Private vs Public Sector

Lost_Prophet

Hi Guys,

Hopefully there are numerous people from each of the above sectors on here so I can get a balanced opinion. Here is the situation:

I am currently working for Hewlett Packard on the graduate scheme. The scheme was rubbish... I was being used as a resource, wasnt being developed, there was pay freezes - it was terrible. I have since moved to a more business orientated area and I think it is OK (pay is still an issue but I am not been used as a resource anymore). I am scheduled to graduate from this scheme in February 2010

I have (potentially) got a Graduate job with the Civil Service on the 'Defence Engineering and Science Group' graduate scheme. This is notorious for providing excellent development and has loads of benefits (including a higher wage by about 4k per year) and generally better career prospects. The reason why I say potentially is that I have been accepted but it is 'budget permitting' and I find out in the very near future on my success

So, do I stay in the private sector and hope development and pay gets better or move to the public sector where the grass appears to be greener?

I know its personal choice, I have my opinion of which but I thought I could do with drawing from other peoples experiences on this too

Thanks in advance

Regards,
LP

computershack

Depends on how "working in a rights based environment" and having to take into account every politically correct whim that the Govt has introduced sits with you. For me, it doesn't hence I declined a Civil Service post because I reckoned I'd make maybe a month before I wanted to beat the sense into someone.

The Civil Service is top to bottom a beauracratical nightmare and will have most intelligent people banging their head against the wall in sheer frustration.

dmg24

If I had to work for a large organisation, I would go for public sector. I am disabled and past experience (and research) has shown that I am much more likely to be discriminated against in the private sector. There are also issues such as work/ life balance, flexible working (if I ever manage to get pregnant!) etc that make the public sector more appealing to me.

fengirl_2

I agree with dmg - for me as a woman, 26 years in the Civil Service meant equal pay and a proper career path with open and transparent promotion procedures. PLus an indexed lnked pension.
I think it all depends on your political views - whether you are happy working to line the pockets of the ruling class or want to work for the common good.

piggeh

It depends what you look for in a job. I quite like the public sector because of the development opportunities, security, etc. However I find most jobs are very one dimensional. I preferred the work in medium sized companies where the jobs tended to be more varied. But, I guess in large corporations the jobs are quite narrow in specification as well. I'd go for public sector over a big corporation.

Lost_Prophet

I was swaying toward the public sector one and every comment from you all has been useful. I know about the bureaucratic stuff. The area I have worked in has dealt with the MoD and it is a nightmare at times.

I believe that the benefits of the public sector outweight those of the private sector overall although each does have its disadvantages (and advantages). Thanks for the info all.

If anyone has any further comments it would be much appreciated as it is a move that is essentially career defining!

Regshoe

I swapped from Private to Public sector this year, I wasn't particularly looking for public sector as such, it just happened to be by far the best job (and package to go with it) on offer and it was one of only two I managed to find that wasn't through a parasitic employment agency.

I would say the following are advantages of the Public sector:

1) Better job security generally - though of course at the moment that isn't as assured as it has always been, but in the long run it will probably hold true. If nothing else then generally people getting made redundant in the public sector tend to get a lot longer warning and good payoffs (even with the reduction being brought in now).

2) Good pensions - possibly not top of your list, and liable to be reduced in future - but even then I would expect them to still be better than most private sector pensions.

3) Lots more time off - extra holidays and bank holidays.

4) Tend to get flexi time - theoretically I could get an extra 39 days a year off by flexi leave (though I would have to make up the hours, through some long days).

5) You don't get shafted if you have to travel on business as you often do in the private sector (I get back every minute I spend travelling for work).

6) Very generous towards other forms of special leave, sabbaticals, career breaks etc.

7) Guaranteed pay progression (outside of the publicised 1% pay cap rise type pay rise you still get annual increases based on moving up your pay band).

8) Lots of opportunity to move jobs within the civil service - once you are in you can apply for all sorts of other departments - including some jobs that are reserved for existing civil servants.

9) I hear the graduate scheme is fairly good (had a friend who did it - and he's progressed very quickly) can't comment for myself though as I didn't enter that way.


The major downside is normally said to be the lower pay in the public sector. Though from what I've seen this seems to mostly at more senior levels - I know it's been in the news recently about all these civil servants earning £150k plus, but bear in mind in private sector jobs with similar levels of authority some of these people could potentially be on millions. At the lower levels - including graduate entry the current levels of pay seem fairly comparable to the private sector.

I think one issue though, which is probably more prevelant in certain departments is the tendancy to get stuck in a rut - get too used to all the holidays and fairly easy life and not push yourself to go for new opportunities.

Hope that helps.

Zazen999

Lost_Prophet wrote: »

The reason why I say potentially is that I have been accepted but it is 'budget permitting' and I find out in the very near future on my success

This is the problem with moving to the Public Sector. Many budgets are being chopped now; let alone if/when the Tories get in. Apart from this, the points raised by the others are pretty much true.

iamana1ias

Regshoe wrote: »

7) Guaranteed pay progression (outside of the publicised 1% pay cap rise type pay rise you still get annual increases based on moving up your pay band).

Not once you're at the top of your band you don't. I was out with a friend who is a civil servant on the weekend and they were telling me that most departments will be implementing recruitment and pay freezes come January, and that wide-spread redundancies are definitely expected. As someone at the top of their scale, they'd have to achieve promotion to get a payrise and with a recruitment ban in place they have no chance of doing that.

Don't assume anything is easy in the public sector now, its us that has to pay for the bankers' fcuk ups (I'm employed by a LA)

Regshoe wrote: »

8) Lots of opportunity to move jobs within the civil service - once you are in you can apply for all sorts of other departments - including some jobs that are reserved for existing civil servants.

See above. You could have to wait years for opportunities to change jobs now.

Regshoe

iamana1ias wrote: »

Not once you're at the top of your band you don't. I was out with a friend who is a civil servant on the weekend and they were telling me that most departments will be implementing recruitment and pay freezes come January, and that wide-spread redundancies are definitely expected. As someone at the top of their scale, they'd have to achieve promotion to get a payrise and with a recruitment ban in place they have no chance of doing that.

Don't assume anything is easy in the public sector now, its us that has to pay for the bankers' fcuk ups (I'm employed by a LA)



See above. You could have to wait years for opportunities to change jobs now.

You're right there to an extent iamana1ias. I should have mentioned the guarateed progression is only to a point - usually around 4 years. After this typically there have been annual rises - but this is the part that is subject to any future capping.

It's not completely true that once you hit the top of the official pay band that you need promotion to get more money, there are some of the following (may not apply in all departments):

Contribution awards - for contiued work above your level.

Supervisory allowances

Recruitment and Retention allowances

Plus even with a recruitment freeze you can still get a merit based promotion in your current position (an example I suppose of some of the bizarre decisions that can happen within the public sector, where you stop receruiting, freeze pay but also promote people).

Also even with an official recruitment freeze certain roles will still be filled if people leave. You are right though that there will likely be less opportunities for the forseeable future than there have been previously.

Fluffi

I've worked in the public sector and I have to agree with some of the other comments that pay progression is pretty poor. After a couple of years I found myself way below market rate for my skills. I've since moved to the private sector and now comfortably earning more than those that I used to work with and even my former boss!

(Pay reviews conducted on an individual basis every 6 months rather than annual reviews across the whole organization and interfered with by the Union might be something to do with the better pay!)

I think in the private sector in my experience you are expected to develop yourself - generally outside of work hours - whereas the public sector are more likely to send you on courses and give you time to study inside of work hours.

The extra holidays and flexi-time were nice - and yes you definitely travel better when you travel on business. That said I can take unpaid leave to compensate for the lost holiday/flexi and still be better off than I was in the public sector.

One warning though ... it can be difficult to get a job in the private sector if you spend too long in the public sector. Some private sector employers have pre-conceptions about public sector employees taking lots of sick days, clock-watching and being inflexible. The longer you stay in the public sector the harder it'll be to get out!