Which qualifications are required?
A university degree might help you get ahead in certain roles, but the individual qualifications required should be listed on any job advert you see.
You don’t need a degree to work in every job. In fact, The Policy Officer Apprenticeship Standard is designed for people who haven’t been to university and it offers full-time work alongside a two-year learning and development programme.
There is also the Fast Stream, described as a “three-year accelerated career path to leadership with supported development”.
There are 15 different schemes to join, including commercial, finance or project delivery. However, you will need at least a 2:2 university degree to join, and a 2:1 for certain programmes.
How do you actually apply?
According to the civil service careers website, the most common route into the profession is via its online job finder.
It also says that name-blind recruitment is to be used for externally advertised jobs below the senior civil service, which is the Government’s executive leadership team. This means that applications need to be stripped of identifying information like your name, age and gender, along with your nationality, immigration status and which school or university you went to.
This was pushed by John Manzoni, the former Cabinet Secretary and chief executive of the civil service. At the time, he wrote: “Diversity is one of my key objectives. I am passionate about this agenda, because I believe that we must develop a civil service that reflects the public we serve.
“By removing the candidate’s name and other personal information, such as their nationality or the university they attended, we aim to ensure that people will be judged on merit and not on their background, race or gender.”
Exceptions can be made where there is a case to do so, such as for intelligence roles.
Are there any nationality requirements?
There are rules on who can work in the civil service. Anyone who’s a national of the UK, Republic of Ireland or a Commonwealth country would be eligible. Certain European Economic Arena, Swiss or Turkish nationals are too. This also applies to associations of these countries, such as a dependent territory.
There are sometimes other exceptions, which should be outlined on the job advert.
Only UK nationals may be employed in “reserved” posts. These are generally roles which, due to the sensitive nature of the work, require special allegiance to the Crown such that they can only be held by a UK national. This might include intelligence, national security or immigration.
Irish nationals and Commonwealth citizens are also eligible for employment in reserved posts if they were in the civil service at 31 May 1996 or before, or were appointed from a recruitment scheme with a closing date for receipt of applications before 1 June 1996.
What kind of experience and training is required?
Each job will outline the experience and training required. Given the vast range of jobs available, this varies significantly.
Ray’n Terry, of Totaljobs, a job listings platform, said: “Entry-level civil servants are subject to a training induction scheme, and all civil servants are entitled to at least five days of learning and development each year.”
How common is flexible working?
Flexible working is usually outlined in the job advert and features in most of them. It can include options like part-time working, job sharing and condensing hours to free up a day off during the week. Everyone has a legal right to ask their employer for flexible working, but there is no guarantee it will be successful.
Home working is also very common in the civil service, but it’s likely to vary by job, location and department. Generally, employees are required to spend 60pc of their time in the office.
Civil servants are among the workers most likely to favour working from home. It has also been a controversial issue since the Covid-19 pandemic, with ministers trying and failing to crack down on the practice.
HMRC in particular has received criticism for staff working from home. This has extended to expenditure on expensive new offices and equipment that staff are allegedly not using frequently.
Can you choose your working location?
Your working location will be clearly shown on the job you apply for. Some jobs offer the opportunity to work at a range of different sites.
As part of the Conservative government’s Levelling Up agenda, it has already moved more than 18,000 civil service jobs out of London. This is part of a target to move 22,000 from the capital to other areas of the UK by 2027.
Ms Terry added: “There is some degree of flexibility, with 80pc of job roles available outside of London. This allows for you to explore great opportunities even if you aren’t in the big city.”
What are the main perks?
A major benefit of working for the civil service is job security. Unlike employees who are beholden to the economic success of their employer, such as in a small business, the civil service is funded by the state.
Depending on where you work, you might also be eligible for a bonus, either as part of ongoing work or at the end of the year based on performance.
As already described, the civil service is generally open to flexible working – and comes with a generous pension (more on that below).
What are the worst parts of the job?
Members of the civil service point to the need to remain politically impartial, including restrictions on their own political activity, as something prospective employees should be prepared for.
Civil servants are also beholden to the decisions of ministers, who may have strong views despite a lack of knowledge or experience in the topic. It can also be difficult when what you’re required to do conflicts with your own personal beliefs.
Others point to bureaucracy and the difficulty in getting things done as a disadvantage.
How good is the pension scheme?
Alongside other public sector workers, civil servants enjoy pension scheme has been notoriously generous – with the public left to foot the bill for funding it. As part of a major shake-up of public sector pensions in 2015, the scheme for civil servants changed. When you join, you can opt for the alpha scheme or the partnership scheme.