Public Jobs

I applied recently via the PubLic Jobs website for a senior role in a county council. I work in the private sector, moving to this county and the job location suited me.
There were 91 applicants of which they called 29 for interview. I genuinely believe that I had more relevant experience then most of the applicants.
Has anyone ever got a senior(ish) role via Public Jobs or is it a stitch up?

It's a public body, you have every right to query the criteria used to pick the succesful applicants and get them to state why you did not score well.

It could be a case that industry knowledge (working in a County Council) may have been a criteria and that was the reason you didn't qualify.... best to bang the drum and see what happens, nothing to loose.

Working in the Public sector, it is often a stich up with many things. Although they will have their paper trail covered (also bear in mind that job applications will be outside the remit of Freedom of Information), it can be very 'jobs for the boy's'..... that's why I'm moving back to the private sector.....

I only know one person who works in the public sector, and he told me it's very much "jobs for the boys". They still advertise and interview for the positions, but the position has already been ear marked for someone else...

One or two posters here have moved to the public sector from the private sector. It would be interesting to hear their opinions.

Put it this was - we get an internal job advert sent around today, but we all know who's getting the job, the bosses mate. Despite other staff being more qualified and experienced, we know who'll get the job. I'll post here if my hunch is correct in a few days. The first few times, people naiely went to pply, then they realised it was a waste of time and just added to the sense of hopelessness and frustration.

It is very much jobs for the boys (or girls for that matter) in the public sector - if you know someone and you're happy to exploit all the 'pull' under the sun to get you in and get you places, then go for it. Personally, it wouldn't give me much career satisfaction to get through life that way, and I prefer to get a job and promotion on my own merits, but everyone's different. But remember it's not the real world in the public sector - you can get too institutionalised if you stay there too long, so I'm moving on. It's a balance between security (mind you, I'm on a contract, so not much there) and other aspects such as job satisfaction, career progression, etc. Everyone has their own needs and aims in life.

Mpsox said:

There were 91 applicants of which they called 29 for interview. I genuinely believe that I had more relevant experience then most of the applicants.

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How do you know the backgrounds of the other 28 candidates?

I am an accountant, applied for a senior job with a public body. I got a telephone call to come for an interview a day after handing in my application. I had to bring all original certificates from college etc to the interview. I feel that they may have had an internal person for that particular job. However, they may have wanted to call a number of people for interview just to go through the motions. I feel that some of the senior jobs may not be up for grabs. However, I know a person who had a very good career in the private sector and now got into the corporation as a professional.

I have also applied for the Grade III clerical officer jobs through the public jobs website (sick of working long hours, don't want to organise my life around month end). For the Grade III clerical officer, it is DEFINITELY NOT JOBS FOR THE BOYS & GIRLS. I attended an exam along with 600 others for my local area. I got a letter back from public jobs stating my place on the panel in order of merit (based on the exam). I came within the top 5 for my chosen location. (I had only filled in a basic application form with public jobs. They had not known that I was an accountant with lots of experience etc). They usually call the top 40 or 50 people from these exams. Was called to an interview a few months after the exam. I had to fill out a supplementary application form with my previous exam results/experience. Was questioned on my experience based on 3 core competencies (Initiative, Communication, Personal Organisation). Found the interview very fair.

Also, a friend of mine is working with a public body (temporary) for the past 5 years. She did the exam too, and she didn't get called for an interview. Even though the system of choosing Grade IIIs can work out well if you are naturally fairly intelligent & good at exams, there are circumstances where people can get caught out. My friend would have got on better if they had called her for interview and based it on her previous experience/knowledge of the council etc.

I find the beauty of the Grade III clerical officer exam is that it is not based on college qualifications etc. Technically a person who has just a leaving cert and is working in a factory/supermarket/mature woman working at home could go in and could get a job, provided they are intelligent enough for the exam. I love the way the exam recognises geniune intelligence, and I love the way your number on the panel is based on your exam results. Previously I felt in interviews that I didn't get on well, as I am quite shy and don't 'click' with the interviewer.

I think the government jobs are quite hard to get. How high up you get placed on the panel depends on the other exam candidates. If you are better than the other people sitting that particular exam, you will get higher up on the panel.

buzybee said:

I think the government jobs are quite hard to get. How high up you get placed on the panel depends on the other exam candidates. If you are better than the other people sitting that particular exam, you will get higher up on the panel.

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Is that the case for other positions, such as an Engineer?

Purple said:

One or two posters here have moved to the public sector from the private sector. It would be interesting to hear their opinions.

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I would say its fairer than the private sector as everyone is careful to do things by the book, and cover themselves, as everything is open to scrutiny. That said with any job (public or private) its possible to pitch the requirements of a role and scoring mechanisim to closely match your preferred candidate. I don't see how the OP could know how he is rated compared to other candidates either. I've been told, you should always apply for positions even if you know you won't get them. Its an indicator of your interest in furthering your career. I don't agree that networking is automatically a bad thing in order to achieve your goals.

Where I'm working has a particularly rampant 'jobs for the boys' culture and mentality. The particular clique are only interested in progressing their own career at the expense of others.

When I came here first, I thought there were genuine opportunities when I saw that jobs were regularly advertised internally. After I while, I realised what a fix the whole process was - people knew in advance who was getting the advertised jobs based on the profiles advertised, in the latest case a job description and qualifications were even tailored to facilitate a person that don't have the requisite qualifications for the job they're being promoted to. As a hypothetical example, an accountancy team leader might get promoted to accountacy manager, although they're not a qualificied accountant, and be responsible for managing chartered accountants, some of whom have masters, etc, all soleyl on the basis they'e mates with the boss!!! It is unbelieveable. I came to this particular organisation with a good primary degree in a relavant area, several post grads and very experienced in my field. It is very disheartening when you see someone getting promoted, knowing they are getting it just becuase they're mates with the boss. My choice was to leave - it is pointless applying for thes positions (as some people have already found out) as you know it is a fix beforehand. It makes a mockery of the whole process. As someone here said, you either like it or lump it.

It's put me off the public sector, but maybe more established government departments with more organised recruitment procedures might be worth considering, as buzybee pointed out.

It happens across the public and private sector IMO.

aircobra19 said:

It happens across the public and private sector IMO.

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Yeah, it's a big problem in the company (private sector) I work in.

I work in the public sector having previously worked in the private sector.
If the job was ear marked for someone else they would not have interviewed 29 people, they would have shortlisted much more than that.

You have no way of knowing the background of the other candidates. You may be highly qualified but the others may have been also. Senior jobs in the public sector don't come up very often so i'm sure there were lots of very highly qualified people applying. In fact if you are referring to the job i think you are (DCC?) I know some of the people that applied and they had over 15 years experience in similar roles.

The amount of times i hear from people who didn't get jobs saying its because the public sector has it stitched up is unreal. Yes in some circumstances internal people do get the jobs. Usually because they are either already doing it or because they already work in the area are the most qualified for the job therefore they are the best person for the job.
This is only the case SOMETIMES though.

I moved from a 20+ year career in the private sector to a public sector role last year. I work for a small public sector agency now.

I find it hard to believe the 'jobs for the boys' stories. First of all, any interview panel that I've come across has at least 3 people on it, and for senior positions, would almost certainly include 1-2 people from outside the organisation. The interview panel is normally selected by the HR dept, and may well not include the line manager for the post in question.

So for 'jobs for the boys' to be in place, there would need to be 3-5 people (interview panel, plus HR person, plus line manager) willing to put their own professional integrity on the line solely to do a favour for somebody - just seems quite unlikely to me.

The OP's claim of 'better qualified' doesn't stand up unless (as other posters have stated) he knows the qualifications of all the other 28 candidates. The OP can ask for a breakdown of his score and how this compares against the score of the winning candidate.

It shouldn't be a huge surprise that experience in similar roles (which generally don't exist in the private sector) would be a significant factor in selecting candidates.