Unable to progress at council workplace (still)

[Floogal]

I have written about this twice already the past year, so I have updated the situation as I still want advice.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/work/4990852-unable-to-progress-in-public-sector-job-dejected-and-frustrated

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/work/5106535-immediate-manager-sabotaging-me

I have been a cleaner at the local council for 7 years now. The council I work for like to talk big about career progression and development. I would like to eventually progress onto being a team leader or even middle management. I have been told that ,realistically, if I do want to advance I need to be working in an administrative capacity. Last year I did a distance learning business administration course as well as recently finishing an informal leadership course run by site manager.
However,whenever I have applied for administration posts I have been turned down for lack of experience. Whenever I have sent internal emails asking about apprenticeships and taking on spare reception duties, I just get ignored (again this is the council so I thought they would be more supportive). I worry that being in a post that many consider 'menial' is holding me back. Or that I generally come across as unintelligent which could be putting people off.

I think you will have to apply for entry level admin jobs outside of the local authority since it seems your current workplace isn’t interested in progressing you. Maybe sign up with a temp agency or get some volunteer admin work under your belt. You could also try increasing your typing speed in your spare time or becoming an excel wiz

Do you work for the Council? I work in a Council and our cleaners are outsourced. So development opportunities wouldn't apply.

Also, it's a huge leap from cleaner to middle manager.

I'd look at other opportunities, not just in the Council (or maybe in neighbouring Councils if you are set on a LA role).

Also, I'd say that 2/3 of our admin staff are degree educated. It's not a requirement, but it's quite unusual for our staff under about 40 to not have a degree. I'm just finishing mine with the OU because I was one of the few without one.

I don’t know if the council operate in the same way as the official civil service, but a lot of recruitment is completely blind. Certain roles will only be advertised internally, but even then there won’t be info regarding your name/sex/age etc revealed.

So ultimately, you cannot be given an advantage in your workplace for promotion because of your existing service. Your cv and applications have to be scored higher than anyone else’s applications when you apply for roles to be asked to interview, which is also scored. Have you looked in to the STAR method when applying?

What level roles are you applying for?

Would an apprenticeship work for you? Gov.uk has a list of those available and they'll council will have the levy to pay for the training.

Sorry, I re-read your OP and see you mentioned apprenticeships. If you can find an apprenticeship they really should be looking to support you.

I’ve done cleaning work before and you do get pigeonholed into a menial role. I had a degree but it fit in with school etc. I’d try registering with agencies to get some experience, tailor a cv and emphasis anything organisational. For example reordering cleaning supplies, key holder duties, independent working can be made to sound more interesting. Civil service is good for properly blind recruitment.

Funnily enough I DO have a degree. But the bottom line is I was 31 when I graduated with a 2:2 (major disadvantage ).

Yes, my council employs cleaners directly as outsourcing can be more expensive.

@LifeBeginsToday good luck with your OU 🤞🤞🤞🤞

It’s so frustrating. I will say admin (maybe like a lot of areas) is very “competitive” at the moment. A recruitment consultant told me this and I’ve got a few years admin experience.

My sister is an executive assistant with a law MA but won’t get a look in for legal secretary jobs because she’s not done them - it’s so rigid. But I guess it’s an employer’s market at mo.

I would look at the charity jobs website for volunteer admin - there can be remote positions, 10 hours a week or so that will get you putting your skills into practice. Then you can build experience.
Temp agencies doing receptionist work can then move on to admin and up as well.
good luck

I work for a local authority and a team leader is likely to do the Admin functions, stats, audits, carry out employee appraisals.
Can you job shadow?
I have a Desmond too- and it’s never held me back. I’ve been admin- worked my way up to department head, then a little bit of study and a side step and down to a middle management, less pressurised, part time roll. I started in 2002.

I did a reception shadowing shift a few weeks ago. But that's it. No more of them for the foreseeable future according to the site manager. Cut backs and recruitment freezes don't help matters. 🙄😕

Sorry to hear that @Floogal if your LA is like ours it has no money. Contact centre role? Usually high turnover but they quickly go up to a scale 7 around £35k ish and all get a side step after as it’s a thankless job.

Our cleaning staff have been in those roles for decades, they don’t want progression.
I’m sorry you are finding it difficult to move up. Volunteering anywhere? It’s a difficult climate but try not to lose hope.

You need to leave the LA, have a look at civil service jobs there's always junior positions going

If there’s a recruitment freeze are there even many vacancies being advertised? I imagine unless it’s specialist roles (eg in children’s services) there’s a lot of employees being deployed across admin functions.

You probably have a better chance looking for an entry level role with a different employer.

There are a few being advertised (though not as much as last year). They even have had a few entry-level admin posts, but they didn't give much time to apply

I know this has been said before (and I am sure that I have said it on one of your threads) but entry level admin roles in Councils these days are generally "entry level" for "new" graduate entry jobs. I retired a year ago, but for many years all admin roles had gone to new graduates. Other entry level positions were apprenticeships. If there is a short application perios, that says it all - they will get more than eough applications in a short period and don't want the faff of wading through applications. On the manual side people tend to "stick" so there is less opportunity for progression. And, to be fair, that is increasingly true across the board - middle and higher management positions are becoming stuck as jobs contract.