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Fast Stream 2012

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Reply 2380
Avatar for TomDixie
TomDixie
Transport pay just under 27K minimum
Original post by Lady Justice
I'm a country girl!!! I'm from Derbyshire, and purposely chose a non-city uni. I hate hate hate how busy cities are, I just feel really stressed :frown:. It's going to be a challenge enough for me, working there, so I just want somewhere to "escape" to. I'm sure you are right about there being quiet areas of London, but the reality is that I've been to London what, 4 times in my entire life now and find it a bit scary and overwhelming!! I know that the costs will add up with commuting, but I think I'd like to start off by commuting and then see how I feel a year or so down the line.


Fair enough :smile: Whatever you feel most comfy with. Just remember that every time you commute in you'll be going to a busy area as well, so you might never find the quieter areas. Im also from Derbyshire! woo!
Original post by Lady Justice
I'm a country girl!!! I'm from Derbyshire, and purposely chose a non-city uni. I hate hate hate how busy cities are, I just feel really stressed :frown:. It's going to be a challenge enough for me, working there, so I just want somewhere to "escape" to. I'm sure you are right about there being quiet areas of London, but the reality is that I've been to London what, 4 times in my entire life now and find it a bit scary and overwhelming!! I know that the costs will add up with commuting, but I think I'd like to start off by commuting and then see how I feel a year or so down the line.


If you are working in Whitehall, Upminster is a great place to live. Quite leafy and suburby, and on the district line I believe, so only one train to go work.
Reply 2383
Avatar for TomDixie
TomDixie
Anyone else going the open day on Thursday?
Reply 2384
Avatar for Chiryu
Chiryu
Original post by ellie_flower
29,500?! Really really hope MoJ is that generous because I'm a little worried about surviing in London on not a huge amount!


Lady Justice is on GSS, IIRC.

For GFS, my understanding - and I may be mistaken - is that starting from the 2010 intake they harmonised the bottom of the FS pay scale for all departments to between £25K and £27K - typically with it being approx. £25K outside London and approx. £27K inside. It used to vary a heck of a lot between departments (between £22K and £30K), but there was a directive from the cabinet office:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Bulletin66.doc

This doesn't apply for non-generalists, so not a clue abour HR, TiB etc.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 2385
Avatar for obamtl
obamtl
5
Original post by ellie_flower
Ministry of Justice. How about you?


I've got an FSB on the 17th. No offer yet. Fingers crossed.
Reply 2386
Avatar for lm222
lm222
Original post by more tea vicar?
Given the excellent piece by Chiryu on the TiB FSB above, can anyone do the same for the FCO FSB with any tips & hints not in the guide, practice examples?!


This may be too late - cant remember when the final two are... but anyway, the FCO FSB seems less intense than the TiB one, or certainly seems to have fewer components. Unfortunately there is very very little you can do to prepare except read through the competencies published as part of the FSB guidance, and try to work out how you would respond to difficult work-place situations in line with these competencies. The two examples given in the guide are also fairly good indicators of the type of challenge you'll be faced with, except for the real thing there is more information. You're not going to be asked anything outside of the two exercises so don't worry about why you want to join the FCO, how many languages you speak, etc. If you can adjust to the strange simulation on the day, it's actually quite good fun (and not in the FSAC-can-be-fun sense, but actually fun). Good luck. Parity said today that all FCO people should have heard by the end of next week, latest.
Reply 2387
Avatar for Stomm
Stomm
14
Original post by ellie_flower
Dont be too put off by London being the busy commercial centre in films or gangland stabbings that we see on the news because there are hefty chunks that arent like that at all. My friend lives in the docklands and I get a quieter nights sleep there than I do in Durham where i live!!



I live in Finchley, all the benefits of living next to the green belt, but also 5-10 minutes walk from the Tube station and if you don't fancy clock watching for the last train home there are even a few half decent pubs on the high street that are open to 12-1am each night, depending on which night of the week it is of course...

Oh and plenty of varied resteraunts, takeaways and so on locally. Anything from the ubiquitous 'Southern Fried Chicken' through to an ok Chinese resteraunt that does silver service, a Japanese resteraunt, I think a Korean one as well, and well you get the picture.

The biggest advantage of living in London when you work in London is that you're not tied to train timetables. The Tube runs until roughly just before midnight, and if you're out later than that getting a taxi home isn't that hard, apparently even if you live South of the river these days...
Original post by lm222
This may be too late - cant remember when the final two are... but anyway, the FCO FSB seems less intense than the TiB one, or certainly seems to have fewer components. Unfortunately there is very very little you can do to prepare except read through the competencies published as part of the FSB guidance, and try to work out how you would respond to difficult work-place situations in line with these competencies. The two examples given in the guide are also fairly good indicators of the type of challenge you'll be faced with, except for the real thing there is more information. You're not going to be asked anything outside of the two exercises so don't worry about why you want to join the FCO, how many languages you speak, etc. If you can adjust to the strange simulation on the day, it's actually quite good fun (and not in the FSAC-can-be-fun sense, but actually fun). Good luck. Parity said today that all FCO people should have heard by the end of next week, latest.


Thank you! Hope your FSB went well too. Do they wait until all the FSBs have been done to decide who passes and gets a job or do they do it as the FSBs go on?

I'm just going to go in confidently I think :smile:
Reply 2389
Avatar for lm222
lm222
Original post by more tea vicar?
Thank you! Hope your FSB went well too. Do they wait until all the FSBs have been done to decide who passes and gets a job or do they do it as the FSBs go on?

I'm just going to go in confidently I think :smile:


At mine there was a lovely chap running the day who told us that exceptionally, it would be possible to find out before all the FSBs are over. however, given that since my last post I've checked and the final two are tomorrow and thursday, and parity told me this morning there wouldn't be results 'til next week, I'm thinking they wait. I imagine the only way they could tell people earlier would be if everyone on a particular subset (i.e. EFS, economists, etc) did the earlier FSBs, but at least for EFS I don't think that's the case. Or I suppose if they inform the top scorers, as happens with FSAC, but if they are taking around 35 and will be seeing at least 24 people over the next couple of days very few people would be secure in the 'top spots' until its all over. In any case, it's barely a wait at all compared to the FSAC results wait some people have endured. Be confident and dont try to figure out which competency is being tested at each stage... :smile:
Reply 2390
Avatar for rach2012
rach2012
Well after 99 long days since my fsac, finally got my results today...reserve :s-smilie:
Does anybody know much about this? I know I'm not guaranteed a job but does anybody know the odds of getting one when put on the reserved list? Or where I could find more info on it?
I guess patience is a virtue :smile:
Reply 2391
Avatar for RDCF12
RDCF12
Original post by TomDixie
Anyone else going the open day on Thursday?


I will be! Have you lined up questions and things for departments you're interested in?
Reply 2392
Avatar for dblue
dblue
Original post by RDCF12
I will be! Have you lined up questions and things for departments you're interested in?


I'll be there as well! Pretty excited about it
Original post by rach2012
Well after 99 long days since my fsac, finally got my results today...reserve :s-smilie:
Does anybody know much about this? I know I'm not guaranteed a job but does anybody know the odds of getting one when put on the reserved list? Or where I could find more info on it?
I guess patience is a virtue :smile:


IIRC from last year's thread, the critical thing when you are a reserve is exactly what position you are on the reserve list. So you need to send a message to parity and ask where you are on the list. I think not only are reserves used when people drop out for whatever reason, but additional faststream positions become available throughout the year, which are filled from the reserve pool. Best of luck, and I really hope something becomes available for you and you are high up the reserve list :smile:
Reply 2394
Avatar for rach2012
rach2012
Original post by richardp2020
IIRC from last year's thread, the critical thing when you are a reserve is exactly what position you are on the reserve list. So you need to send a message to parity and ask where you are on the list. I think not only are reserves used when people drop out for whatever reason, but additional faststream positions become available throughout the year, which are filled from the reserve pool. Best of luck, and I really hope something becomes available for you and you are high up the reserve list :smile:


Thanks for the info, I've just messaged them. I'll keep my fingers crossed :smile:
Original post by rach2012
Well after 99 long days since my fsac, finally got my results today...reserve :s-smilie:
Does anybody know much about this? I know I'm not guaranteed a job but does anybody know the odds of getting one when put on the reserved list? Or where I could find more info on it?
I guess patience is a virtue :smile:


I emailed today asking if there was any kind of waiting list (as I know people turn down the job every year) for those of us only 0.32 marks off the pass mark (grrr) and was told there was no such thing! Presumably 0.32 (grrr!!) marks was still enough to fail outright but knowing that there actually IS one is making me very tempted to be persistent...
Well done though :smile: It must be horrible to know that you have to wait EVEN LONGER but take heart in the fact that you must be so, so close!
Reply 2396
Avatar for rach2012
rach2012
Original post by comeluckyapril
I emailed today asking if there was any kind of waiting list (as I know people turn down the job every year) for those of us only 0.32 marks off the pass mark (grrr) and was told there was no such thing! Presumably 0.32 (grrr!!) marks was still enough to fail outright but knowing that there actually IS one is making me very tempted to be persistent...
Well done though :smile: It must be horrible to know that you have to wait EVEN LONGER but take heart in the fact that you must be so, so close!


Thanks, I am glad there's still some hope! Here's what it says;
Fast Stream Reserve

Thank you for attending the Fast Stream Assessment Centre (FSAC). You will see that your status is set to “Reserve”. We may not be in a position to give you a final decision on whether you have been successful for some time. The Civil Service Commissioners (who regulate Civil Service recruitment) have agreed that we may have a “reserve” pool of candidates for 12 months, who we can declare successful if and when further vacancies arise.

We must emphasise that this does not mean that you have been successful or that you are guaranteed the offer of an appointment now, or in the next 12 months. If we do not have sufficient vacancies to enable us to offer you a post, you will receive notification that you have been unsuccessful.
Original post by rach2012
Thanks, I am glad there's still some hope! Here's what it says;
Fast Stream Reserve

Thank you for attending the Fast Stream Assessment Centre (FSAC). You will see that your status is set to “Reserve”. We may not be in a position to give you a final decision on whether you have been successful for some time. The Civil Service Commissioners (who regulate Civil Service recruitment) have agreed that we may have a “reserve” pool of candidates for 12 months, who we can declare successful if and when further vacancies arise.

We must emphasise that this does not mean that you have been successful or that you are guaranteed the offer of an appointment now, or in the next 12 months. If we do not have sufficient vacancies to enable us to offer you a post, you will receive notification that you have been unsuccessful.


Jeeesus 12 months is a long time to wait. I'd be sorely tempted to sack it off and re-apply in the next round, if I were you, purely so you don't have it hanging over your head for a whole year!
Reply 2398
Avatar for obamtl
obamtl
5
Original post by Lady Justice
Haha, I hope so!!! When I had my meeting with ONS Newport they told me 29,500 ... and now that's fallen through I have DWP, so I hope it's not significantly less, especially with now having to live in/ around London! Why is it so unattractive?! I specifically said I wanted that or education!

Also, I definitely don't want to LIVE in London, so has anyone got any recommendations about decent places to commute from?! I was thinking Reading or St Albans??


As of 2 years ago, DFID was minimum £26,800. I understand there's been a pay freeze in effect though. Salaries in band B1D of the fast stream goes as high as £36,377.
Original post by Lady Justice
Haha, I hope so!!! When I had my meeting with ONS Newport they told me 29,500 ... and now that's fallen through I have DWP, so I hope it's not significantly less, especially with now having to live in/ around London! Why is it so unattractive?! I specifically said I wanted that or education!

Also, I definitely don't want to LIVE in London, so has anyone got any recommendations about decent places to commute from?! I was thinking Reading or St Albans??


DWP is a good department for analysts to work in, there is lots of stuff that needs modelling and lots of scope for interesting work for statisticians and economists. Hopefully you will enjoy it!

On the GES website it says economists in DWP start on £27970 in London so that might be a rough guide to what you will get as I would expect other analysts were paid similar rate.

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