Working in the Civil Service (customs etc)

ilikedrawing

Hello, just wondering if anyone on here works within the civil service or has done in the past. I have a degree in the arts but don't think realistically i will be able to make it in this field and looking for something more secure which might have prospects to move to another country in the future.

When i was at school (and still now) i have always been interested in joining the police or working in customs/immigration. (I've ruled out joining the police for various reasons)

I've been on the relevant websites and aren't getting the info i'm looking for. I'd rather hear info and experiences from the people who have done the job or know about it.

How do you get in to this line of work? what other sorts of jobs are there within customs/immigration? Airport work?


Thank you for reading

counterfeit

I worked in Customs for 5 years. It is now merged with the Revenue so if you get a job in that Department you are likely to be working in Direct tax.

However, I was a VAT officer which meant reviewing peoples records and doing fraud investigations. There is a lot of work in Airports, Sea Ports, etc but generally speaking they are sought after posts and go to internal candidates. I can tell you loads of stuff but can you be a bit more specific about what you want to know.

ilikedrawing

Ah thats interesting to know.

I've obviously seen the people that check passports and warrant visa's, ask travelers questions and generally make people nervous! As well as the people who guide you through all the x-ray equipment. I'd like to know a bit more about that area really.

If it means i have to work within tax before getting to that i don't think i would apply because my numeracy skills are very bad, where ever numbers are involved my brain turns to jelly. English on the other hand, i am quite good at.

fengirl_2

The job you are describing - searching people's bags, etc is done by officers of the Border and Immigration Agency. The checking of tax is done by HMRC.
Your last paragraph above rang bells with me. As a 22 year old, I applied for the Civil Service in Scotland, but I also failed after 3 goes to get GCE O level maths (although excellent at English). I emphasised this at interview and said that I would be no use for the Inland Revenue due to poor maths. Guess where they put me? In fact you dont need maths for tax because most of the caculations are done by computer and in fact the ability to interpret law and to be able to explain complicated things to people is far more important. Mind you, the job has changed hugely in the past 30 yrs!

counterfeit

fengirl wrote: »

The job you are describing - searching people's bags, etc is done by officers of the Border and Immigration Agency.

Ah yes - the work was moved from HMRC in 2008.

Oldernotwiser

ilikedrawing wrote: »

If it means i have to work within tax before getting to that i don't think i would apply because my numeracy skills are very bad, where ever numbers are involved my brain turns to jelly. English on the other hand, i am quite good at.

If this is a weak area for you you could always look at improving your skills. You could find that many more jobs become available to you if you do.

Tiddlywinks

ilikedrawing wrote: »

If it means i have to work within tax before getting to that i don't think i would apply because my numeracy skills are very bad, where ever numbers are involved my brain turns to jelly. English on the other hand, i am quite good at.

Having worked in the public sector for more years than I want to openly admit to, I'd say that the vast majority of the Executive Officer (EO) and above posts will require a good level of numeracy as most will involve some sort of budget management.

Having done my tour of the HMCE / HMRC / UKBA roles, I would strongly advise against this route if numbers are not your thing - even border controls involve calculations of duties, fines and checking of manifests etc.

Also, despite what the public service "bashers" seem to think, the majority of Civil Servants have to work bloomin' hard within limited budgets and sometimes dealing with hostile "customers" - we are now target driven and it's not the easy gravy train some people believe it to be.

There is a Civil Service website that lists all available jobs - you'll easily find this with Google.

PasturesNew

I have typed medical reports about people on long-term sick in customs. A lot of their work is quite physical and they aren't even in this country a lot of the time - being shipped back/forth over the channel for some. Then there's night-time inspection of vehicles that are coming in, looking for hidden illegals, this work is done outside, in the dark, with a torch, climbing in/around and under the lorries .... in all weathers.

It can be quite a dangerous job, with some staff being attacked. People travelling aren't all smiley tourists that want to show you the 3' donkey they bought on their hols, some are nasty, vicious and up to no good.

ilikedrawing

You see that doesn't scare me as much as math does!

dizzybuff

just a question.. I also work in civil service have done for the last 5 years.. Why have you ruled out the police service..

nikki2804

From what ive heard trying to get into hmrc - apart from the call centres - is quite hard due to all the pre - surplus staff.

Mind you ive worked in one of the call cantres for 4 years, can't complain, good money for a relatively easy job! :j