational, learning and development or policy roles

Something different

Thank you all for the tips

Google LGR. Be very careful about joining local gov currently unless the authority is already unitary. Other areas of the public sector are not affected so ignore this if LG is not in your thinking.

I'm not civil service, but public sector, and our roles are advertised on the civil service site. Do you specifically want civil service or would you consider other public sector organisations to open up the field a bit?

My main query for career changers is whether you are willing/able to take a big salary drop to come into an entry level role in a different field. I know we get applications from people who think that as they were fairly senior in their current role, some special allowance would be made for them when changing career so they could skip the first few levels, or they could be paid over the role rate. They get disappointed...

But if you are realistic about that, you need to look at training/experience in those fields to demonstrate you really are serious about leaving the law and starting again, and to help you stand out and get those roles. Even our entry roles are rarely open to people with zero relevant qualifications or experience. Some apprenticeships are, but most candidates still have something relevant to get their foot in the door.

Haven't you already posted a thread about this?

Be careful what you wish for. I'm in the CS (MOD) and due to a change of line manager (I've given it a year and it's not working out!) and absolutely no jobs being advertised in my area thanks to recruitment freeze, I am looking elsewhere now and have an interview with an industry partner next week. 10 years ago my son started a new job. He started on £18000 and at that time I was on about £28000. In the time since, he's had annual increments, bonuses etc - not changed jobs or promoted, and he's now making considerably more than me. I'm only making about 3 grand a year more than I was ten years ago! The grades below me have had to have bigger pay rises to keep them over minimum wage and are rising closer and closing the gap that should be there to distinguish a management role from a straight admin role. My job requires specialised qualifications and a butt load of responsibility and I've just had a guts full of that specialisation not being recognised and remunerated appropriately. I'm terrified of leaving the CS but I think I'm just institutionalised and it's time for a change!

LadySlipper what area? Broadly are you in? Thanks

@Plant2628 Lincolnshire