Job dilemma - accepted two jobs and now need to decide...

[Scaramouche]

Originally Posted by Pink_Fairy_Dust

Only thing I worry about with starting at Council and seeing how things go is if say the Civil Service did come back to me and its a bit more money than I think as per my post above, it would surely look bad on my CV having only been at the Council a short time, I've been unlucky enough to be made redundant in 2017 and 2019 so my CV is already looking a bit disjointed...

See more...

I wouldn’t worry about that.
Feb 2019 - left my job after two years due to being offered an exciting role.
April 2018 - left my job as the role as offered above was a lie and they admitted it when I was there.
May 2018 - started a new job
Feb 2019 - fixed term contract came to an end.
March 2019 - Started a new job - day 1 manager went “oh I hoped it wasn’t you. This job isn’t suited to you” as he knew me from the role I left in feb 2018. He was right. It was the most boring thing ever, soooo not for me.
September 2019 - offered a new job in a completely different industry altogether! No one was bothered by the job changes as I could explain them all. You can explain yours. I start my dream job in 3 weeks.

The checks for the civil service down south are contracted to an outside company and therefore it’s not a priority. I already had police clearance of a higher level than the prison service needed, but it still took 9 months.

Take the council job, make the decision when your vetting comes back and see how you feel then.

[Abbysmum]

Well done on getting two job offers, I'd go with Duchys idea and start at the council job but let the prison service do all their checks then you can decide. It's a great position to be in, you can see if you like the council job, if you get on with your colleagues etc and if not you know you've got something else to go to. Good luck x

[Munchkinmouse]

In my experience most civil service departments award their pay increases sometime between April and June. Not sure what was advertised when you applied but a quick look at cs jobs shows starting salary of 19054 for most AO admin jobs in prison & probation service 🙂

[zoe3003]

Sorry I’ve not read all of this but I would check about the civil service pay levels, the area I work in will advertise a job with a wage bracket but what ever level you go in at you stay at. There are pay rises (first one in about ten yrs last yr) but not pay spine increases. That said I get a good leave package and it’s easy to move between government departments and chances of promotion.

[mitch84]

Defo accept both, either can still fall through, nothing is certain. Start at the council, see how your probation goes and see if you like it.
If you are at the council for a short time and decide to leave, you could always drop it from your CV, and just have your redundancy gap slightly longer..
Congrats on both by the way

[sparklegirl]

The civil service pay award is different for each department. I work in HMRC now and we got ours paid this month backdated to June so it’s highly likely the pay has risen. There is no pay progression in some departments so don’t bank on being higher than the base. It’s important to note that when you get into civil service then yo7 have opportunities for moving across departments. In the 25 years I have been in I have worked in CSA then DWP then I left for a few years to local council, I cam back in to immigration enforcement then Bprder Force and now HMRC. I have done a wonderful variety of roles, got promotion a few times and had lots of training and opportunity. I wouldn’t swap it for anything despite all its flaws.

[Pink_Fairy_Dust]

Originally Posted by Scaramouche

I wouldn’t worry about that.
Feb 2019 - left my job after two years due to being offered an exciting role.
April 2018 - left my job as the role as offered above was a lie and they admitted it when I was there.
May 2018 - started a new job
Feb 2019 - fixed term contract came to an end.
March 2019 - Started a new job - day 1 manager went “oh I hoped it wasn’t you. This job isn’t suited to you” as he knew me from the role I left in feb 2018. He was right. It was the most boring thing ever, soooo not for me.
September 2019 - offered a new job in a completely different industry altogether! No one was bothered by the job changes as I could explain them all. You can explain yours. I start my dream job in 3 weeks.

The checks for the civil service down south are contracted to an outside company and therefore it’s not a priority. I already had police clearance of a higher level than the prison service needed, but it still took 9 months.

Take the council job, make the decision when your vetting comes back and see how you feel then.

See more...

Yeah I probs am overthinking the CV issue... as I do everything haha - good luck in your dream job, well done, not everyone can say they've achieved that!

[Pink_Fairy_Dust]

Originally Posted by Munchkinmouse

In my experience most civil service departments award their pay increases sometime between April and June. Not sure what was advertised when you applied but a quick look at cs jobs shows starting salary of 19054 for most AO admin jobs in prison & probation service 🙂

See more...

Ah thanks it probs has gone up a bit then :-)

[Pink_Fairy_Dust]

Originally Posted by sparklegirl

The civil service pay award is different for each department. I work in HMRC now and we got ours paid this month backdated to June so it’s highly likely the pay has risen. There is no pay progression in some departments so don’t bank on being higher than the base. It’s important to note that when you get into civil service then yo7 have opportunities for moving across departments. In the 25 years I have been in I have worked in CSA then DWP then I left for a few years to local council, I cam back in to immigration enforcement then Bprder Force and now HMRC. I have done a wonderful variety of roles, got promotion a few times and had lots of training and opportunity. I wouldn’t swap it for anything despite all its flaws.

See more...

Ah ok, I had assumed the pay was a bracket of pay points where you go up each year as it was in the University I worked in, so thats interesting to note that you may be on a fixed salary - thanks for the info on the opportunities within the Civil Service too :-)

[Mickie]

Pay progression (ie through the pay scale) is pretty dreadful in most civil service areas. We have people been in the same grade 15 years and still not reached the top!

If you are thinking about progression would you be happy to move away. Once in the civil service you can apply for other jobs but I suspect from what you say there won’t be a lot of opportunities in the prison service so are there other civil service departments near you or would you be happy to move? The council probably would have more opportunities in the local area. And yes unbelievable as it is 6-9 months is typical for checks although that varies.

You owe both of these prospective employers nothing. Trust me if it ever comes to redundancies your loyalty will count for nothing. I would let both applications run until you get an absolutely firm offer of employment with a contract, and I’d probably take whichever one got to that stage first.

If prisons are as bad at clearance as everyone else that might give you 3-9 months to test the council job out, and if it turned out you hated it you can always move. Don’t worry about length of time in the post, If you moved and then stayed in the civil service no one will ever look at you cv or pre civil service employment again!