The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Hope you get some help: but this is not the right thread for this question.
Reply 2
GES is very difficult to get into, particularly for diplomatic service (such as at Foreign Office). I applied way back in October, but withdrew my application because I got an offer of employment form elsewhere.

The process was so so intense. There's the online app form, tests, personality test, assessment day, fast stream e-tray/ assessment day. If you want to go for diplomatic service there's further interviews as well. I got through to the assessment centre but didn't actually go to it.

The thing is, you might not get your first choice of department and be asigned to a completley random one that hardly anyone's heard of! The pay is not great in some areas, but if you get into the FO it's much better. Most people go for Treasury which is paid the least. I think the one paid the most is ONS because it's all the way in Newport.

Personally I wouldn't do it because it's not worth all that work. However, those who are successful and work hard would find it extremely rewarding.
Reply 3
While, as mentioned above, the GES is very demanding, that isn't through competition. I went to the open day last year, and was told that while they have very high standards, they accept anyone who gets over them. However that applies to getting into the GES, not to getting specific placements. As said, the foreign office (and treasury) are much harder to get into, having earlier deadlines and being very oversubscribed.

I thought looking at it that the FCO actually paid one of the least! Strangely DfID pays very little too, since it's the only department that requires a masters.

So as said, an intense process, and difficult to get in, but competition isn't a problem, since they rarely recruit as many people as they want. Hence why they do a second recruitment from April. But everyone I know who went there has told me it's brilliant. The GES is part of faststream, so you can take normal faststream posts if you wish (and faststream is very, very oversubscribed, far more than GES). It's also very prestigious, and from what I've been told, pretty interesting work, if you like that sort of thing - you'll do varied placements, get to apply economics in many ways, etc.
Reply 4
A masters and phD would help in the sense that once you have been successful in the GES process, you have a wider variety of areas that you can work in (particularly more quantitative ones).

However, a PhD specifically gives you little advantage.

The knowledge that you need for the recruitment process is undergraduate 1st/2nd year microeconomics and macroeconomics and no more.
Reply 5
deeplyconfused
Drogue, did you apply? It really does sound like the kind of thing I'd like, because I want to "make a difference" and I love applying theory to real life situations.

Nope. I was sorely tempted to, but I had an offer from the FSA and didn't really want to bother with applying. I intend to work there at some point, but I wanted a varied career, and so which order didn't really bother me. Incidentally, if you're interested in applying econ to real world scenarios, the FSA has launched a new economics graduate programme, that's amazing. But there's only 1 or 2 places a year, so it's very tough to get on.

deeplyconfused
If they look for high standards, do you think a masters/PhD would help?

Yes. You get a higher salary with a masters for a start, and with a PhD you'd move far faster upwards. Generally, to go from Assistant Economist (ie. the first, usual grad level) to Economic Adviser requires either 3-5 years on the grad programme or some managerial experience elsewhere, as at this grade you'd likely have people under you. One of my friends joined straight from a PhD and was promoted to Economic Adviser in 6 months because of it. Having said that, if you get in first time, 3 years work experience is probably more valuable than a PhD, though a PhD does add a lot. Although IIRC the entrance is different for PhDs.

But as said, for general application, it's core micro and macro that's needed (especially micro), and the ability to apply and explain these concepts to an educated layman (ie. a minister).
Reply 6
deeplyconfused
I was also vaguely considering academia, and researching developing countries' economies. Or economic consultancies/NGOs that work with governments? Are those unrealistic goals?

Any other ideas for "save the world" type stuff with an Economics degree? Anyone?

Development economics requires a masters, and usually a PhD. It's interesting that DfID, the only GES department to require a masters, does so partly because all economists they'll work with will have at least that. The IMF and World Bank require PhDs or MScs and work experience. Economic consultancy is usually corporate-based. The developing ones are generally shells, they don't employ many economists, they find academic economists and hire them as consultants when they have specific projects. Generally to become anything in development economics, you need a lot of further study.

As for doing good, there's the typical UK-based GES, IFS, FSA and IPPR, who all hire economists for the public sector, though only the GES in large numbers. There are also some consultancies that do UK-based public economics, usually alongside corporate economics, such as NERA and OXERA. Other than that, it's academia.

If you're really serious about doing development or public economics, it's best to either start somewhere like the GES, or by getting ESRC funding for a PhD. The former idea is probably better if you're not 100% sure if you want to do it, as work in the GES is highly valued by non-economics employers, whereas a PhD in economics is less so. However the latter is probably the best if you're absolutely sure you want to do it, since you'd likely need a masters and probably a PhD at some point.
Anyone get in, or go through the September-December assessment centre?
PM Me if you have experience with GES. I have an interview in June with them!

Appreciate your help!
in_it_2_win_it
PM Me if you have experience with GES. I have an interview in June with them!

Appreciate your help!


I don't know if this will help but i had a student placement interview with GES about a year and a half ago. Although i didn't get in, the experience was good.

The only advice i can give you is make sure you are up to date with economic events currently especially things like inflation rates, interest rates, minimum wage rate etc (which goes without saying really). And in order to leave a good impression you must really be able to communicate well. Be intuitive and show that you can 'think like an economist'

Hope that helped..Good luck! Let me know how to goes
Reply 10
I think ive just passed the online test portion and just waiting for them to get back to me, I'd say that it is possibly a dream job for someone with a passion for economics, as not many economic graduates will actually get to use economics in their careers
djtindall
I think ive just passed the online test portion and just waiting for them to get back to me, I'd say that it is possibly a dream job for someone with a passion for economics, as not many economic graduates will actually get to use economics in their careers

when exactly did you apply? Was it for a student placement?
Did you receive the online test automatically after app submission?

Thanks ! :smile:
Reply 12
applied for economic assistant, passes the automatic online tests but failed at the sifting process
I applied for a summer internship and still have not heard anything back...should i consider myself rejected? :confused:
Hi everyone,

coming back with the good news...
just passed the sifting stage, and got invited for an interview with the GES...for the summer internship scheme...

Anyone been there and done that?
What kind of questions are they normally asking?
How much in depth do they go regarding economics-related stuff?
Any tips useful for preparation?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Hi all

There doesn’t seem to be much activity going on here for a while so this is more in hope than expectation!

Have the Economic Assessment Centre the end of June, going to the open day in a few weeks. Just wondering if anyone else is in the same position and how they are getting on?
just a question,

after my second year maybe a student placement at GES will be great but what jobs students can get after a first year of an economics degree?
On the off chance that someone reading this has their EAC coming up shortly, and so is trying to get their presentation together. Given that applicants are not in competition (at this stage) with eachother, I wouldnt mind sapping ideas or presentations for any tips or suggestions (in both directions obviously!).

if anyone is interested they can contact me directly.

Thanks.
Reply 18
Hey! Just wondering if anyone has any tips about how to prepare for a student summer scheme interview with the GES?? I recently applied and was told that I passed the sifting stage, with the possibility of an interview which I will be contacted about soon, but I'm not sure how I should prepare for it?! Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks! :biggrin: