employment in public sector

xirokx

xirokx

xirokx

Soldato
Joined
2 Oct 2004
Posts
4,362
Location
N.W London
Hi,

I have been offered a job in the public sector the reason I don't want to take it is because the money is a few thousand then what I can get in the private sector..

Otherwise it would be my first opportunity in the public sector and I am of the thinking I could move up / around quite easily thus after a year or so begin to earn the money I want..

I have no knowledge of how easy it is to move up or around when in the public sector so really need some advice whether to go forward and accept the role?

So to all you people working in the public sector please advise?

It's working in a procurement team within the NHS...

Thanks for any responses I receive..
 
I worked for the NHS for a year. Much of it was quite nice, some of it was very annoying. Lots of beaurocracy, red tape and idiots building their own little empires. But also lots of nice people and it was far from strict.

Promotion seems to be based on how long youve been there rather than ability.
 
Its often difficult to get out once you have been in the PS for a while - the type of work experience you get often isn't relevant to any other job.

As fox says, its full of people who couldn't hack it in the real world (in my experience) building their little empires. there was an O & M study in the finance dept where I worked to see if the local authority could save money on the accountancy function.

The conclusion was that the work done by the 88 people working there was only enough to keep 35 people busy so you would think that 50 jobs would be shed yes? NO! The interests of the taxpayer were ignored by taking ON another 6 part timers!

Any organisation that promotes on the basis of time served is fundamentally flawed.
 
I have worked in both sectors. Promotion in one is about how many arses you kiss, and the other how long you have been there.

Conclusion: it is much easier to work your way up by kissing arse.
 
Raymond Lin said:
On the plus side you get more holidays, less work, less stress (may be) and job security.
Click to expand...

Many of the people I worked with were made redundant. Infact for half the time I was there the only three people in the entire building who were not on the 'At Risk' list were me and the other two placement students!
 
Procurement of what?

I too worked in the NHS for a year. Its doesnt have the 'sell sell sell' atmosphere of a private firm, which is nice, but thats replaced with the 'save save save' atmosphere of a company that seems to always be in debt.

But yes, moving up is based entirely on how long you have been working there, and how far up your superiors rear you are. Nothing to do with skill.

Holidays are good though, 27 days a year plus bank holidays!

And your job is only secure untill the government reorganise things. While I was working there the PCTs went though there reorganisation. Merging 6 organisations into 1 is messy, and means lots of job losses. Was fun being a student and being one of the only people not worried about loosing my job :)
 
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holiday is on par with private cos(the ones ive worked for any way! currently on 25days plus bh.), the only difference is flexi tbh
 
Tenzen said:
holiday is on par with private cos(the ones ive worked for any way! currently on 25days plus bh.), the only difference is flexi tbh
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Wow! with all the abreviation and acronyms in that you could work for the NHS lol :)

Flexi time appeared to be a myth where I worked. I was told it didnt exist, but aslong as you worked 8 hours a day you could move it back or forward, yet other people were told they could have flexi if they wanted....


And some people just turned up late, left early and nobody seemed to care...
 
thanks for your responses, well received...

I hear what you guys have to say re: promotion is based on the length of time served unlike the private sector where you have to kiss arse...

Taking the above into consideration, could you kindly advise as to how generous the pay rises are? are pay rises once a year? or twice a year?

based on what you guys are saying I feel I should stay away as I had no idea PS promotes on length of time as opposed to skill....

thanks guys, would appreciate your thoughts re: pay structure..

cheers :)
 
how generous are payrises? 1K, 2K, 3K + ??

I know it differs as per the position but how could you find out? Also is it once or twice a year?

thanks
 
xirokx said:
based on what you guys are saying I feel I should stay away as I had no idea PS promotes on length of time as opposed to skill....
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it does. I was a supervisor within a couple of years at my old job when there were others who'd been there a lot longer than I. My current boss was also promoted ahead of people who'd been there a lot longer, simply because he was better at it. This is the police rather than the NHS tho.
I'd agree with everything else tho - there's definitely less pressure than private sector, less stress and usually better job security (there's always somewhere else to go), but you're often hamstrung by bureaucracy. Also the pay isn't great when compared to a similar job in the private sector, but there's no way I would have gotten into the private sector from where I started.
 
I've been working within the public sector (local government) for about 5 years and in several different departments.

I'm currently earning about double what I started on, but every promotion has been through applying for (and getting, of course) a new job based on my skills.

Most councils work pay rises on an incremental basis. You'll be employed on a certain pay grade, after 6 months you'll complete your probation period and be moved up one increment (usually 3-4 increments within each pay grade), then after another year moved up to the next increment, the year after another increment until you reach the highest increment for that pay grade.

Along with this then each year there is a cost of living increase. This is something which should happen in April, but due to local governments and the unions fighting tends to get put back until later in the year (although when it is introduced you get back pay to the start of the financial year). Last year we got the cost of living pay rise in December's pay packet and it was an impressive 2.475%. In your face inflation! :(

To those that say you work less and get less stress... Try running a service when both senior managers have left, you haven't been given all the information you need and the service is going through a restructure/tendering process :/
 
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