Getting a job in the civil service

career_changer_2

Hi All

Can somebody tell me if it is 'easy' to get a job in the civil service i.e if you have to go through a rigorous process e.g. interviews/tests? Also, some of my friends have stated that the salary in the civil service is far less than the private sector. Is that true?

I once did a google search on 'jobs civil service', and it came up with a large amount of websites. What would you advice on how to locate the most 'relevant/helpful' sites? Is it just a matter of going through each website (which could take all day!!), and ignoring the ones which don't seem very useful and book marking the rest, so that I can visit them in future when doing another job search?

Thanks in advance for your response.

paulwf

Are you aware the new government is about to decimate the civil service? By decimate I mean scenarios are being drawn up for cuts as much as 40% in some departments.

Of course front line services will get off more lightly but it makes all your questions irrelevant. I doubt there will be recruitment in the mainstream civil service for a very long time.

Sorry.

downshifter

This is the one! http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/jobs/index.aspx

However it depends on what you want to do. If you already have a profession (eg, librarian or scientist etc), if it's anything like mine I had a straightforward interview as anywhere else. You'll get an idea of salaries from the above site which also tells you about career civil servants, fasttrack etc etc.

Worth also checking individual department websites, such as HSE etc, as sometimes they don't always advertise on the above. I found mine in the local paper!

I was in for around 18 months, it was absolutely awful!!! good luck!

nannytone_2

my 2 kids and my son in law all work for DWP. my son and daughter are both permenant but my son in law is on a fixed term contract. at the JC+ where he works its looking very likely that all the fixed termers are going to lose their jobs.

dave4545454

nannytone wrote: »

my 2 kids and my son in law all work for DWP. my son and daughter are both permenant but my son in law is on a fixed term contract. at the JC+ where he works its looking very likely that all the fixed termers are going to lose their jobs.

how come? with the ever increasing unemployment figure of 8.2 million and rising i would have thought working at the job centre is one of the few secure jobs for life around.

Horace

I think the job losses in the jobcentres are partly down to jobcentres doing not very much to get people off the dole and into work...they appear to be a mill churning out unemployed people without hope - you go in with hope and you come out with nothing.

The civil service gateway is another place to look for civil service jobs.

nannytone_2

my daughter is currently looking for another job. she works with th 16 - 24's and has had a lot go into appreniceships, but as they are increasing her worload she has less and less time to spend with every person!
she actually enjoys her job and gets satisfaction from helping people, but the workload shhe now has makes it impossible to give enough time to help properly.
you would think they'd need more staff, but they want to lower the overall budget and make the remaining people offer a sub standard service.

paulwf

dave4545454 wrote: »

how come? with the ever increasing unemployment figure of 8.2 million and rising i would have thought working at the job centre is one of the few secure jobs for life around.

The simple reason is David Cameron wants to reduce the public spending deficit and civil servants are an easy target. Police, nurses and teachers are high profile so won't be as hard hit but people don't care about civil servants, especially as certain papers go on about all the benefits a handful of top civil servants get which isn't indicative of the average worker.

Just as with any large company staffing will be determined by the staff budget not by how many customers/users there are of a service. Besides, it will be more cost effective to end all fixed term contracts then move people across from other departments that are being decimated. That avoids redundancy costs.

career_changer_2

Hi Folks

I know there are going to be job cuts in the civil service but aren't there going to be cuts in all sectors? Civil service would just be one of them. Am I right?

A few people have adviced me to look for a job/career somewhere else rather than the civil service because of these job cuts in the near future, so does anyone know which emploument sectors are growing and taking on staff?

Thanks

paulwf

career_changer wrote: »

Hi Folks

I know there are going to be job cuts in the civil service but aren't there going to be cuts in all sectors? Civil service would just be one of them. Am I right?

I'm sure the civil service isn't the only sector facing cuts, although some parts of the economy seem to be doing better than others. The difference with the civil service is the change of government could see a massive change of policy, one option is for a 40% cut in staff. That won't be fulfilled by voluntary early retirement and voluntary redundancy, especially as a lot of departments have already been subject to rounds of VER.

We'll have to wait and see what happens and budget time should bring more clarity. But be realistic, this isn't just a a little bit of tinkering with staff numbers and a recruitment freeze for a month or two.

thescouselander

career_changer wrote: »

Hi All

Can somebody tell me if it is 'easy' to get a job in the civil service i.e if you have to go through a rigorous process e.g. interviews/tests? Also, some of my friends have stated that the salary in the civil service is far less than the private sector. Is that true?

I once did a google search on 'jobs civil service', and it came up with a large amount of websites. What would you advice on how to locate the most 'relevant/helpful' sites? Is it just a matter of going through each website (which could take all day!!), and ignoring the ones which don't seem very useful and book marking the rest, so that I can visit them in future when doing another job search?

Thanks in advance for your response.

It all depends on what department you are applying for and the grade of the job. I would expect most departments have got recruitment freezes on at the moment due to the expected cuts so even finding a job to apply for may be difficult.

For lower skilled grades the process will be something along the lines of an application form and competency based interview. For higher skilled grades it might be necessary to complete an assessment centre consisting of written exercises, interviews and role-play exercises - these centres can be anything from a day to several days and can be pretty tough. As I said each department will differ slightly but they should provide you with information on the process if you request it.