Public to private sector?

[Runforthehills754]

I work in a niche area and have been approached by a consultancy firm about a potential job. Currently work in the civil service. Would it be insane to change jobs now given the state of the economy? Pay would be a lot higher but I'd obviously lose all my employment rights.

I assume you mean you'd lose your civil service terms and conditions, not your employment rights - unless you mean you'd be working as self employed doing consultancy?

Personally I wouldn't leave CS at this particular juncture to do consultancy work with a massive recession on the horizon.

^ Personally I wouldn't leave CS at this particular juncture to do consultancy work with a massive recession on the horizon.^

Agree!! 18 years CS here...

As you say, you'll have very little protection for 2 years if you move jobs outside the CS/public sector.

Stay put OP, the grass isn’t always greener, you have employment rights and probably increased holiday allowance. Given the economy, a lot of people switching jobs for a higher salary may well regret it. If you desire a change, could you take an internal vacancy and remain within the CS? Good luck.

Depends on consultancy and whether the niche sector will be really impacted by a recession. It never hits evenly. CS prone to believing myth that their T&C are better - and risk aversion can blind people to better choices. Really examine the details of both offers. You may have full employment rights after a year in the new role (and in my company that’s the case in our contracts after 6 months). And if you are good you’ll have no problem in going back - private sector experience might benefit you in career terms. If you stay in CS you are getting a quite significant real terms pay cut given inflation.

Thanks all. I'm petrified to be honest but it does sound like an amazing opportunity.

By losing my rights I mean that the fact that they can sack me within two years. I'm sure how the industry will be affected to be honest. Depends on the government.

I will lose 5 days a year leave, some but not all flexibility and the pay rise would be roughly 50% which massive considering I've had between 0 and 1% for 16 years!

I'm really torn.

Also make sure you look at how the new pension offer compares. If you are 16yrs in the CS, then I'm guessing you will have quite a bit in the old scheme, as well as the new scheme.

Yes I have some in premium and some in alpha. The new pension will be nowhere near as good.

Will the new job be more rewarding or interesting, or provide more autonomy/responsibility etc? It is what you want to do? What opportunities will it lead to a few years down the line?

If it's a job you've always wanted, it may be worth taking the risk (especially if you've a financial cushion in case you hate the new role once you're there or if it goes wrong). How comfortable do you really feel about taking such a risk? If you decide to stay in the CS, will you feel regret or relief?

I started out in the public sector (local government), have worked in the private and voluntary sectors, and am now long-term self-employed. I've made a couple of risky moves, which I never regretted although it was hair raising at times. Plus I got made redundant twice in the public sector.

No way in a million years.

As a Civil Servant, you pretty much have a better pension than anyone including private sector.

Private sector is far more cut throat. I wouldn't risk it myself looking at the state of the economy.

The grass isn't always greener.

Also consider sick pay and maternity pay (pat?) which are usually a lot less generous in the private sector.

Thanks all all good points to consider. No worries about mat leave I'm almost 40 🤣

Also, when looking at the salary package, you need to factor in the value of your CS pension. How much would you need to put in to a private pension each year to match it?

What sector / specialism are you? Some of us have worked both in consulting and CS and could give more specific advice.

For example - are you looking to move to a Big4 firm?

Regardless of what the contract says, employees have very little protection against unfair dismissal for the first 2 years.

I've been looking at this too, my considerations are:

1. financial package, factoring in pension
2. home working opportunities
3. flexible working availability, very important to me
4. culture, if moving to consultancy I worry there is more of an expectation to be giving 110% all the time, working for clients so not as easy to flexibly work etc (this is my assumption/concern no idea if this is true)
5. work satisfaction, love the context I work in CS, worthwhile, fulfilling etc.
6. job security

For me right now CS sways almost all except financial package, whilst I still have young kids flexibility is everything, it will likely sway away from CS for me in a few years.

On point 4, I've worked in consultancy and it is definitely heavier in terms of working hours expected than CS. It comes in peaks and troughs though - there will be busy periods which are crazy, and other times when it's more settled.

If it helps at all I'm in legal rather than consultancy but similar culture in private sector - the difference in the speed clients expect their work (and employers expect you to do the work) and the hours they expect you to work will likely be huge.

Also on top of your actual job will you need to do business development? That can almost be a second job at times.

Also there's flexibility and flexibility. Civil service role may well 80% of a full time workload for 0.8 FTE whereas in private sector it's probs a full time job just badged as 4 days.

I can't really say too much as it's very outing but it's in Regulatory Law. Not Big4.

Currently CS pay about 26% into pension so it will be a huge loss to move to private.

They did say I could flex off for things if needed but the having to work potentially hundreds of extra hours scares me.

Also on top of your actual job will you need to do business development? That can almost be a second job at times.

Yes, needing to pitch and sell work takes a lot of time and effort. I prefer the CS partly because I get to do interesting technical work without having to spend time on sales.

Civil service role may well 80% of a full time workload for 0.8 FTE whereas in private sector it's probs a full time job just badged as 4 days.

Also this!

I did this and don’t regret it although it was terrifying.

I hope nobody shouts at me but I think after a while in the Civil Service (I was there over ten years) you can get a bit institutionalised and truly believe that everywhere else is really cut throat and likely to fire you at a moment’s notice. And that you should never leave in case you can’t get back in.

In reality if you’re a good performer in the public sector (good enough to get headhunted!) you’ll probably be absolutely fine in the private sector. And many public sector jobs are advertised externally anyway. You could also look at whether your department would allow you to go on a career break (some will if you have particular specialist skills and it sounds like you do).

I actually have better flexibility in the private sector than I did in the public sector, which surprised me. And can work fully remote if I want to.

The pension is worse though. That’s definitely something to consider. I have a close family member who worked 40 years in the CS - building up his excellent pension - and then died at 66 though, so that definitely colours my view on that.

@strawberrygingham thank you for your insight, this is so true, when someone leaves for the private sector I always hear "they won't be cut out for it" 😂 so it's good to hear you've had a different experience.

Yes, definitely. Obviously there is a certain type of civil servant (the ones who really are making the most of that job security by doing as little as possible until they can retire 🙄) who definitely wouldn’t thrive. But there are plenty of hardworking, intelligent people in the Civil Service and who would be just fine.

What really struck me about your post though is how much you love what you do. That’s an important factor to consider. At the point I left the CS I was a bit disillusioned with it all and ready for a change so I wasn’t that sorry to leave (also the money helped 😂). If you’re enjoying it I think it’s a harder decision.

I agree it's easy to become institutionalised and you only hear about how you'll have zero benefits, be run ragged and fired with no notice in the outside world. In reality that's not what happens in the majority of cases.

To be honest if its niche but in demand I'd go for it, especially if you think it'd be a possibility to get back into the CS if you hated it. In fact lots of people i know left, worked in industry for a few years and then joined at a much higher level than they would have otherwise reached. Worth reemmveting you'd rejoin on current terms which have been eroded over the years though if you did do that.

Many firms offer flexible working and decent holiday and sickness packages, yes pension probably isn't as good but you can be savvy with the additional salary and make investments or whatever if you wanted. Without sounding morbid whilst it's good to plan for the future, it sounds like you must have a decent pension pot which you'll still be contributing to- don't let it get you stuck in the pension trap as many do and nothing is guaranteed; don't let it inform fully all of your here and now decisions.

I'd go for it personally, DH did- he was CS for well over a decade and left to be a consultant, he loves it. Treated very well, the salary is great, he has a great work life balance, they actually have enough staff so not doing the job of several people whilst never getting an inflation matching pay rise. He left on good terms and they are always recruiting for his level and 'trade' so he can apply to return if he wants but probably won't with the way things are going.

@strawberrygingham yes they have me by the balls really because I love the bit I work in and to make the big bucks outside of the CS I would likely be looking in financial services which doesn't really appeal. But they're doing a good job of grinding me down, so never say never!