Civil service fast stream 2014/2015

I'd be surprised if the start date was before Xmas. I assumed it would be January what with how many people are being recruited...

Well, it's mid-September and I've heard nothing from HMRC. Not surprised, but increasingly annoyed.

Anybody else heard anything yet?

Received the Pre-employment checks letter / email for DAS last week. Haven't much time to look at it till now.

If I get offered a position, I hope it's a field I'll find interesting or related to my degree. Would hate to have to decline.

Why did you bother applying for the FS in the first place then?

You do realise the FS has 6 placements over 4 years doing anything they feel they want you to do, you don't get to pick and choose. Do you really think you can just do whatever you want?

I think you sound incredibly ungrateful if I am completely honest with you.

Getting a direct appointment is an invaluable opportunity to gain experience, and places you in an almost certain position to get onto the FS subsequently - something that hardly anyone gets the opportunity to do.

It also pains me to read through a lot of ridiculous comments treating this as a job. You're starting a career. Once you're in you can transfer to pretty much anywhere, doing anything.

I'm sorry this is so blunt, but a few of you here due for direct appointments come across as really 'self-entitled', and as such need a serious reality check if you want to actually do well in the civil service, as a civil servant. If you can't hack that challenge, go to the private sector.

Why did you bother applying for the FS in the first place then? You do realise the FS has 6 placements over 4 years doing anything they feel they want you to do, you don't get to pick and choose.

Again I apologise for the bluntness of my comment, but it is based on observations in this thread over the past month or two. I also don't mean for my comment to be misconstrued as 'personal', rather it is the 'straw that broke the camel's back' so to say - I've been holding off commenting for months. I was hoping you'd take my remarks as honest feedback to consider, rather than respond with unnecessary personal attacks.

And you're right, it hasn't gone as I'd have 'liked it to'. It's been going much better. My only frustrations are with the 'self-entitled' attitudes, as I've said. I do hope the best for both of you (and everyone else), so I do hope you take my remarks as honest feedback rather than respond with further personal attacks.

I personally heard about the DAS on my graduation day, which was in early July.

Why did you bother applying for the FS in the first place then? You do realise the FS has 6 placements over 4 years doing anything they feel they want you to do, you don't get to pick and choose. Do you really think you can just do whatever you want? I think you sound incredibly ungrateful if I am completely honest with you. Getting a direct appointment is an invaluable opportunity to gain experience, and places you in an almost certain position to get onto the FS subsequently - something that hardly anyone gets the opportunity to do.

It also pains me to read through a lot of ridiculous comments treating this as a job. You're starting a career. Once you're in you can transfer to pretty much anywhere, doing anything.

I'm sorry this is so blunt, but a few of you here due for direct appointments come across as really 'self-entitled', and as such need a serious reality check if you want to actually do well in the civil service, as a civil servant. If you can't hack that challenge, go to the private sector.

The difference is that if you get a placement / location in the fast stream it only lasts for six months; while you could move elsewhere from a job with DAS, it would happen further away in the future and is dependent on a successful application rather than an guaranteed process.

Indeed that is partly true, but I don't agree on the time. The only barrier to progressing is one's own motivations and determination.

It is very sad that you had those experiences, and amazing that you managed to get out of that situation and join the fast stream, but that does not mean that other members of this forum are not going through hard times. I do not think that anyone is not appreciative of what the direct scheme could offer them, I myself have wanted to join the civil service, particularly the HMRC, since my A Level days, and now am so happy that it might potentially happen. This has meant that the wait while our posts are being finalised has been quite stressful, and things such as explaining why I am not job searching, after graduating, to people who do not understand the process has been awkward.

The direct appointment scheme is a completely different opportunity than the fast stream, for me it would work out better as I prefer to stay in one place. But for others they applied for a higher salary, and more progression, so exchanging one plan for another is hard without much information being given to us.

I personally feel that your initial post was intended to provoke other members on this thread, which is unfair, and as a new member of TSR surprising, as I thought this site and thread in particular was amazing for providing support and information in a stressful time. You are now asking for personal attacks to be stopped, but the initial attack was you calling everyone self entitled without knowing their circumstances.

I hope everyone hears back about their DAS soon so this speculation can end.

so?

. I just want to point out that these self-entitled attitudes illustrate how people really don't know how lucky they are, and they should, because the vast majority of people will never get the opportunities we do.