10k Pay Drop to join Civil Service??

ladybird111

I’m desperately looking for another job. I’m 13 years in banking (private sector) and on 40k - lower than some colleagues with less experience!

I have been keeping an eye on public jobs and note they are hiring Executive Officers in a field that would suit my experience. The starting salary is 30k and I get the impression that’s pretty much not up for negotiation.

Does anyone know what the chances are of getting a promotion / pay increase once I have my “foot in the door”? Or would I be mad to even consider this pay drop? It makes me nervous even thinking about reducing my salary so much!! Would it be worth it?! I’m miserable in my current job - have to work bank holidays etc.

Thanks!

BrokenArrows

ladybird111 wrote: »

I’m desperately looking for another job. I’m 13 years in banking (private sector) and on 40k - lower than some colleagues with less experience!

I have been keeping an eye on public jobs and note they are hiring Executive Officers in a field that would suit my experience. The starting salary is 30k and I get the impression that’s pretty much not up for negotiation.

Does anyone know what the chances are of getting a promotion / pay increase once I have my “foot in the door”? Or would I be mad to even consider this pay drop? It makes me nervous even thinking about reducing my salary so much!! Would it be worth it?! I’m miserable in my current job - have to work bank holidays etc.

Thanks!

Surely you should be able to walk into another private sector bank with that amount of experience and get far more than 40k

40k after 13 years experience is pretty poor. What exactly are you doing in banking?

GooglePlus

Your salary will increase on average by 1k a year but after two years as an EO, you can go for a HEO promotion, which starts at 50k and increases to about 70k.

Plus a good pension and usually flexi time.

hooplah

10k is a severe pay drop. On the other hand your pension may be quite a lot better than what you are on now. It might be worth taking a look at the at and see if it would factor in.

Pay scales aren't negotiable, though you are on a salary scale and can expect annual increments for a while at least. Hard to say what the chances are of promotion - unfortunatley it often depends on funding and the state of government finances rather than the need of your unit or section.

Salary Negotiator

I would have thought salary increases are easier to get in the private sector.

I used to work in retail banking and was on close to €40K after 3 years, I moved into another industry about 4 years ago and have increased my remuneration considerably in that time.

After 13 years you must have built up some transferable skills, why are you limiting yourself to the PS. Plenty of other industries to work in.

John Hutton

OP I was in your exact shoes two years ago. 48k in financial services but just fed up with it.

I took a major pay cut to go in as an EO. Terms and conditions are incomparable. So much better, you are treated like an actual person. So many options for things like shorter working year. No hassle or grief for wanting to take leave. I loved it.

Got promoted to AO after approx 18 months. Am still on less pay than I was before joining the service but it will shoot up quick.

There will be a huge amount of retirements over the next five years, am hopeful of getting AP. Lots of opportunities to advance.

The pension is well better than what I had before. Work is more interesting, and there is far less stress. So many opportunities to study more and develop. There is not a better time to join. It is probably the only 100 per cent secure career.

There is so much variety in the civil service, if you get fed up in a particular role you can transfer to another and do something utterly different.

If you can afford the drop, go for it!! It has really worked out for me. You can work at varied and interesting roles, good amount of leave, good hours, work life balance is actually considered important and you can have a life outside work

Perez2017

As someone in your shoes in the not too distant my advice would be to move 100%. Be the best move youll ever make.

TimeToShine

If you are on 40k after 10+ years in banking something is terribly, terribly wrong.

dubrov

Make sure to check the benefits closely before you join as they have dropped considerably in recent years in a lot of places (no flexitime, average salary pension instead of final salary, pension levy etc.).

Also factor in no bonus or health insurance.

John Hutton

dubrov wrote: »

Make sure to check the benefits closely before you join as they have dropped considerably in recent years in a lot of places (no flexitime, average salary pension instead of final salary, pension levy etc.).

Also factor in no bonus or health insurance.

No flexi? Tiny minority of EOs who dont have that. Pension is great if you aren't stuck as a CO for 10 years.

Nerd Queen

I came out of insurance took a roughly similar if not more pay cut to go to AO and almost 4 years down the line no regrets! The work life balance as has been mentioned is incomparable to the banking sector. The flexitime and flexileave are superb and there is very few places they aren’t in place.

The work is interesting, you can move around and they encourage you to do courses. After 2 years you can go for internal promotion and you can go for open promotion. So while I took a paycut initially I have been promoted since so am now on a very good wage. While still enjoying my life and my work in balance.

OMM 0000

ladybird111 wrote: »

I’m miserable in my current job

You need to leave.

You can try to civil service and if it doesn't work out for you, go somewhere else.

Don't give up on the private sector though.

Could there be interesting roles for you in the fintech industry?

griffin100

You need to factor in the pension levy when looking at civil service salaries. Pension contributions are mandatory for public sector jobs so take home pay from €40k in the civil service is less than you’d get from €40k in the private sector (before any voluntary deductions are removed).