Anyone ever taken the NICS Test?

iluvfreebies

:mad: ohh it makes me soo corss when they slag off the civil servants - ppl seem to be under some illusion that civil servants are lazy sods who are overpaid. It really annoys me as this couldnt be much farther from the truth. We are the ones that take all the crap every day usually administering crappy policys that we dont agree with ourselves but that have been imposed by the !!!!*** in stormont who clearly havnt a clue about what ppl in northern ireland want or need. rant over

darwin-rover

Sigur wrote: »

I'm only going by what was on the application form, with it rising after 6 months

I was on the bottom of the scale for 4 years (and that was with me getting a box 1 performance mark 2 years in a row). Would love to know what job in the NICS gives a pay rise after 6 months ?

I always heard the jokes about civil servants being overpaid and underworked (the problem is most people take it seriously and expect me to be loaded and dont believe me when I tell them what I actually earn). But when I actually started working for the NICS I found the opposite to be true . I cant speak for admin posts as I work in a lab , but I work from when I walk in the building until I leave , sometimes not even getting my full breaks .

Bannsider

iluvfreebies wrote: »

:mad: ohh it makes me soo corss when they slag off the civil servants - ppl seem to be under some illusion that civil servants are lazy sods who are overpaid. It really annoys me as this couldnt be much farther from the truth. We are the ones that take all the crap every day usually administering crappy policys that we dont agree with ourselves but that have been imposed by the !!!!*** in stormont who clearly havnt a clue about what ppl in northern ireland want or need. rant over

Is an English language test included?

Witless

I never cease to be amazed that anyone manages to get of the bottom of the scale - none of my colleagues have progressed on the incremental scale in the time I've been there.

I must admit I didn't include the PMF 'bonus' in my post about the pay - currently 7p per hour (Box 1) and 2p per hour (Box 2) IIRC.:rotfl:

squidzin

Don't join nics! As mentioned above, you will never move up any points on the scale. They knock the bottom point off and add it to the top every year. The payrise per year isn't much more than £500. Also, try moving out of nics to a private company and alot of companies won't look at you because they perceive civil servants as poorly trained, lazy and unwilling to work long hours. I moved to nics 4 years ago and have regretted it ever since and can't get out. I have a 2:1 in my BSc Honours in Applied Maths and a Master Degree in Engineering computation!

Sigur_2

I've applied to other places, mainly investment banks and insurance companies. The thing is I need to come home for a while for various reasons and I don't laso want to live in London and be saddled with huge rent and living costs and take forever and a day to pay my debts off.

But I'm not a highly ambitious person anyway, I couldn't care less about promotions etc. But as a graduate isn't there opportunities to try various departments, or are you stuck in the same department from the start?

I don't want to be stuck in as a statistician, economist or accountant and then never have the opportunity to try other things. Why I like the insurance underwriters job, although it can take up to 7 years training, you get to move around a lot and then decide which area you'd like to specialise in, same with a lot of the investment banks.

Witless

Sigur wrote: »

But as a graduate isn't there opportunities to try various departments, or are you stuck in the same department from the start?

TBH you tend to get 'stuck' to an extent.

It really depends on your geographic location - recently there were opportunities to transfer but the location would have almost doubled my journey time.

If you're Belfast based then most locations are viable for you, but if (like me) you're from the sticks then the chances of a home transfer are slim; quite frequently a transfer from one department to another in the same area will be blocked - transfers seem to be granted on 'personal' grounds rather than 'professional' though there's quite a waiting list: one girl I know got a 'home' transfer after waiting 18 years, another mate took his name off the list as he wasn't making any headway.

There are 'plusses' but it's not the doddle people think; if professionally qualified I would advise you to head to the private sector; you have a more realistic expectation of a career. (One big failing in the NICS (IMHO) is that a lot of promotion boards are external - those in situ can't apply and there is a de facto ceiling of EO1 as the majority of Staff Officers are appointed as a result of external competition.*)

* There are reports that this is in the process of changing - but the current EO11 board is by external competition where it was previously internal.

bingo_bango

* There are reports that this is in the process of changing - but the current EO11 board is by external competition where it was previously internal.

Actually, that's not true at all. The last internal EO2 board was in 2005, but two year s before there was an external EO2 board. There is another external one running now, and there should be a further internal one before the next millenium. If they can get HR Connect to get their finger out and run the EO1 board, that is!
The EO2 board from 2005 still has people on lists, but this list expires in March this year. They'll need to run another, but it's unlikely to be until mid 2009 I'd have thought. Of course we may not have any posts for them after CSR07, so it could be longer :cool:

For anyone wanting to join, if you have an option in the private sector, explore it first. The conditions may seem good in NICS, but when you're working there, it's not all gravy.