Steven Collins, a pharmacist who is a Government Minister's private secretary, offers an account of his experience of the Civil Service. He says that the best Civil Servants have "being intelligent and helpful" as their raison d'être
Graduates in the Civil Service can work in any Department, from agriculture to defence, either in administration and management or as professional specialists. Pharmacists are most likely to be interested in the Department of Health.
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Steven Collins fills the Ministerial red boxes |
The NHS Executive also has regional offices, which deal with performance, management and development of parts of the NHS in England. These offices are in places like Birmingham and Bristol, and the NHS Executive itself is based in Leeds, so geography need not deter any aspirant. Other parts of the Department include the social care group (with the Social Services Inspectorate) and areas such as the private offices, where I work.
Work in the Department can also includes a number of interesting one-off projects. Before I became a Minister's private secretary, I was secretary to an investigation into an organ donation incident that happened a little while ago. It is all pretty fascinating stuff and, I suspect, typical of the work that goes on in the other Government Departments.
So what is a Civil Service career like?
In my experience, it is never dull. My Civil Service career started with a move from a combined acute and community trust in Mid-Sussex into one of the regional offices. Regional offices are quite a good place to begin. I started in the Department looking after waiting lists, booked admissions and the like for the South East region, but quite quickly got poached for the organs investigation. After that, I applied for my current private secretary role and was successful. It is not hard at all to find interesting work in a Government department, if you are flexible.
Many people work their way up through the ranks, either in the policy areas or as specialists. For example, junior managers can work their way up through these general areas. In the Department of Health, policy areas include emergency services, pharmacy, NHS Direct, information technology, HIV, and so on.
One way for graduates to achieve this quickly is via the "fast-stream". This is for those with exceptional ability. Of the 29,000 people who join the Civil Service each year, about 300 entrants are in the fast stream. They change jobs every 12-18 months and can be seconded to the European Union or a voluntary or industrial body. More details on this are available on the recruitment website.
In my experience, unless recruited directly from university, it is easier to obtain a fixed-term contract or secondment than to obtain a permanent contract. Securing a permanent contract is more difficult because of recruitment rules unique to the Civil Service. These rules mean that permanent posts have to be widely advertised to ensure appointments are fair. So if you are on secondment of a fixed-term contract, you cannot just convert to a permanent post.
Those who are not sure if the Civil Service will suit them may find it possible to arrange to shadow a role or even a secondment. Many parts of the Department of Health (and I dare say other departments) offer this opportunity. Depending on where you go, you may need security clearance, but it would be valuable to try this if you are considering a career (or part of one) in the Civil Service. Similarly, undergraduates could try for work experience or vacation jobs or might even think of going for a sandwich course in the first place. Details of this are also available on the website.
The first place to look is the Civil Service recruitment website (see panel). This has answers to a lot of frequently asked questions, including who can join the Civil Service, returning after a break and pension benefits. It also has a number of current vacancies. On the day I last looked (New Year's Day), the jobs advertised included project managers of various seniorities, junior managers, technical jobs, team leaders and business controllers. These were in many departments, eg, health, defence, agriculture and the Foreign Office, and with salaries ranging from £16,000 to £44,000). |
Careers information is available on the webA useful source of information is the Civil Service recruitment website at http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/civilservice-recruitment (the Cabinet Office is the Government department which co-ordinates cross-Government initiatives). The website provides information on contact names, main stream/fast stream, departments, current vacancies, etc. |
Of course a number of posts are advertised nationally, typically in specialist journals (for example, NHS regional office and other NHS Executive jobs usually appear in the Health Service Journal and national newspapers, such as the Guardian). There are also careers fairs, typically in the autumn.
The website says that actuaries, information officers and lawyers (for each of which there are central management units) can contact the relevant unit for more information. Other specialists and those considering general administration can write to the department or agency in which they are interested. Only the individual departments have full details of their work and recruitment plans.
Anyone who is not sure which department or agency offers the best interest can contact Civil Service Careers, Ship Shape Promotional Handling Ltd, Units 2-4, Lescren Way, Avonmouth, Bristol BS11 8DG (tel 0117 982 1171, fax 0117 982 2444). This organisation also provides the following publications: "A brief guide to Government departments and agencies"; "Vacation employment and visits for students 1999"; "Sandwich course placements in Government departments and agencies 1999-2000"; "Self-assessment programme - fast stream self-assessment"; and fact sheets covering the work of most departments, agencies and career options.
Finally, Capita RAS (Innovation Court, New Street, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 7JB, tel 01256 383757/3759) also carries out some Civil Service recruitment. Departments do not have to use this recruitment agency and many do not. However, it does have information on current recruitment schemes.
My recommendation to anyone considering a move into the Civil Service is to be bold, think broad (the Department of Trade and Industry, Home Office, Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Medical Research Council, Ministry of Defence, and lots of others would all benefit from pharmacists), to dig around for information and, if successful, to have fun.
Steven Collins is private secretary to Gisela Stuart (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health)