Still wanting to make a difference now you’re moving back into civilian life? One of the UK’s largest employers is on the look-out for flexible, adaptable and skilled people. So could you be a civil servant?

As a member of the Armed Forces you have at least one thing in common with the BBC’s weather presenters (who are actually employed by the Met Office), the taxman and British diplomats around the world. You are a servant of the Crown, and – whatever your political affiliation – you’ve been spending your days working for the government. As you make your way through resettlement, have you considered serving your country in a civilian role?

Of course, you might not immediately think of the civil service as offering the kind of exciting, dynamic career you’ve previously been used to – memories of TV comedy Yes, Minister linger to this day. However, as one of the biggest employers in the UK, you may well be surprised by the range of jobs the civil service offers. Providing independent and dedicated support to the UK government in Westminster – and also the devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast – the civil service touches everybody’s lives in one way or another. That includes the frontline delivery of many vital services.

Civil servants work in areas as diverse as healthcare, education, benefits and pensions, food safety, and transport. Even within one department, opportunities can be varied: HM Revenue and Customs, for example, collects taxes, pays out tax credits, and works to ensure that no one brings anything into the country that they shouldn’t. As a result, HMRC not only employs administrative staff, lawyers and accountants, but also takes on people such as designers and customs officers (usually seen at ports and airports) and even manages its own fleet of small boats that patrol British waters.

Despite recent cut-backs in the total number of employees, the civil service currently employs the equivalent of more than 500,000 full-time staff within 173 departments and executive agencies. In terms of people employed, the four biggest departments by far are the Department for Work and Pensions (which employs more than one in five of all civil servants), HM Revenue and Customs, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office (which includes the Prison Service in England and Wales). But the civil service also includes bodies as diverse as the Charity Commission, Fisheries Research Services, the Highways Agency, MI5, Ordnance Survey and the Royal Mint.

Much of the work in the civil service, particularly at junior levels, can be office based – working 37 hours a week on routine clerical and administrative tasks – but this very much depends on the department you join; after all, you could equally be working as a driving instructor, customs officer, wildlife/forestry worker, coastguard, museum employee, or in Kew Gardens! More senior roles are likely to include elements of budgetary responsibility, policy planning, and – again, depending upon department – giving advice to ministers or senior officials.

GETTING IN
All UK civil service jobs are open to British nationals, and roughly three in four are also open to Commonwealth citizens and nationals from the European Union and the European Economic Area. Although it is often assumed that most civil servants live and work in London, the opposite is true; fewer than one in five (18%) does so, with employment opportunities available across the UK.

Apart from a central recruitment website (www.careers.civil-service.gov.uk), there is no single route to enter the civil service; individual departments and agencies are responsible for their own recruitment policies and staffing requirements, although the Cabinet Office – which primarily supports the Prime Minister in Downing Street – also has overall responsibility for ensuring the civil service meets current commitments towards achieving a more diverse and representative workforce.

Vacancies are usually advertised in JobCentre Plus offices, local and regional newspapers and online through both department websites and the centralised recruitment site. Because of the vast range of careers offered through the civil service, it is nigh on impossible to summarise the range of qualifications needed; these vary significantly and it is possible to enter the civil service at various levels.

If you are leaving the Armed Forces with few paper qualifications it is possible to join as a junior staff member, assuming you can pass civil service aptitude tests to prove your ability in areas such as teamwork, communication and number skills – all of which are likely to have been sharpened during your military career. Necessary training is normally provided in-house, with staff often given the opportunity to earn relevant vocational qualifications such as N/SVQs in business and administration. If you can show you have had leadership or managerial experience from your time in the Armed Forces, you might be able to start off as a junior manager in charge of a team; alternatively, you can rise up to and beyond this level through internal promotion.

GRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES
While there are several recruitment schemes aimed at graduates with specific qualifications (such as in accountancy and law), departments such as HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury and the Highways Agency also run their own graduate recruitment schemes where the degree subject may not be as significant a factor.

Every year, around 500 graduates (with a minimum qualification of a 2:2 honours degree in any subject) are accepted for the civil service fast stream; this is an accelerated training and development programme lasting up to two years and designed to prepare graduates for managerial careers at the highest levels of the civil service. During their training, fast streamers are given intensive placements in a range of departments and agencies – as policy advisers, project leaders, consultants and researchers – in order to give them the widest possible experience in preparation for their future leadership role.

There are five options on the fast stream. The general graduate fast stream is in turn split into distinct streams for the main government departments (except for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office), science and engineering, Europe, the Diplomatic Service, the Department for International Development and clerkships in Parliament. There are also fast streams for economists, statisticians, technologists in business and those looking to work in the Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ). Competition for places is always fierce, but it is important to note that there is no age limit on those entering the fast stream programme and successful entrants come from a wide variety of backgrounds. In the modern civil service, just as in the Armed Forces, promotion is based on merit.

WORKING IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
The modern civil service is a far cry from the clichéd suits, dusty offices and
paper-filled in-trays of the popular imagination. Basic positions require people with good verbal and written communication skills, the ability to work well as part of a team and to follow instructions accurately and in detail; managerial roles require the ability to lead and motivate a team. And you aren’t automatically bound to be stuck behind a desk; civil servants can be found in airports, living overseas, meeting the public, visiting farms, at sea or working in labs – anywhere in the country.

Although civil service salaries can be lower than in the private sector, there are compensations; despite recent government promises to cut staff numbers, job security remains higher than in the private sector and the civil service continues to offer flexible working initiatives ranging from flexi-time to job-sharing, part-time work, career breaks and help with childcare.

Civil service pensions are still index-linked (although those joining the civil service from July 2007 will not be able to start collecting their pensions – based only on their average salary – until they are 65 years old, in contrast to the existing system where pensions are based on final salaries and can be collected from the age of 60). There are also excellent opportunities to gain appropriate training at no cost to the individual; indeed, the civil service, like the Armed Forces, has been awarded Investors In People status, and has in place clear promotion structures linked with well-established appraisal systems. And, also like the Armed Forces, some departments can offer access to a wide range of sports and social facilities.

PAY AND PROSPECTS
Decisions about salaries and staff grades are made by individual departments and agencies, but roughly half of all staff earn between £15k and £25k. On entry, administrative assistants/officers usually earn around £15k a year; junior managers can earn £19.5k while, with further experience and good performance, middle managers tend to be on at least £30k. Fast track civil servants in London currently start on £24.5k, with annual increases depending on performance and promotion. After five years they could be earning roughly £39k.

“Movement between departments is encouraged these days and also movement between the public and private sector,” says the Cabinet Office, which has overall responsibility for civil service operations. “Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, is a big advocate of civil servants getting the breadth of experience that different roles, departments and sectors can offer, rather than staying in the one area for a lifetime. That is just part of modern life.”

SERVANTS OF THE CROWN
Today’s civil service is a modern organisation that – one way or another – affects the lives of everyone in the country, either directly through the delivery of services or indirectly by its work helping governments formulate and deliver their policies. As a result, it looks for the best people around – people who are flexible, adaptable, fast, passionate and professional.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Government Skills (the Sector Skills Council for Central Government)
020 7276 1611
www.government-skills.gov.uk

Civil Service Careers Gateway
www.careers.civil-service.gov.uk