Public-sector workers 'lack skills for private sector'

kabayiri

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

Someone who used to have my post moved abroad and does exactly this. But he has fluent French, German and Berne dialect German.
.

Don't forget the language of luuurve too.

It's universal

(or so I am reliably informed, *cough*)

ILW

I believe many public sector workers may find it a bit of a shock to enter a private company that says you need to perform or you are out. Much of teh private sector is a bit of a jungle without the comfort of a union and all sorts of stuff.

Old_Slaphead

ILW wrote: »

I believe many public sector workers may find it a bit of a shock to enter a private company that says you need to perform or you are out. Much of teh private sector is a bit of a jungle without the comfort of a union and all sorts of stuff.

Spot on ILW but we have lots to compensate like poor holidays, minimum redundancy pay, stacks of unpaid overtime, statutory minimum sick pay etc etc (and we don't all have co. cars, bonuses, gym membership either).

Not that long ago public sector bods on MSE were saying - if you don't like it in private sector get a job in public sector. Not that easy to cross sectors as I'm sure soon many to be ex-public will find out. They're completely different cultures.

Sir_Humphrey

ILW wrote: »

I believe many public sector workers may find it a bit of a shock to enter a private company that says you need to perform or you are out. Much of teh private sector is a bit of a jungle without the comfort of a union and all sorts of stuff.

I am sure the substantial pay rise would make up for it.

BTW, my brother works for a market research company which has several household name clients. They do not even use Microsoft Access. I am sure my IT skills are more than enough for 99% of the private sector (Excel including programming VBA Macros, intermediate to advanced Access and a little SQA). It seems to me that about 90% of people cannot even change the default formatting on charts!

kabayiri

ILW wrote: »

I believe many public sector workers may find it a bit of a shock to enter a private company that says you need to perform or you are out. Much of teh private sector is a bit of a jungle without the comfort of a union and all sorts of stuff.

Some other things might come as a shock too.

- not being able to work flexi-time
- not taking every other Friday off
- shift work patterns
- integrated computerised phone systems which record how long you spend on calls; what your 'wrap time' is; how often you switch into 'break' mode
- temporary contracts
- re-applying for your own job every 2 years due to the cylical reorganisations that happen.

Sir_Humphrey

kabayiri wrote: »

- not being able to work flexi-time This applies for much of the public sector
- not taking every other Friday off Where did you get that from?
- shift work patterns Of course hospital doctors, police and firefighters all work 9 to 5. :rotfl:
- integrated computerised phone systems which record how long you spend on calls; what your 'wrap time' is; how often you switch into 'break' mode How often does this happen outside of call centres?
- temporary contracts Common in the public sector, including civil service
- re-applying for your own job every 2 years due to the cylical reorganisations that happen. Common in the public sector, including civil service and particularly local government. The public sector particularly the NHS is constantly being reformed.

Headline; "Internet frother in talking nonsense shock".

Percy1983

I don't think its correct to say all of any group is good or bad. As it is I work in the public sector and know I am more than good enough to work in the private sector.

With that due to my skill level its unlikely I will be one of those who suffer the cuts, so it maybe true thats the wave of public sector workers to hit the market might be a bit useless but of course any cuts will mostly get rid of the dead wood.

kabayiri

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

Headline; "Internet frother in talking nonsense shock".

Behind every generalisation, there are cases where it is true and false.

I've worked for clients in both sectors.

Your idea that modern integrated systems only exist in call centres is based on a lack of knowledge.

Just stick to your MS Access. That's yesterday's skill set too.

ILW

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

I am sure the substantial pay rise would make up for it.

BTW, my brother works for a market research company which has several household name clients. They do not even use Microsoft Access. I am sure my IT skills are more than enough for 99% of the private sector (Excel including programming VBA Macros, intermediate to advanced Access and a little SQA). It seems to me that about 90% of people cannot even change the default formatting on charts!

The difference in the private sector (esp MSEs) is that just because you can do something, or have a certificate, or have been on a course means nothing unless there is an immediate need for it to drive the business forward. Public sector employees seem to feel they are entitled to certain things just due to qualifications or time served whether relevent to the current need or not.

lostinrates

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.