Working in the public sector

The private sector is ‘losing out’ in the race to get graduate talent. Increasing numbers of grads are flocking to the public sector, according to a recent report, despite its image of being slower, more bureaucratic and lower-paying than the private sector.

So has this stereotype become obsolete? Can the public sector truly offer the benefits and challenges traditionally associated with private sector careers?

Public vs Private

Increasing numbers of graduates clearly think so. According to a survey looking at 2004/5 university leavers, 17.5% of employed graduates were working in the health and social care sector six months after graduating, 10.9% were employed in education, and 7.2% were in public administration and defence and social security. This adds up to a significant 35.6% of grads in the public sector.

The public sector can conjure up images of dreary paper-pushing, low salaries and a lack of career advancement. But employers such as the BBC, Teach First, the Ministry of Defence and the Civil Service are contradicting such preconceptions. These recruiters claim to take the brightest and the best, challenge and push them, give them opportunities and responsibilities far beyond most young people’s experiences, and reward them well.

For this reason, the above employers, as well as the NHS, Army, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Police, RAF, Royal Navy, Environment Agency, Government Legal Advice, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) were all in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers for 2006/7.

Civil Service

One of the most prestigious graduate schemes is the Civil Service Fast stream – the entry route for senior Civil Service careers.

This scheme is divided into four strands: the General Fast Stream (which includes the Home Civil Service, Diplomatic Service, European Fast Stream, Parliamentary Clerkships among others), the Economist Scheme, the Statistician Scheme and the GCHQ Scheme.

Says the Fast Track website: “Those who join the Fast Stream are guaranteed a series of intensive job placements designed to prepare them for senior managerial positions.” It calls for ‘results-oriented individuals who are interested in working in a fast-paced environment’.

As you might expect, the competition for the Fast Stream is intense. According to the Cabinet Office, a huge 13,945 graduates applied for the scheme in 2006-7, of whom only 476 were ‘recommended for appointment’ – just 3.4% of those who applied. The median age of these applicants was 23.

The most common degrees studied by successful applicants were in humanities and social sciences and though they came from around 100 UK universities, 31.1% of applicants came from Oxford or Cambridge. More than 7% of Oxbridge applicants who applied were successful.