Moving from local civil service to something more intellectually challenging?

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Asking on behalf of my god-daughter (not dc), late twenties, who has become disillusioned with her first job after university.

I know nothing about the civil service so please forgive me if the answers to this q are really obvious!

Basically she has worked in local government for over three years in the area of local elections. She loved her job at first and the training and support she has received from her managers has been really outstanding. But the job has also been difficult because of the pandemic and she has spent a lot of time recently alone working on her computer doing admin. in her bedroom.

And that's the issue really. She has ended up largely doing admin, writing endless minutes. And she wants to move on to more interesting in areas such as policy.

So my question is: how does one do this please?

I suggested a mentor - is that a good idea?

But what are the next steps in order to progress? She has got quite low in herself about it. She is a bright personable young woman but doesn't have a lot of self confidence.

Thank you for any ideas or advice.

From your post it sounds like your god-daughter works for a local authority and is a local government worker not a civil servant. So my understanding is she employed by that authority and can only apply as an internal candidate for vacancies in that authority. Whereas Civil servants (central government) can apply as internal candidate across departments due to the indivisiblity of the Crown.
In terms of policy, I think the first thing she needs to know is does her current authority have policy staff, how many etc, so is there any possibility to do this work in her current local authority. If there’s a policy function ask about shadowing and maybe a mentor from that area to get a better understanding about the work and is this what she wants to do

Thank you Aurorie I think you are right. Apologies. I didnt' understand the distinctions! I wrongly assumed local gov workers were civil servants. Thanks for putting me straight!

There are policy workers in her office I think so mentoring might be the way to go.

I think she feels a bit directionless atm.

She has a few years of experience now and it's a great time to be job hunting, to be honest I'd encourage her to look at what's out there. Joining the actual civil service rather than working in a LA will probably interest her a lot more by the sound of it.

Thank you Croissantly I am trying to encourage her, but she doesn't have a clear idea of what to do next.

Why doesn’t she do a Public Policy Masters, and make a jump? Alternatively, Public Administration or Economic Policy?

There is one at the University of York that is blended learning and designed to be combined with work.

Reading job descriptions and person specifications on the civil service job gateway would be a good place to start clarifying routes and roles.

online.york.ac.uk/study-online/mpa-public-policy-and-management/

I work in developing policies and strategies for a council op happy to help if I can feel free to pm me.
Definitely mentoring great way to go, if there are opportunities where your gd is would recommend to take as many learning training sessions as possible lots do managers pathways which would lead to more high up strategic roles.
I also did a masters in public policy which was really helpful distance learning.

Ooh Thoosa that is great advice about the Masters, which is v much appreciated. Thanks for the link and for the tip about the gateway. I will pass the info on!

And TheBigPeachy that is so helpful, I will let my gd know. Very kind of you, thank you

Really appreciate the help! I think young adults feel quite isolated in their workplaces atm, so it's great to have this on-line advice!

Fast stream? It’s the grad recruitment system for central government policy work, but plenty of people go into it after several years in other careers

Thank you Washablevelvet I will pass this on.