Advice on public sector engineer

MattressRick

Hi

I'm looking at an assistant engineer job in the public sector as it's a line of work i want to get involved in. But the starting salary is 15k less than I currently earn in the private sector and with a mortgage and kids I don't think I can manage that come down in salary, unless I managed it for a year.
Can someone advise on how often pay increases happen?
It would definitely help frame my decision.
Because I'm an engineer but not a civil engineer, I feel at a disadvantage applying for the public sector engineering jobs as my experience to date is in manufacturing. So I don't see me getting a supervisory role initially hence why I'm looking at the assistant position but the salary is a concern.
Thanks very much for any advice.

runawaybishop

Increases are yearly, scale should have been in the job spec?

This is the published scale anyway

Assistant engineer
39,522 – 41,988 – 43,798 – 45,627 – 47,442 – 49,261 – 51,087 – 52,905 – 54,722 – 56,543 – 58,373 – LSI 1 60,244 – LSI 2 62,117

MattressRick

Thanks for your reply.
Yep the job spec has the salary scale but I didn't know if they were annual increases or not. In the likes of county councils is it realistic to have a shot at an engineer position if it arises after say 2 years working as assistant engineer?

runawaybishop

I cant really say yes or no as it would be based on your previous experience plus what you gain as an assist eng but its a possibility sure. Usually after 2 years of service you are eligible to enter the internal and interdepartmental competitions that are restricted to the gen public so you have those 2 promotion opportunities available to you as well.

Mrs OBumble

MattressRick wrote: »

....if it arises ...

This is the key part. Supervisor roles may not arise that often.

confusticated

I saw this after your other thread so as you've already applied for exec this might not be relevant, but just FYI. The more senior positions come up internally alright but exec and the likes are usually advertised openly. Experience as an assistant would likely help in the exec interviews but there isn't an internal promotion structure. I was in a similar situation and applied for any assistant and exec roles that came up. Got on the exec panels so then didn't do the assistant interviews as they came afterwards, but they were good to have as backup and I did have a long enough wait on the panel before being offered a job, so bear that in mind.

Luke774

runawaybishop wrote: »

Increases are yearly, scale should have been in the job spec?

This is the published scale anyway

Assistant engineer
39,522 – 41,988 – 43,798 – 45,627 – 47,442 – 49,261 – 51,087 – 52,905 – 54,722 – 56,543 – 58,373 – LSI 1 60,244 – LSI 2 62,117

Is that good for an engineer job ? How long before someone makes it to LSI €62,117

runawaybishop

Luke774 wrote: »

Is that good for an engineer job ? How long before someone makes it to LSI €62,117

Dunno if it's good, don't work in that field. LS = long service, usually have to spend 3 years at the top of the scale for that, another 3 for the next. Not sure on that though tbh. Every number you see there is a point on the scale and you move one point a year (normally, might skip 1 or 2 points depending on the restoration agreements), so in a 10 point scale you need to be there 13 years to hit LS1.

smellyoldboot

It's kinda mad when you think about it, I've seen their job ads before and they'd want multiple years experience for that role. But the salary scale looks like a (admittedly solid) graduate scale and anyone with the relevant experience in engineering would likely be taking a pay cut.

runawaybishop

smellyoldboot wrote: »

It's kinda mad when you think about it, I've seen their job ads before and they'd want multiple years experience for that role. But the salary scale looks like a (admittedly solid) graduate scale and anyone with the relevant experience in engineering would likely be taking a pay cut.

Lots of the higher positions are internal promotions only, so you'd expect to apply after 2 years and get promoted. Well, I would anyway.

MattressRick

Thanks for this it's very helpful