Civil Service Progression

[Newjobnewname123]

Hi. Looking for some advice on progression in the civil service.

I am starting an administrative role in the civil service on a short contract. Hoping to get extended and stay long term though.

Can anyone advise on progression from administrative roles? I’m not looking to lead a department but to move to a decently paid long term role. Maybe office manager, communications or something similar.

I’m degree educated, previously and briefly worked in policy but switched to a caring profession. Loved the work but found it very stressful and would like to avoid being in a similar role.

Thanks.

I'm a Civil Servant and there is little to no 'progression'. You have to just apply for roles that interest you at the grade you want, and hope that you pass the interview.

Civil service comms is quite specialist, you'd be unlikely to be able to move into it from an admin role. Not in any of the places I've worked anyway.

Agree with @sosickofthisshit . The civil service is unique and the only way to progress is to look for new opportunities but is great to move departments without it affecting years of service. This took me a while to learn. You also need to be proactive in looking for opportunities which you can then talk about at interview. What grade are you?

Progression in the CS is essentially building your skills and applying for roles the next grade up, you can apply for level transfers too if you want to delve into different area at the same grade.

If you're willing to be flexible with where you work and put the work into your skills, experience etc, you can progress quite quickly.

Once you're in internal roles become visible to you, secondments, expressions of interest, there are lots of development schemes, professions usually offer training.

The lack of salary progression within grade is infuriating, but there are a lot of opportunities, and I've found it pretty easy to grade hop in a short space of time.

I disagree about comms being too specialist for what it's worth; yes it's hard to just switch professions at a senior grade, but depending on your grade many of the professions have entry level roles, and because the CS is so focussed on behaviours a lot of the time they an overlook specific experience if they think you'd be able to develop in the role. Especially in redeployment and transfer pools, I've seen people do some weird and wonderful career changes!

Thank you everyone. Really helpful advice.

@YorkshireIndie I would be AA so very low. It’s a step down in terms of pay. Coming from
education can be a hard sell I think. I’m hoping that easily identifiable admin work would help with grade hopping to EO.

@PacificallyRequested I have comms experience from education/policy work (emails, newsletters, stakeholder management). Is it significantly more specialist than public/private sector comms roles?

thanks again

@Newjobnewname123 Hi , I’m just wondering, given your previous experience, why you have applied for a junior grade? AA is very basic admin, the progression from Admin Officer (AO) to Executive Officer (EO) within a year is very doable, while it would be harder ( not impossible) from AA to EO in the same timeframe.

I agree. I have career changed from a caring profession to civil service and gone straight into HEO with no directly relevant experience, they have given full training. I think of HEO as sort of graduate entry level.
given that it’s not that easy to move up once you’re in I’d aim higher to begin with if you can
I’ve also taken a pay cut from what I was doing but it evens out given I can work more hours so am actually taking home slightly more and it’s loads more flexible and much less stressful!

@Newjobnewname123 the important thing is to get into the CS and then to learn how the system works. Sign up for CS jobs as most vacancies are advertised there. You can definitely jump grades (AA to EO) and progress quite quickly, particularly if you are in London. You can also apply for externally advertised roles and grad schemes (no age limit).

Take advantage of L & D opportunities and build your transferable skills, you will be surprised how many you already have.

You do not need to follow the chain I.e AA to Ao etc you can jump

Make sure you negotiate your starting salary. You can do this as a new entrant to the CS but not once in post.

I would argue you have a lot of transferable skills coming from education