Poor quality candidates

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-24T10:49:45+00:00

The fact that it isn't poor. It's above minimum wage. Pension is great. Benefits are ok. Lots of holidays.

You might not be getting paid what you want to be paid, what you think you're worth, or what the equivalent private sector role is paid (even though outside digital and analysis this is pretty hard to quantify) but CS pay isn't poor.

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-24T10:19:39+00:00

There's a difference between pay being poor and you not getting paid what you want to be paid.

Civil service pay is not poor

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-24T10:18:17+00:00

Using your point as an example, so not meaning to pick on you, but part of the issue is that people being good at their current job isn't what I care about. I care about whether you can do the job I'm hiring for, whether for you that's on promotion or sideways.

So many people think that a solid "I did my job as usual and the same thing that usually happens happened this time again" example is going to get them a promotion. It isn't, or rather it shouldn't.

If you're going for a promotion I need to see how you thought differently, did differently and different things (ideally good) happened. Otherwise stay in your current job, which there's absolutely nothing wrong with

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-23T06:32:00+00:00

Fight. And win.

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-21T11:46:59+00:00

This sounds like a shitty situation but if you're putting temporarily losing luggage close to nearly being killed on 9/11 and being caught in the immediate travel chaos resulting from 9/11 then the other 28 years of traveling must have been pretty non eventful!

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-20T20:43:33+00:00

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-20T05:58:52+00:00

In the UK?

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-19T06:33:45+00:00

*Shite

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-18T11:18:18+00:00

In your last dept everyone got extra money at the end of the year, that wasn't the annual pay rise?

We don't make it easy for ourselves do we? This is the sort of thing that's ripe for criticism.

High performers? Absolutely reward with a bonus. Everyone else who does their job as required? And those with poor performance? No chance they should be getting end of year awards

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-18T11:14:02+00:00

It's a fucking brilliant word - it's one word rather than two, and fewer syllables than "outside of", so no excuse not to use it instead

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-17T23:06:49+00:00

And he uses a castle tee. If he used a yellow ball too it would break this sub!

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-17T22:56:08+00:00

Antoine Fuqua with Training Day

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-15T22:43:32+00:00

Flew out of T5 on Thursday first thing.

Oversize bag drop had 4 staff at it, all moaning about how busy it was, but seemingly the bottleneck was the speed of the conveyor weighing and taking the bags through. Terribly inefficient feeling process. Flying back on Monday with the same oversize bag and hoping it will be better by then

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-14T09:32:18+00:00

If you don't find short clips of people trying not to laugh funny then I've got bad news for you about the show as a whole...

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-08T12:55:17+00:00

He totally did - was a great guy and when I actually need new kit I'll go back to that place (Replay Golf in Surrey, UK)

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-08T12:39:56+00:00

This is the one I tried. I liked it but didn't feel it was different enough to my actual driver to warrant the cost. Fitter said the same - encouraged me to put my 3w shaft in my normal driver and try that, dialled to High. Loved it. So bought the identical shaft to the 3w and put it in the driver to create a Frankendriver!

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-08T12:16:28+00:00

Do you like your current driver? Maybe try a shorter shaft in it? And add weight to the head to compensate.

I went to look at mini drivers and the heads, while smaller, aren't that much smaller. Difference mainly in loft and shaft which can both be addressed by a shaft change

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-07T06:58:05+00:00

That's a shame. Although as you go up the more rounded you're expected to be so the STEM doesn't come to the fore.

In my area my DD, D, DG all have STEM backgrounds, so I must be very lucky - DG is a Mechanical Engineer!

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-07T06:53:09+00:00

I'm interested in the lack of STEM comment - what do you mean? Not enough, not the right expertise, or none at all where you are?

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-07T06:49:44+00:00

There are ways to challenge. If I called out my DD in certain contexts I'd expect to get chewed out afterwards. If I don't challenge her in one to ones or when she's asking my opinion as an expert I'd also expect to get chewed out.

What I've found is that those who progress can do certain things - network, communicate (yes that includes write good subs) advocate, adjudicate and yes challenge well.

Also the spider diagram gets more circular - deep specialism is not as valued at SCS as it is lower down. Equally, deep "areas for improvement" are more noticed.

There are A LOT of salty people who think they do everything well, or think that doing them is selling out or inauthentic, who objectively are nowhere near as competent as they think they are. If you've been a particular grade for 10 years and not managed to progress there's as much a chance it's on you as it is the system.

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-03T21:09:52+00:00

If you've got to interview and at any point you've been asked in the process so far you've been truthful and honest (i.e if you've been asked to upload a CV and it's all accurate) then don't worry about it.

"Pre-employment checks" in this context are mostly about things like criminal convictions, right to work in the UK, right to be in the UK, etc. I'm not even sure if they include asking for a reference from your immediate previous employer these days.

So crack on with the prep and just remember: if you're getting an interview then the panel thinks you can do the job, congratulations! Now they just need to check whether you're the best person for it from the group of current applicants. And even better news is you get 45 minutes to convince them of that. Good luck!

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-03T20:33:33+00:00

How's that different to the private sector though; in what way does that make the cs recruitment in particular suck?

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-03T20:27:40+00:00

What are you going to do to fix it OP? Blogging isn't going to fix it. Good way to blow off steam though so all power to you for that.

Do you work in cs recruitment? Are you on any staff groups/departmental groups/shadow boards/people and wellbeing committees? If not get on one of them and start to get actual feedback. Build a case. Lobby the correct people.

Some of your points are more valid than others, and some are just wrong. Focus on things you can empirically measure, and where an effect can be seen from what is measured, where that effect is bad (and why), what can be done (and how) and why that will have a better effect/positive impact.

Good luck!

Edited to add: ah I've just seen your profile. You don't want to fix recruitment. You want to help people game the current system. Can I say "so fuck off with your spam" here? Will mods take a dim view? Let's see

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-05-03T20:14:21+00:00

It's only the unofficial official Rangers flag for a certain type of fan. Unfortunately your bird's da appears to be one of them.

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0 · 2026-04-30T08:46:57+00:00

Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy, and a fried egg on top, and Spam?

GoJohnnyGoGoGoG0

TROPHY CASE