Do you work for the Civil Service?

[NorthernGirlie]

I've been a teacher for 24 years

I'm primary qualified but have taught GCSE Maths at an FE college for years. I don't actually have Maths qualifications to speak of bar a couple of L5 courses done through work.

My degree rating was rubbish (aced all the teaching bits, was too lazy back then to properly write my dissertation)

I'm good at my job - managing student behaviour, managing data, continuously adapting to change, unofficially training dozens of new staff and all.of the organisational things that come with teaching.

I've loved my job for years but I'm sick to the back teeth of the micromanaging shite. Something happened this week which may be the catalyst for me to look seriously at getting out.

The job titles are crazy though in the CS. I've no clue what I could be remotely good at over than teaching but know I can't do this forever.

I'm not on my knees yet but don't want to get there! Any tips please?

In house training could be a good option, or Corporate Comms and Media (internal and external facing).

What you need to do is a skills audit https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/ and then look at the requirements of the jobs. CS Jobs allows you to filter on broad areas, don’t limit yourself.

Job titles can be very misleading. Job descriptions can be very off putting due to the language. One thing the CS is good at is making entry level jobs sound like a CEO job.

The grade and salary will give you an indication of level. Once you are in the CS, particularly in London, it is much easier to work out, and get, your next step.

What grade do you want to go in at?
EO £29k
HO £35k
SO £44k
Roughly. Depends on department and location.
Most external jobs are for the big EO campaigns. To get in at higher grades often requires something specialist. But there are some general management HO jobs. Usually some vacancies in Borders or prisons. Will you work shifts?

Agree the job titles and descriptions are off putting. My job description makes much of ‘ministerial submissions’ but I do this once every 5 years!

I did work for the civil service I don't now. Sorry to say this but my friends who still do hate it.

However there are many different civil service roles and many different departments. Some civil servant jobs are pure policy roles, some deal with briefing, correspondence etc and some are operational. What suits one person won't suit another. I have known some people used to a more practical role hate policy jobs because it's sometimes very difficult to get a grip of what it is you are actually supposed to do.

Thank you. I'll do the skills audit. I'm in the North East. Currently on £42k and don't want to drop too much

I might look at training I can do now that would stand me in good stead. I'm exhausted all the time in my current job - I bring work home and have no work life balance.

I moved from teaching to the civil service. No regrets here! If you’re looking at circa £40k salary then it would be SEO level and above. I would do a search based on your postcode with SEO ticked and just see what you like the look of.

I did submissions regularly in my role. It all depends on what the role is.

I've just left teaching. I applied for 6 CS jobs and got offered 4. But I accepted a non CS job before the first CS job got back to me. I applied I. October and the first offer came through in Jan!

I've been in the CS 2 and a half years, entered as SEO. If micromanagement is doing your head in, I'm not sure you'll enjoy it

Agree on very carefully reading the job specs and if possible seeking out people who actually do the job. My role is completely different to what was advertised. I've adapted and earned new skills and qualifications due to this, but had I known what the role actually entailed and what it doesn't, I'm not sure I'd have applied!

I haven't RTFT so not sure if you are interested in the WFH aspect after years of teaching but thanks to Rees Mogg we are all being battered over the head about office attendance, so make sure you ask them to clearly state what the expectations are.

I'm not bothered about wfh, I'd like to go to work for the majority of my week. I love people and working collaboratively

I didn't know CS did shift work - never even thought about it!

Why the civil service? Genuine question?
They do have various apprentices at all levels you could look up. Would something in statistics suit?

What area of the country are you in? London is easiest to find something.

@CJ4713 no reason other than I've seen a few other teachers leave for CS roles.

I've only ever taught (other than bar jobs etc when I was at uni) and I've just hit a wall. I'm 45 - probably menopausal - and sick of the grind of teaching 😤

DH is currently being driven demented by a micromanaging manager in his part of the CS. He hasn't experienced that before admittedly (and is v experienced/expert in his field) so not sure how unique she is ... But there are no guarantees anywhere

Is it the job you dislike or the management?

That said I am at the same place as you(v different job) and planning to get out before I break, so I do get the rationale

There are a lot of ex teachers working as work coaches in DWP but that would present quite a wage cut for you.

I'm a civil servant but work in London. In the NE Treasury has a base in Darlington and the Home Office is based at Manchester.

I'd recommend the CS as a good place to work. I've never been micromanaged - my line mangers have always been too busy. Agree you should look at HEO and SEO roles. Policy jobs might suit you - I've recruited a few external people at those grades.

It's the constantly being "on" from 8am - 5pm

We're getting no breaks due to constantly moving classrooms, no PPA, constant training

As an example - it'll be decided via knobservations that a couple of people need training in Student Feedback... management are too pathetic to tell just those people so we all get put on the training. That means no PPA time for any of us. I've had outstanding feedback for years, been praised repeatedly for my Student Feedback yet I'm sent repeatedly on shit training for it

CPD is never, ever relevant or individual

My DH is in civil service (HMRC) based in Longbenton. He loves it and has had a range of varied roles over the years. Very rarely required to work outside of normal working hours and lots of flexibility to attend appointments etc.

I wondered about the work coach role as currently advertising. What's it like in practice?

Quite a few teachers seem to move across to CS but it seems at a lower grade. Is it easy to work up once in? As a work coach for example??

I'd be interested in L and D but don't have qualifications outside teaching.

I think part of the attraction is the application process is skills based and teachers have tons of skills!!! Teachers get turned down for all sorts of other jobs in the real word for lack of experience or prejudice about teachers or need to requalify.

It's really hard to leap out of teaching.

I'm attracted to flexibility. Being able to attend appointments, pick up kids if sick. Interesting work and ability to use brain.

Ability to progress.

This is interesting. The only thing that pursuing me off is the travel. I'm in Sunderland and don't drive - I travel to work (I'm Newcastle) with a pal and pay her currently

You could always become HMI and join Ofsted... 😂

Could you still get a lift then hop on the metro somewhere? I believe most travel on public transport because parking close by is limited. They are moving into Newcastle city centre next year so perhaps that would be easier?

I posted a long answer to another poster in a thread titled DWP work coach in November but seem unable to link to it. Let me know if you can't find it