Defer civil service start date

Morleystreet

Friend has just got job offer in civil service and are very happy. However due to personal circumstances they need to defer start date by 3 months. HR person being really difficult to deal with.


Any idea on whether civil service will generally let you defer for few months?

boobar

I doubt the HR person is being deliberately difficult, 3 months is a long time for an employer to wait.

Can your friend try to offer a more reasonable timeframe?

LunarSea

I'd imagine a month is an acceptable (but still a lot) amount of time to ask for, but three months is stretching it.

If your friend is being offered a job that means there's a vacancy to fill, and waiting three months is a long time to have a role empty (especially when they can just ring the next person on the panel and they might be able to start on Monday).

saabsaab

I doubt that they will accommodate you. I remember being offered a place some years ago and when I asked to start a week later, or even a few days later I was told that I would be removed from the list.

Morleystreet

Thanks for feedback all. Sometimes just to hear other people's views helps understanding of situation and that duration being asked is probably a long time.

boobar

Morleystreet wrote: »

Thanks for feedback all. Sometimes just to hear other people's views helps understanding of situation and that duration being asked is probably a long time.

I'd say the very most your friend would possibly get is 6 weeks. One month's notice for his/her current employer and then he/she could say that they had already booked a 2 week holiday. See if that might work?

The_Conductor

boobar wrote: »

I'd say the very most your friend would possibly get is 6 weeks. One month's notice for his/her current employer and then he/she could say that they had already booked a 2 week holiday. See if that might work?

Thats about the extent of it- and even then I wouldn't try pull the holiday stunt.
A month's notice for a current employer will be accepted (probably with bad grace)- anything more will be viewed as completely taking the piss.

Personnel may be taking in a few people at the same time (its what they tend to do) and organising an induction training course. They aren't going to hang around for a laggard- they'll probably go back to PAS and ask for the next person on the list.

As all pre-existing civil servants are constantly reminded- none of us are indisposable- and we're all supposed to be interchangeable..........

If your friend is interested- he/she needs to make whatever accommodations are necessary to ensure they don't loose the post..........

Monife

I'd say it depends on the grade. CO, EO, HEO, probably not. Upwards of that and depending on the skillset your friend has, they might wait.

A recently recruited AP in my place of work had to work 3 months notice in their previous job and then asked our boss for a further month due to holidays and "winding down time" from the previous job and it was allowed.