civil service or Big 4?
Hi
I have been offered a graduate job both on the generalist civil service fast stream and audit within one of the big 4. I am not sure which job to take and am not too certain of my career path, I'd like to choose whichever keeps the most options open.
Pros of Big 4: I already completed a placement year there so I would say I'm about 40% of the way through the ACA- now I have already put in that time and effort is it worth finishing? I don't think I want to be in audit forever- what other options does it open up?
The starting salary is higher and also increases each year over the rest of the grad scheme. Whereas in the CS I think I am on roughly the same salary for a couple of years.
I also know what I'm letting myself in for with the company- although it was hard work there I got on well with my colleagues.
Pros of civil service: no exams and probably more interesting projects than audit, which I am not particularly interested in. But as I would be on the generalist scheme I am worried about this stunting my career progression. What options do I have as my career progresses?
Is it possible to get into the civil service later down the line?
I have been offered a graduate job both on the generalist civil service fast stream and audit within one of the big 4. I am not sure which job to take and am not too certain of my career path, I'd like to choose whichever keeps the most options open.
Pros of Big 4: I already completed a placement year there so I would say I'm about 40% of the way through the ACA- now I have already put in that time and effort is it worth finishing? I don't think I want to be in audit forever- what other options does it open up?
The starting salary is higher and also increases each year over the rest of the grad scheme. Whereas in the CS I think I am on roughly the same salary for a couple of years.
I also know what I'm letting myself in for with the company- although it was hard work there I got on well with my colleagues.
Pros of civil service: no exams and probably more interesting projects than audit, which I am not particularly interested in. But as I would be on the generalist scheme I am worried about this stunting my career progression. What options do I have as my career progresses?
Is it possible to get into the civil service later down the line?
Reply 1
19
I'm a bit late, but you DO NOT want to give up a big 4 offer for Generalist FS. I would consider Finance FS or NAO Grad scheme, but generalist FS is the worst of all CS grad schemes. In this day and age you want to be technical and irreplaceable. Policy advisory is one of those jobs with low barrier to entry, no technical skills, and bad exit opportunities.
Generalist
Civil service pay has declined every year (in real terms) since the financial crisis and the condition is not going to get better with constant talks of efficiencies and levelling-up. Policy is the worst hit because they are expendable, anyone with a 3rd class humanities degree from SOAS whose work experience comprised of being a TSR Volunteer can come in as an HEO policy advisor and BS their way up through the behaviour-based interviews, but professions like Finance and Analysts are much more selective.
Unless you are one of those super keen and enthused people (you don't sound like one to me), G7 is about the role you will retire at. The job is ****-easy compared to big 4, but your day will be filled with pointless meetings and writing emails and writing repetitive briefing papers. This is no less draining than long hours at audit.
CS roles are all externally competed nowadays, and the higher-up you go the more people came from industry. The 'exclusive internal jobs' are a myth, those are TPs and your manager is highly likely to reject the transfer.
The G7 jobs are not going anywhere, and being an internal candidate doesn't give you advantages anymore, in fact, even managers are impressed by names like McKinsey. Plus, an ACA opens you up to the finance jobs, but being a Policy advisor you need to have a real passion, know fully what it entails, and do it for life. If you just did it as a stab in the dark because work-life balance or something then you will suffer when you reach 30, exit ops are extremely limited, because all recruiters know you had an easy life with little technical skill developed in your youth.
There are so many CS finance roles that pay better and require accountancy qual, and they love recruiting ex-Big 4s. you need to do your research to see if any excites you https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/professions/working-in-finance/
Personally most G7 people I saw in the CS are over 40, and you are going to have a hard time finding relatable people in the team. In Big 4 everyone is in their 20's and there's so much youth energy to make you feel like being young again. CS is a job I'd move over to when I hit late 30's with 3 children and a wife, that seemed to be most people's plan.
Generalist
•
Only requires a 2.2 and doesn't have a final selections board, ever wondered why?
•
No exit options - Some say management consulting but do you have CIMA? Why don't you start with Big4 or MBB if you wanted to do consulting?
•
No marketable skills when trying to exit - You only have 'soft skills' to show, which are neither quantifiable nor unique to your profession
•
Most saturated - SEO application ratio 1:100, all perm roles are externally competed nowadays. The notion of a guaranteed G7 is a lie because you still have to compete at interviews, and trust me a lot of fast streamers do poorly even for entry-level SEO roles let alone G7. They will eventually hand you something if you fail to get any offers, but are you willing to move to Darlington? Coz you ain't getting the good Whitehall ones.
Civil service pay has declined every year (in real terms) since the financial crisis and the condition is not going to get better with constant talks of efficiencies and levelling-up. Policy is the worst hit because they are expendable, anyone with a 3rd class humanities degree from SOAS whose work experience comprised of being a TSR Volunteer can come in as an HEO policy advisor and BS their way up through the behaviour-based interviews, but professions like Finance and Analysts are much more selective.
Unless you are one of those super keen and enthused people (you don't sound like one to me), G7 is about the role you will retire at. The job is ****-easy compared to big 4, but your day will be filled with pointless meetings and writing emails and writing repetitive briefing papers. This is no less draining than long hours at audit.
CS roles are all externally competed nowadays, and the higher-up you go the more people came from industry. The 'exclusive internal jobs' are a myth, those are TPs and your manager is highly likely to reject the transfer.
The G7 jobs are not going anywhere, and being an internal candidate doesn't give you advantages anymore, in fact, even managers are impressed by names like McKinsey. Plus, an ACA opens you up to the finance jobs, but being a Policy advisor you need to have a real passion, know fully what it entails, and do it for life. If you just did it as a stab in the dark because work-life balance or something then you will suffer when you reach 30, exit ops are extremely limited, because all recruiters know you had an easy life with little technical skill developed in your youth.
There are so many CS finance roles that pay better and require accountancy qual, and they love recruiting ex-Big 4s. you need to do your research to see if any excites you https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/professions/working-in-finance/
Personally most G7 people I saw in the CS are over 40, and you are going to have a hard time finding relatable people in the team. In Big 4 everyone is in their 20's and there's so much youth energy to make you feel like being young again. CS is a job I'd move over to when I hit late 30's with 3 children and a wife, that seemed to be most people's plan.
Reply 2
Original post
by alana1234567Hi
I have been offered a graduate job both on the generalist civil service fast stream and audit within one of the big 4. I am not sure which job to take and am not too certain of my career path, I'd like to choose whichever keeps the most options open.
Pros of Big 4: I already completed a placement year there so I would say I'm about 40% of the way through the ACA- now I have already put in that time and effort is it worth finishing? I don't think I want to be in audit forever- what other options does it open up?
The starting salary is higher and also increases each year over the rest of the grad scheme. Whereas in the CS I think I am on roughly the same salary for a couple of years.
I also know what I'm letting myself in for with the company- although it was hard work there I got on well with my colleagues.
Pros of civil service: no exams and probably more interesting projects than audit, which I am not particularly interested in. But as I would be on the generalist scheme I am worried about this stunting my career progression. What options do I have as my career progresses?
Is it possible to get into the civil service later down the line?
I have been offered a graduate job both on the generalist civil service fast stream and audit within one of the big 4. I am not sure which job to take and am not too certain of my career path, I'd like to choose whichever keeps the most options open.
Pros of Big 4: I already completed a placement year there so I would say I'm about 40% of the way through the ACA- now I have already put in that time and effort is it worth finishing? I don't think I want to be in audit forever- what other options does it open up?
The starting salary is higher and also increases each year over the rest of the grad scheme. Whereas in the CS I think I am on roughly the same salary for a couple of years.
I also know what I'm letting myself in for with the company- although it was hard work there I got on well with my colleagues.
Pros of civil service: no exams and probably more interesting projects than audit, which I am not particularly interested in. But as I would be on the generalist scheme I am worried about this stunting my career progression. What options do I have as my career progresses?
Is it possible to get into the civil service later down the line?
Hi there, just out of interest - which did you go for and would you recommended your choice?! I’m in the same situation. Cheers
Reply 3
Having worked at PwC for a number of years, and recently moved to Civil Service, I'm in somewhat of a position to provide a view on this.The workplace politics, bureaucracy, slowness to adapt etc. is something you'll find at both. Both have extremely limited options for promotion within a role. One point of distinction is how the value of your work is measured. While both are concerned with the bottom line, the principle metric at the big four is profit/revenue (in fact the amount of money you are bringing in is the core component of any (attempted promotion case). Meanwhile the the principle metric in any public sector job is social benefit. It's for that reason that I made the move.
Reply 4
19
Original post
by Johnsmith123457Having worked at PwC for a number of years, and recently moved to Civil Service, I'm in somewhat of a position to provide a view on this.The workplace politics, bureaucracy, slowness to adapt etc. is something you'll find at both. Both have extremely limited options for promotion within a role. One point of distinction is how the value of your work is measured. While both are concerned with the bottom line, the principle metric at the big four is profit/revenue (in fact the amount of money you are bringing in is the core component of any (attempted promotion case). Meanwhile the the principle metric in any public sector job is social benefit. It's for that reason that I made the move.
Doesn't sound like Audit to me. Audit grads should get their first promotion 6-9 months after joining, then annually up to manager. After manager it becomes infinitely harder, but so is the jump from G7 to SCS.
If you don't mind me asking, you probably went straight to G7 right? If OP were to join the CS first then I wonder what rank do they qualify in PwC after say...3 years? My guess would be Analyst 1.
(edited 1 year ago)
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