Original post by seraphina1) I'm not aware of anyone who wanted a London role and was forced to take a permanent out of London role. The vast majority of fast stream jobs are London based and as they're keen for fast streamers to get lots of exposure to ministers etc I suspect the Cabinet Office would rather you were in London. The out of London ones seem to get snapped up quickly by people relatively local to that area who are desperate to stay there. As someone mentioned DH's main offices are in Leeds, but every fast streamer I've ever met from there has a Yorkshire accent! (So do I, so that's not a dig at anyone...)
The one exception is if you want to do an operational role, as most of those are out of London (eg. job centres, courts, tax offices, DVLA etc) but you'd usually only do that for a year and still "belong" to a London based home department.
So I really wouldn't worry about that issue.
2) Regarding pay, I think it varies more from department to department than location to location. There used to be a London weighing, but I'm pretty sure that was got rid of. I also suspect the range is actually wider than that - unless they were exaggerating. I'm sure I know people who started on about £31 000 at some departments. The starting salary isn't the only issue though. I'm at DfT for example, and I started on £26 750. But it goes up by £3000 after a year, £2000 after two and another £1000 after three. Some departments start higher but don't climb as sharply. At DfT, you can get an extra £100 per month if you have a masters - no idea whether the same is true at other departments. I think the Cabinet Office is trying to standardise pay and other conditions across the
fast stream, but not doing very well so far!
It's also worth bearing in mind that an extra two grand a year really isn't much a month post-tax/NI/loan/pension contributions etc, so it's really not worth worrying about or making a decision based on it
3)I really think the whole choosing a department thing is massively overthought by candidates. When I got Transport I was totally nonplussed, but I really have started to love it. Fundamentally, you'll be doing the same sort of work whichever department you're in. The exact role you do within it is more important. Think about it like this - You could go to HMRC and get a job in international tax fraud or go to the Home Office and get a job in corporate finance. I know someone who got FCO and ended up in the IT team! They were not amused. It's a bit of a cliche, but I really aren't aware of many people who hate their department and often the more random ones have higher satisfaction ratings in surveys done after a year than the more superficially glamourous ones.
Plus you ought to be able to get a year long secondment to another department fairly easily (longer term secondments or total swaps are rarer, but not totally unheard of) and of course, you can be promoted into any department you then apply to.
In conclusion, I really wouldn't let any of the specific issues you raise put you off. On the other hand, your masters sounds very exciting. Firstly, could you defer for a year? It's difficult but potentially doable. Secondly, if you've passed once, it's likely you might pass again after your masters. I'd hugely recommend the faststream, but it would be a shame to do it if your heart isn't in it when you've got another fab opportunity. I certainly wouldn't drop out just yet though. Why don't you wait to find out where you're allocated (as I said above, I don't think it matters, but maybe you still do) and to give yourself time to think it through properly.
And remember -you've got two opportunities a lot of people would kill for. There's nothing wrong with asking for advice - sometimes two much choice can be nearly as stressful as too little - but bear in mind that whichever option you take will probably be pretty good, so no point worrying too much.