Civil Service Fast Stream or Big 4 (Deloitte) Graduate Scheme

Szac8549

I'm really struggling to pick between the two. In deloitte I would be in Tax in the Manchester office. Starting salary is 21,000 and I would be doing tax exams in the first 3 years. In the fast stream I would most likely be in the generalist, economics or commercial scheme. I would only do exams in the commercial fast stream. Starting Salary is 28000 for 3-4 years but then goes to 45000-55000 after completing the scheme.
Which do you think has the better exit opportunities after 4 years? The pay is definitely higher in the fast stream for the first 6 years or so but i guess it starts to even out after then.
Which has the better reputation?

Any opinions would be highly appreciated. Thanks :j

ssparks2003

It is harder for a civil servant to move into industry later in life than it is for someone in industry to move into the civil service. So consider what you want in the long term

BoGoF

I would stay away from the CS - don't be fooled by the advertised pay ranges. You would start at the bottom of the scale and find yourself receiving below inflation pay awards every year.

ssparks2003

There are benifits with the CS, I was at the MoD for 3 or so years. Work life balance was great, flexi working etc. Left for a 20k uplift on my pay to go back to industry.

xapprenticex

''Back to Industry'' indicates you had prior experience to draw on during interview.



That isn't the case for the OP.



Id say go industry

[Deleted User]

I would also think about what role you would enjoy the most too, it!!!8217;s not all about money.

TELLIT01

My 7 years or so with DWP was my only real experience of working in the CS and to be blunt I was shocked at the level of incompetence of most at management level. Very few of them would have got through the probation period in the private sector. The underlying problem is that the people at the top, be it CS or government ministers, are never in place for more than a couple of years at a time. That means there is no continuity in the way things are done, which leads to regular reinvention of the wheel. We had a visit from the 'Permanent Secretary' who actually stated they didn't expect to be in the job for more than 3 years, and the 1st year is learning, the 2nd attempting to get any necessary changes agreed let alone implemented, and the 3rd preparing to move on to a new job.
Is it any surprise it's such a mess.
I know nothing of Deloitte but from my experience wouldn't advise anybody to join the CS.

Brynsam

Do you actually have offers from both?

Szac8549

Ive done internships in both. The people in my deloitte office were great, so i know the environment id be working in is good. Ive also received an offer from Deloitte but its conditional on me getting a 2:1 in my degree (i have 1 more year to go). I dont yet have an offer for CS but have a "fast pass" which gets me straight through to the assessment centre, and have had a lot of coaching on how to pass this. Also struggling on which fast stream id pick as there's so many to choose from. Id probs go with the generalist scheme though as that keeps options open the most.
My experience in my CS internship hasn't been great though. There is absolutely no-one around me my age and the no-one seems to do much work, and everything seems to be very disorganised. It may just be the region and office I'm in though. Itd be wrong of me to suggest everywhere in the CS would be like this. The chances Id be working in the region i was in and the same office is virtually 0%.

I'd be working so many less hours at CS though and on a much higher wage and not have exams. Also they have flexitime which is great.
Also with Deloitte if you fail an exam twice for bad fail it once, then youre sacked straight away.

My main question is regarding which has better exit opportunities after 4 years or so though

Thanks so much everyone for your advice/opinions - keep them coming!

glider3560

Szac8549 wrote: »

Starting Salary is 28000 for 3-4 years but then goes to 45000-55000 after completing the scheme.

The higher salary (Grade 6/7) isn't guaranteed. I've heard of people doing the DDaT scheme on Fast Stream then ending up on a EO or HEO grade when finishing.

Szac8549

Ahh okay, well im pretty sure 90% of people get promotion in that time. A friend of mine on the scheme said half the time promotion happens before the scheme is supposed to end, at around 2-3 years into the scheme.