• This topic has 14 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 1 year ago by reeksy.
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  • WWSTD?
  • mrsheen
    Free Member

    Early 40s. Nearly 20 years civil service in project roles and last decade in digital/data. It’s not gone how I’d hoped and I’ve sort of done things in reverse i.e ten years in London in modern govt dept with tonnes of opportunity then moved back ‘home’ to jobs where my experience hasn’t been used/useful. I do good work and bright but find promotion hard at interview stage and tbh there’s few jobs that appeal. I’m not outgoing and the idea of management isn’t for me which rules me out of plenty of civil service roles. I’m good at excel, data, web content and learning the powerplatform. I just don’t know if my heart is in the civil service especially being the same grade for so long. I do my job standing on my head and my manager is part of the furniture and wants both an easy life and all of the power which is why they’ve got rid of the grades above me. He’s no drive other than to save his arse. That’s not my problem but it doesn’t help especially when other teams have a better grade mix and promotions based on skills. I think he just wants to show his importance to his superiors which is fair enough.

    I think the time in the sector, my role being easy to do and manager indifference has made me wonder more than ever ‘what next?’
    I love working on my own, I’m not good in loud offices but have no idea what’s suitable. I’d retrain, study for the right career. I feel my brain turning to mush. In my weaker moments I think of teaching but that’d drive me nuts I think.

    Hope any of this makes sense and thanks for any help.

    TheDTs
    Free Member

    See a recruitment person, see what roles they have?

    weeksy
    Full Member

    You need to polish up your CV. Maybe give you skills a dust up.

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    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    If you are not outgoing and don’t like loud offices I would suggest you avoid teaching

    leffeboy
    Full Member

    See a recruitment person, see what roles they have

    Is a really good idea.  We’ve been advertising my job for about 9 months now and just not finding many candidates so we started talking to a recruitment consultant.  She was able to work out the profile of people who could do the job although they might not normally apply for it and then call them and chat to them about it.  Still haven’t found a replacement but getting a wider range of candidates than before.  So give it a shot, there will be stuff out there you just don’t know about.  If the consultant is wrong and just bunging any old job at you then change them

    footflaps
    Full Member

    I’m good at excel, data, web content and learning the powerplatform.

    Pretty generic and useful skills – the whole planet runs on Excel as far as I can tell…

    Shouldn’t be hard finding something else to do.

    mrchrist
    Full Member

    Try contracting?

    3x the pay and none if the responsibility.

    dyna-ti
    Full Member

    Spying for the Russians ?.

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    Nearly 20 years civil service…… It’s not gone how I’d hoped

    Are you a younger version of me?

    I’m waiting for Boris to offer redundancy to 20% of the Civil Service. Given his usual level of incompetence I expect it will be ridiculously generous 🙄

    batfink
    Free Member

    I don’t want to sound overly harsh – but it sounds like you just need to give yourself a bit of a kick in the pants.

    If you want a new job – as above, talk to a recruitment agent. 15 minutes of googling and a couple of phone calls – done. You’ll have a decent idea of the market for your skills in less time than it took to write your original post. Maybe a bit longer if you need to update your CV.

    Don’t get me wrong, I fully sympathize with people stuck in a bit of a rut with their job (as it sounds like you are) – but you already know what you have to do, you didn’t need strangers on the internet to tell you……. just get on and do it.

    In my weaker moments I think of teaching but that’d drive me nuts I think.

    No.

    FuzzyWuzzy
    Full Member

    Data Scientists seem in high demand at the moment and might be a good fit for your skillset (although you might need to go into a Data Analyst or whatever the more junior role is first). There’s certainly government roles for them to if you didn’t want to switch to private sector.

    stwhannah
    Full Member

    If you’re job is so easy, compress your hours and enjoy the extra free time until there’s a redundancy opportunity? Civil service jobs (and pensions) are not to be sniffed at.

    dave661350
    Full Member

    Dying inside while working/waiting 25 more years for a pension wouldn’t be my chosen option. Go with the ‘speak to a recruitment bod’ suggestion.

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    just do what I do … hang on in there and go through the motions every day, dying and crying a little inside and wait for those fleeting moments of joy on every bike ride and time with the kids.

    reeksy
    Full Member

    If you don’t know what you want to do I strongly recommend getting What colour is your parachute, and following the book and all its exercises to the letter. My wife and I have done this and have pretty much landed in the exact careers we want in our early 40s.

    … I realise this sounds like a weird American evangelist cult or an attempt to sell you something, but I promise you it’s not! (Or your money back)

    Added benefit is you may not ever need to apply for a job or see a recruitment agent.

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