Private vs Public

houseyhouse

houseyhouse wrote: »

I am considering something similar. Have you found you were able to progress reasonably quickly through the public sector? Were your previous experiences valuable in that respect? I want to move but don't want to be on 25k for long considering have family obligations etc.

This is almost entirely down to the frequency of competitions. In the last recessions there was basically nearly 10 years with feck all or no recruitment. Try and go in as an EO.

Glenster

My two cents on it are that if you're willing to do a bit of work and have nice qualifications/ always give a good impression of yourself you'll always do better in the private sector.

But you're probably better off in the public sector if you want a guaranteed work life balance and have either very specific or very general skills.


A good rule of thumb is that if people are constantly at you trying to give you a job, or get you to join a committee or give professional advice outside of your current job you'll do fine in the private sector.
If that's not happening you either don't have what people want or you're not giving out that vibe, and you should stay or get in the security of the public sector.

PhilOssophy

Its a difficult one this OP. Having worked in both, I think there's a number of misconceptions, having worked in both.
1. I think the public sector view of the private sector as being some place where you get flogged to within an inch of your life every day, and only the bottom line matters, is just not true. Any employer who operates like that is not going to hold on to people, or be able to recruit them with the advent of review sites for prospective employee. There are of course employers who absolutely flog their employees, and some of these have Public Sector contracts, but I think employers realise the competitive market they work in and the fools errand that is flogging their staff.
2. While the Public Sector pension is undisputedly better (and guaranteed), you can still amass a top pension in the private sector where an employer matches your contributions in particular - many employers match 10-12-15% at this stage. And you can make AVC's with bonuses, etc - where the tax man will take half of it otherwise - to further improve your pot. If there isn't matching employer contributions, this does become significantly harder though.
3. There are people in both who live for lunch time, or for 5 o'clock. But I think there's a few more of these in the public sector and I have known a few of these. I don't know how you could spend your life in such an environment, regardless of the job security or pension on retirement.

There's for and against both. If you want job security and a guaranteed pension (as long as you get to retirement age!) then the public sector is without doubt the place to go.

If you are very ambitious, don't mind the hard graft for a while and always seeking out the next challenge and constantly looking to better yourself and want to move up the chain quicker rather than "waiting your turn", then you will possibly do better in the private sector.

As with every job, there's for and against both. I'd be slow to spend my life in 1 job just because there's a better pension or job security though. A mix of both is probably a good thing to do in your life - every job has its good and bad sides and you see the warts on both sides of the fence (which I have strayed clear of here!).

floorpie

PhilOssophy wrote: »

3. There are people in both who live for lunch time, or for 5 o'clock. But I think there's a few more of these in the public sector and I have known a few of these. I don't know how you could spend your life in such an environment, regardless of the job security or pension on retirement.
...
If you are very ambitious, don't mind the hard graft for a while and always seeking out the next challenge and constantly looking to better yourself and want to move up the chain quicker rather than "waiting your turn", then you will possibly do better in the private sector.

If there are more clockwatchers in public sector, and you're ambitious and hard working, wouldn't it be better to be in the public sector? I.e. less competition for higher grades? Or is there some reason that ambition isn't rewarded?

PhilOssophy

floorpie wrote: »

If there are more clockwatchers in public sector, and you're ambitious and hard working, wouldn't it be better to be in the public sector? I.e. less competition for higher grades? Or is there some reason that ambition isn't rewarded?

I reckon the progress up the chain would be quicker in the private sector - as I said about all the above, just my thoughts and personal experience.

floorpie

PhilOssophy wrote: »

I reckon the progress up the chain would be quicker in the private sector - as I said about all the above, just my thoughts and personal experience.

Ah I believe you, just wondering, thanks I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons myself.

PhilOssophy

floorpie wrote: »

Ah I believe you, just wondering, thanks I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons myself.

Yeah, the perfect place to work doesn't exist, its all a balancing act of what you want in my view.

beauf

PhilOssophy wrote: »

I reckon the progress up the chain would be quicker in the private sector - as I said about all the above, just my thoughts and personal experience.

I would agree. There tends to be more office politics in public sector.

TimeToShine

I think the public pension is a bit overstated, there are some companies offering amazing pensions nowadays, I've heard of double and triple matching (employee contribute up to 6%, employer 12% or 18%), flat 15-20% of base salary contribution, hell some will even give you shares as part of your pension plan.

PhilOssophy

TimeToShine wrote: »

I think the public pension is a bit overstated, there are some companies offering amazing pensions nowadays, I've heard of double and triple matching (employee contribute up to 6%, employer 12% or 18%), flat 15-20% of base salary contribution, hell some will even give you shares as part of your pension plan.

I agree and made the very same point above, the big variable is there could be an economic crash the day before you retire and Jordan Belfour has left your pension fund in a volatile market!
The big difference between the public pension and the private one is the public one is guaranteed, whereas the private one goes up and down in value over time. While you should be advised to move more of it in to a safer fund as you near retirement, that isn't a given.
But like you say, employers are now matching significant percentages as a means to head hunt people. It does mean you can build a significant retirement pot so I too think it is overstated. If it isn't matched, there is no comparison.

PhoenixParker

PhilOssophy wrote: »

I reckon the progress up the chain would be quicker in the private sector - as I said about all the above, just my thoughts and personal experience.

My personal experience is the opposite.

I’ve moved from the private sector to the civil service in Dublin. (None of this would apply outside Dublin)

One of the things in the civil service is there’s a very clear and structured promotion path. None of my previous jobs had that.

In the private sector it was always a bit woolly. For internal promotions it’d be waiting for someone to leave and then probably competing with colleagues. For outside jobs it was looking for needles in a haystack to find something to apply for, then trying to gauge its level & salary and tailor everything to it. I was pretty good at interviews but if Bob was better, Bob got the job because there was only one job.

I also often seemed to end up pigeon holed in a slightly outside core area which limited movement opportunities.

In the civil service, they just run a competition every two years. The level, salary etc of the job are crystal clear. You stick your hat in the ring. Do your best through the process, finish it out with one interview and if you meet the standard, you’re in. The promotion process is a palaver but there are hundreds of jobs at each level. There’s a risk of a moratorium but worst case, I still have a job.

I started in late 2017 as an EO, with a big group of other EOs. We’re pretty much all AO, HEO or AP now. The two I can think of who aren’t had taken sideways moves with interesting experience and extra salary attached (Brussels jobs, that kind of thing)

Which brings me to another point, outside of promotions there’s a huge amount of movement in the CS at each grade level (except maybe AO). If you’re not happy or not gaining the experience you want you can often shuffle yourself to a different unit.

Basically, Dublin based civil servants with any bit of gumption can usually get themselves promoted quite quickly.

The_Conductor

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Basically, Dublin based civil servants with any bit of gumption can usually get themselves promoted quite quickly.

However, less than half of civil servants are Dublin based- and if you aren't Dublin based, you can languish out in a decentralised office for a long period of time- even getting to first place on a HEO or AP panel- and simply sit there without any movements happening.........

A big bone of contention is people taking promotions in Dublin- and then wrangling transfers internally to get back to their decentralised locations in their new grade- while those in the decentralised locations can effectively get locked out of promotional prospects..........

Obviously if you're young and don't have children in school or other ties to a specific community- your options are a whole lot better, however, for a not inconsiderable cohort of civil servants- they will have to make a choice about putting their family first or their career first, which is a choice that is far easier for younger people to make.

atwal

What has the original poster decided?

floorpie

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