| Product: |
My Experiences and Advice |
| Date: |
22.07.02 (788 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: see op
Disadvantages: see op
The Fast Stream is the civil service graduate recruitment scheme. It has a reputation of being terribly Oxbridge and awfully difficult. They're both true - to an extent. The Oxbridge thing is something that they're really working on, but it just turns out that people who've spent three years having a tutorial each week do better in intellectual type interviews than other people, on average. Not surprising, since they've had tons more practice. And it is statistically a very tough selection process - about 0.5% were successful, the year I did it.
But please, don't let this put you off. I've been in the civil service for nearly three years now, and I've done some really interesting stuff. Plus, I feel that I'm making a difference - its quite scary the first time you realise that you've persuaded a Minister to do something! The pay isn't fantastic, but its not that bad either (it starts at around £19k - less outside London) and the variety is huge.
But let me start at the beginning.
SELECTION PROCESS
First of all, you need to have (or expect) a 2:2 or higher from a good university. Then you do a full day of multiple choice papers. These cover personality traits (not marked, but used if you're called for interview), maths skill (mostly arithmetic, percentages and the like) and verbal reasoning. These are not easy. I found the maths one absolutely awful - in fact, I came very close to walking out at lunchtime, convinced that I'd failed it.
However, there are practice papers (available from any university careers service). These are really, really useful, especially if you're doing a very arty/ sciency degree and haven't done anything with words/ figures for a good few years. They sort of get your brain back into gear. In fact, they were so good that I did them twice - with a decent interval in between so as to forget the answers. ;-)
Once you'v
e done the multiple choice papers (called the Qualifying Test) you wait to hear if you've got through to the next round. If you have, you go off for two days to something called CSSB (pronounced Sisbee, and standing for Civil Service Selection Board). This consists of a series of interviews, group work and written exams, much like any other blue-chip assessment centre. You basically have to remember that you're being watched all the time, have a clear idea of why you're there and make sure you neither dominate your group nor fade into the wallpaper.
CHOOSING A DEPARTMENT
If you are accepted after CSSB, you will be assigned to a Department. This is a bit hit and miss - you get to express your preferences (you rank three departments as 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice) but some are over-subscribed (eg Overseas Development) and others have the opposite problem. As with many things in the civil service, you pretty much go where you're put, so don't agonise over your choices too much.
So, you get assigned a Department and off you go to see Fast Stream personnel. They check you out (its not quite an interview, more of a check that you seem sensible and will fit in) and then give you a posting and a starting date.
YOUR FIRST POSTING
Fast Stream postings are meant to be in high profile areas, with plenty of exposure to Ministers and senior officials, and lots of support to help you learn very fast. This is the theory. Not all first postings are like this, and you can end up stuck in a backwater being treated like a glorified PA. Or you could end up organising the publication of a major policy document (eg a White Paper) in your first week. Its rather unpredictable!
MORE POSTINGS
Once you've spent about a year in your first post, you will want to move on and gain experience elsewhere. Your Personnel department will
help, but in the end its often your own contacts that are most
successful in getting you what you want. If you like, you can move outside your Department and go to a voluntary organisation, or a local office (in Department of Work and Pensions) or a hospital trust (in Department of Health) or another Government Department (such as Cabinet Office). This is one of the major advantages of the Fast Stream - even within one Department the choice of posts is huge, within the entire civil service its enormous.
After about three to five years in the Fast Stream, you will look to get promoted. This is arranged differently in different Departments, but basically you get interviewed and possibly go to an assessment centre (again!). This takes you to what is called Grade 7, at which point your pay rises to about £30k, you manage a small team and you carry the can for an entire policy area. The downside is that you can end up working very long hours, as at this point the buck stops with you.
WHY CHOOSE THE FAST STREAM?
Well, its not for the money, though its no longer as piddling as it was when I joined (range is now about £19k to £30k). I suppose for me its the huge variety, the feeling that I'm doing something for the public good, the adrenaline rush when you're passing notes to your Minister on the floor of the House of Commons and the intellectual challenge of inventing policy from scratch.
And the downside? Well, the long hours culture is alive and well, and if you work directly for Ministers or on a team taking a Bill through the House of Commons you will work 14 hour days as standard. Plus weekends. The bureaucracy involved in getting a new password for your e-mail account has to be experienced to be believed. Of course, there are some bad managers in the civil service, as there are everywhere. And sometimes you don't agree with the decisions politicians make (that's why I don't comment on politics on doo
yoo - can't separate the civil servant from the private
citizen that easily, certainly not in the media's mind).
I would recommend this as a career for anyone who likes intellectual challenge, can focus on objectives and deliver them and can cope with the bureaucracy of a large organisation. This is not for the free spirits - but for those of us who like to know we've got decent pensions and a say in national policy - its perfect!
USEFUL URL
This is a site which tells you all you need to know about applying to the Fast Stream.
www.faststream.gov.uk
PS Sorry if this is in the wrong place - I couldn't find a more suitable category for a general op on the Fast Stream. Let me know if you think there's a better place for this. Thanks.
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