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TSR Wiki > Careers > Career Options > A-Z of Careers > Civil Service

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Contents 1 Opportunities Available 2 Entry Requirments 3 Future Trends 4 Job Hunting 5 Opinions

Opportunities Available

"The Civil Service supports the government of the day, by helping them develop and carry out their policies and administer the public services for which they are responsible." (www.civilservice.gov.uk)

Civil servants - the people who make up the Civil Service are the people who do the above. It is the government of the day that provides the high level direction to the civil servants in terms of policy development. Civil servants are ultimately responsible for the implementation of those policies.

Not including consultants and agency workers, there are just under 500,000 civil servants across the country and beyond. There are opportunities available for both school leavers and for graduates alike. These range from back office administrators all the way through to working in policy development in Whitehall to working in an embassy in the middle of a war zone. There are also specialist posts for scientists, economists, statisticians, engineers, health workers and more.

There are several routes of entry. The most well-known among university students is the Fast Stream, an accelerated development scheme designed for graduates. However, in many national and regional jobs newspapers you are likely to find vacancies from organisations that form part of the civil service.

Entry Requirments

To be eligible for the civil service you must meet the nationality requirements. Please see http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/eligibility/nationality.asp for further details as these will vary from post to post. Some jobs will also require security clearance - which ranges from basic background checks to counter-terrorism clearance and developed vetting clearance.

Different jobs will require different qualifications - again, see the particular vacancy that you are applying for. For the Fast Stream you will need a minimum 2:2 degree or equivelant from a recognised university. Should you apply, you undergo one of the most rigorous assessments in the country, success in which will lead to an appointment within the Civil Service. Please see http://www.faststream.gov.uk/ for further details on the Fast Stream.

There is an "in-service" Fast Stream programme for existing permanent civil servants. This allows the service to recruit potential talent from within its own ranks. The process is significantly different in the earlier stages and much more straight-forward. Each department will have its own internal processes for selecting candidates that it feels have the potential to succeed on the Fast Stream, upon which they will recommend individuals for the final Fast Stream Assessment Centre (FSAC). Cabinet Office will sift those applications and forward those successful to the FSAC. Everyone who joins the Fast Stream has to do an FSAC - which lasts a whole day. (Sometimes longer). Some posts - such as Parliamentary Clerks, Government Economic Service and the Diplomatic Service have further assessments that follow this.

Future Trends

Despite the highly publicised job cuts within the civil service (see www.pcs.org.uk for a run-down) so long as there is a government there will need to be some sort of civil service to underpin it. Old hands in the civil service have seen the cycles of job creation followed by job cuts.

Much also depends on the priorities of the political party in charge in terms of which issues they would like to tackle.

Job Hunting

The job agencies in Victoria Street, Westminster (type in SW1A 0AA into any online map provider and it's the big street that leads up to Parliament Square to the west/southwest) have lots of vacancies for temping work. You'll need to have some office experience to have a chance with these - good IT skills, telephone manner and well presented.

Otherwise, look in local press and find out where the nearest largest public sector employers are and work from there. Speculative job applications used to work in the past but do not any more because of the procedures that the civil service now has to abide by. Any permanent appointment has to be made through a fair and open competitive procedure. With the culling of human resources directorates, departments do not have the resources to maintain records of staff available for temporary work.

Opinions

An organisation so huge is going to have its good points and bad points. I've seen both, but still only a very small amount in the 4 or so years I've been in the service. I've been through a very badly managed job-cutting process but have lived to tell the tale. (Ironically it was getting onto the Fast Stream that kept me as a civil servant.) At the same time, I've also seen and worked with some of the most talented individuals I've ever seen - and have been able to appreciate the difference that I've been able to make to the given policy areas that I have worked on.

I'd strongly recommend it for those who have a passion for helping others in life and for trying to make the world a better place at a "strategic" level - i.e. not on the ground at the sharp end.

I'd also recommend it for those who like to work with other people and to work as part of a team. The service is not the place for locking yourselves away to get on with things alone.

I would not recommend it at all if you are driven primarily by money or do not like the idea of working in a large organisation with the rules and responsibilities that come with it.

I'd also not recommend it if you struggle to get on with people in general.