Public-sector workers 'lack skills for private sector'

StevieJ

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

Agreed but yer average bog-standard CS will find that the skills acquired during the 25 years served in the tax office, MOD or wherever will not translate easily to the private sector and employers can now afford to be VERY choosy. I know several job-threatened LA administrators who are very concerned about a move out of their cosy environment into the perceived cut & thrust of commercial reality.

Not sure about that, I should think that time spent in e.g. customs and excise would be very relevant experience for some employers with large excise payments e.g oil companies.

nomoreboomandbust

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I work in the public sector, and my team of 8 has generated well in excess of £50m for our employer this year (i.e. from April 2010 to date).

can you expand on this- is that money recouped from benefits cheats or did you flog some more gold at knock down prices

FTBFun

lostinrates wrote: »

My father was headhunted on retirement from public sector, as were many, many of his peers. My guess is that these are generalisations, and within the massive public sector there are as many people with transferable skills as there are in the private sector.

Mine was headhunted by a fairly large investment bank in the mid 1990s from a county council - although he was 35 not close to retirement. It does happen, but only in particular skillsets (of which his was one, and he hasn't looked back since).

Old_Slaphead

StevieJ wrote: »

Not sure about that, I should think that time spent in e.g. customs and excise would be very relevant experience for some employers with large excise payments e.g oil companies.

That may well be the case but (a) there's got to have be vacancies available and (b) there certainly won't be thousands of jobs.

Some will easily get new jobs but I reckon the majority will struggle.

nomoreboomandbust

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

That may well be the case but (a) there's got to have be vacancies available and (b) there certainly won't be thousands of jobs.

Some will easily get new jobs but I reckon the majority will struggle.

not to worry, the private sector will create 1.3 million jobs in the meantime :eek:

chewmylegoff

nomoreboomandbust wrote: »

can you expand on this- is that money recouped from benefits cheats or did you flog some more gold at knock down prices

i am a traffic warden

custardy

ILW wrote: »

So you use public sector money to increase profits for a private sector firm? Is that fair on their competition?

how does an industry equate to one firm?

tomterm8

chewmylegoff wrote: »

i am a traffic warden

Dear me, a traffic warden. And there was me, thinking you were a nice guy.

amcluesent

I'd be happy in the private sector so long as -

1) I can keep 'quota' sickies
2) Lunch on Friday last until going home time
3) No-one ever gets a bad review
4) Numpties are just 'parked' in the corner and not sacked

Sir_Humphrey

ILW wrote: »

So you use public sector money to increase profits for a private sector firm? Is that fair on their competition?

No, I said a major UK industry, not a major UK firm. The £10 million figure was an estimate from a trade association for their members alone, the true figure is probably much higher as it also goes wider than the industry in question (difficult to go into more details online).

The main benefit in our work is avoiding accidents, some of which would cost £ billions. This of course is not measurable, as you cannot logically prove that something would have happened and has been avoided. Nicholas Taleb makes this point in the his Black Swan book (of which generally I am not a huge fan).