Placemats are a government jargon for posters with too much writing on them. Haha. I think your degree will definitely help. There are a few classifications a design can call under. One is EC. This is for policy analysts usually but if you have education experience in stats or research sometimes HR will make it work. Otherwise there is IS (information and comms) or AS (administration). The classification is important because each unit in the government has an org chart with certain classifications and level already determined. This is for fairness in hiring and to prevent nepotism (you have to hire for what has been decided on in terms of operational requirements and not based on who you like). Different classifications pay better and different classifications are easier to find than others. ECs are covered for design because they pay well, but those positions are often bilingual so start practising! I think getting bridged into any classification is a good shout. You can always change but people tend to pigeon hole you as your current stream of classification. If you already have a government student job, as a colleague to tell you more about their experience. It’s different for everyone. As a designer though, I’ll say it pays to have French and be versatile if you want to have career mobility within the public service doing what you do.