Good morning and welcome to this week’s Discuss HR.
After a number of years absence BBCs The Apprentice has an HR professional amongst its contestants. Whether she will be successful remains to be seen. What is interesting is that once again we have no professionals from the Public Sector. Last year’s show included a number of unemployed people to reflect the state of the economy, yet this year Public Sector employees have been overlooked. Could this be to a perceived idea that they lack commercial understanding of the private sector?
It is on that note I am delighted to welcome our next guest writer. Wendy Mason is a performance and change specialist who has been doing sterling work helping Public Sector employees break into the private sector. (Ed Scrivener)
Help! I’m leaving the Public Sector!
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| Outplacement support has changed |
I’ve been blogging for a few years now mainly on leadership and change. But recently I’ve established a new blog especially for people leaving the UK public service under the latest round of government “cuts”.
As often happens, one key event triggered me to take action.
I was at an event in one of the central government departments when I came across an old colleague; someone I liked and respected very much. Let us call him John. John joined the Civil Service straight from university. He is both middle aged (50) and middle class and he wouldn’t mind me using those terms. For me, he represents much that is good about public servants! He is hard working and committed to delivering his best; he is kind and has an unshakeable sense of fairness.
Having survived several earlier rounds of cuts, he has chosen to put hard work, energy and emotion into staying in the Civil Service until the age of sixty. Among other things he has a young child from a late second marriage who will need to be supported for at least the next ten years and possibly longer! So above all John craves security!
He has managed to survive efficiency drives and re-organizations, sometimes by the skin of his teeth. But he has managed it. This time he knows there is something different and he will have to go!
Having spent the last thirty years around the Whitehall village, the prospect of life outside is daunting and he is very nervous!
We chatted and I gave him my card, offering to share my own experience of going. We arranged to have coffee.
When I got home, I started to think about John and all the others like him there in Whitehall, plus those out in local offices. It has been estimated that at least 100,000 Civil Service posts will disappear. In addition there those in the wider public sector - local authorities and the NHS!
I wondered how I could help the many who have stayed put, not out of lethargy in the past, but from an active choice. I have coached a number of such individuals making the transition but I wanted to reach a wider audience. So I decided to start the new blog to share my experience and that of others in moving out of the public sector and into something else, whatever that may be.
When I left the Civil Service four years ago there was a completely different economic climate with a reasonably healthy job market.
I had been part of a group of directly employed management consultants charged out to other government departments by the Office of Government Commerce. When the government changed its mind about employing us, my whole group faced moving from their chosen work or leaving the Civil Service. Several of us were reasonably content to try our luck in the private sector.
Some found employment almost immediately on the same or better terms. Those of us who decided to take our chance as free lancers generally found a market for our services.
But we had advantages as experienced management consultants over the “average” Whitehall Civil Servant.
- Within the bounds of confidentiality it was relatively easy for the private sector to understand what we had been doing.
- We had skills the private market could recognise.
- We were used to producing and tailoring CVs
- We had stood on our feet and told our Civil Service clients what we could deliver for them.
- We were also used to dealing with rejection when a particular department made up its mind to use private sector consultancy rather than the services we offered.
- We were used to working with people from the private sector a daily basis and we had had an opportunity to learn about their values.
- We were expected to network to find opportunities for us to make our mark.
- Some of us had had portfolio careers and understood the job market
Most people leaving the public sector will not be able to put a tick against all 1 to 8 above. A good number may be able to tick only a few. Sadly, a number will not be able to tick any boxes at all.
That is the reality and in these economic conditions and this job market that is disastrous.
Yes, some government departments will spend money on out placement services and the good ones will fund coaching support for a period. They have done that in the past but this time I believe the money is very short and need is very great. Plus the support often ends just at the point when you need it most.
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| Where do I start? |
Three months after you have gone, there is unlikely to be any continuing support from your ex-employer. But at three months you probably need it most. You need encouragement when you are becoming truly despondent about your lack of success. You need guidance in finding the widest possible job market.
If you ever imagined private sector employers were going to welcome you, at the three month point you know much better!
Let me share with you some of the comments I’ve had since I started the blog. When you have read them I think you will understand why I’m now on a mission.
“I done lots of different jobs since I’ve been in the Civil Service from Personnel to Finance and but I’ve never produced a CV for myself in my life. How do I start?” (I’ve promised guidance and a template)
“I didn’t know the private sector doesn’t have to advertise all its jobs – that isn’t fair - what about equal opportunities?” (What indeed, but this shows how the walls of the Ivory Tower can fall down and bury you.)
“I don’t think networking is for me, I only know other Civil Servants and I wouldn’t want to embarrass them” (Accompanied by real anxiety and a sense of humiliation – how can this proud man beg?)
“I know there are people who do what I do in the private sector but I wouldn’t know how to describe it so they would understand” (It takes quite a lot of work to get them to put down on paper just what they have been doing in simple words that others can understand )
“But I’m a graduate; you don’t find jobs for graduates by networking locally or looking in the local paper.” (This is when young graduates are working locally in MacDonald’s)
“Why would the private sector want us, when the government keep telling them what a load of rubbish we are” (Realistic because we all know recruitment agencies that are facing requests not to send public sector client along for interview)
So now I’m a woman on a mission.
I know from my own experience that a number leaving have the delivery skills the private sector and the third sector looks for! Some of them have delivered large and complex programmes. Many of them will have managed direct delivery of services to customers.
But they do come from a different culture and sometimes speak a different language. They have some learning to do!
Even those who will not find paid work again need to be supported into re-establishing a fulfilling life.
My new blog is one way of helping. Perhaps you can think of others and your ideas and suggestions will be very much welcomed. Are you encountering ex-public sector workers in your own work? It would be really good to hear something of their stories both positive and negative. And if you would like contribute a piece for Leaving the Public Sector that would be very welcome.
About the author
Wendy Mason is a performance, programme, and contract management and change specialist. She works as a consultant, business coach and blogger. You can find her business blog on leadership, management and change at www.wisewolftalking.com and her blog those leaving the public sector at www.leavingthepublicsector.net. You can follow her on Twitter as @WWisewolf
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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK. Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 26th May and will be written by Jill Hart-Sanderson.
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