If you successfully moved from the public to private sector, how did you do it?

[TheBeesKnee]

Particularly in financial services, because that's kind of where I am!

I have been with the same company for 10 years. It's not strictly public sector, but we are funded by taxes and honestly it may as well be for the limits that are placed upon us, e.g. public sector pay freezes. We deal with money but are not a regulated entity. I have held 5 different positions in that time and have doubled my salary from my pitiful intern role when I started, but I know if I got a job at a bank etc it could double again.

I've made several attempts over the past 14 years of my working life to leave my public sector -ish job and move to the private sector. I've obviously been unsuccessful and I feel like the more time passes the worse it's getting. I stopped looking for jobs during lockdown because I appreciated the security in a chaotic world and then I had a baby and I'm currently pregnant with my second, so I'm trying to come up with a plan for when I return from maternity leave because I really need to get a grip on my future as my current job is a ticking time bomb. I'm on c.£45k, which isn't great for London.

My dream is to triple my salary so that my partner could either work part time or be a SAHD because he's brilliant with our DC and is very stressed at his NHS job.

So far I have matched up with a mentor who is supposed to help me come up with a plan but I'd really love to hear from people who managed to move into the private sector successfully and are willing to share any tips etc!

I know you already have a mentor but I've had a couple through WIG (Whitehall and industry group) mentoring scheme. They all have been helpful in different ways and it's a really diverse group of people, with experience of both sectors. Good luck!

Hopeful bump for the evening crowd!

Do you have a specialist function? You could look at specialist association events / membership to broaden your network. So for example, if you have a compliance / counter fraud focus, look at ICA or similar events. If you've been using contractors, then talk to them about any events they and their wider teams are hosting where there will be public and private sector people. PP has already mentioned WIG which is great for connecting with private sector people in shared industries, especially if you have a policy focus. Look at UK Finance events or Women in Finance events and go along to meet people and chat about their roles. Look up vacancies, read up on Glassdoor if you dont know anyone in that company and then just get applying.

What i would say is to be careful about losing your flexibility. Unless you are aiming for £150k+, you obviously risk falling into the tax trap from £100-£125k ish. Think about losing TFC / 30hrs and how that might affect household income. Plus the stress of only having a sole earner. My next move will be SCS1 but im waiting for my youngest (I'm currently on mat leave) to start primary to go for it, because I really value the flexibility I've got right now.

If you wanted to boost earning power but not quite go full private yet, you could look at other bits of financial services based public sector. So BII, UKEF, BBB, UKIB (i think is called National Wealth Fund now?). They all have slightly different payscales, so if you are in one of them already, it could be worth looking at the others to at least give you a boost in the interim?