Honestly, I have no official qualifications (I know I really should have, that's a story for a different day). I got this job straight from work, so it's pretty much what I know. I doubt, if I had applied for public service work, that I would have been accepted. I may be wrong on this, but that was just my feeling on the matter. Better the devil you know and all that. And I would have moved if I could, I was looking for a job in the ps closer to home, but the ones that were available were specialised, so there was no point in me even considering them. Aside from that, if I had got a job in the ps and was working there now, I would have accepted this pension levy without much hassle.
As regards the pension, and I am not whinging on this, I'm still only 27, so moving to cash now would probably be counter productive . Just trying to point out I guess, that many people in the private sector are feeling this pain. I never experienced those 10-15% equity growths, strangely enough (must have a word with the pensions man on that one!).