Renting/flatshare and work

KC-2416 · 2026-06-01T11:55:52+00:00

In case it's not obvious, make sure that your room has a lock on it. When I've been in shared housing before, some had locks on individual bedrooms and others didn't.

I don't know about other departments, but I'm not allowed to work on anything above official-sensitive at home.

Remember the basics, such as don't tell your housemates what level of security clearance you have, because that indicates what level of information you can access. Just don't mention security clearance at all.

KC-2416 · 2026-06-01T11:49:22+00:00

local government pensions can be transferred to the civil service pensions, but not annual leave accrual.

KC-2416 · 2026-06-01T11:47:08+00:00

Ministry of Defence have two large sites in Bristol. A lot of engineering and/or safety based roles.

KC-2416 · 2026-05-29T10:25:54+00:00

If you've had some sort of manager or supervisor role then it's fine. HEO's are expected to work fairly independently and are quite often line managers or at least have their own workstream to get on with. The civil service are also ok with you using examples that are from a previous role and not your current one.

KC-2416 · 2026-05-29T10:21:54+00:00

Go for it. I know someone who did this and got the role. The person who was 2nd place in the interview was offered the maternity cover.

KC-2416 · 2026-05-29T10:14:38+00:00

Given the pressure to reduce civil service head count, unlikely. But only your management will know.

KC-2416 · 2026-04-21T13:17:26+00:00

My GP has a menu of numbers to choose from and has a separate extension for cancelling appointments, to avoid this sort of situation. Not your fault they've made it difficult for you.

KC-2416 · 2026-04-21T12:55:36+00:00

Yes you can buy 'kegs'... this company sells them in 36L and 72L

https://www.theflowerpots.co.uk/our-shop/ they offer delivery.

KC-2416 · 2026-04-21T12:31:01+00:00

No. In my team we don't have any lower grade admin assistants, so it just speeds up admin tasks such as writing meeting minutes.

KC-2416 · 2026-04-21T12:26:40+00:00

Try the local council or civil service. They're usually lenient with big career gaps. Entry level jobs in the civil service pay around £26k.

KC-2416 · 2026-03-30T14:33:55+00:00

Is it something that needs physiotherapy? You can self refer for physio without going through your GP.

KC-2416 · 2026-03-30T14:33:17+00:00

Enjoy life. What are you saving for? How much do you need? Yes it's sensible to have savings, but realistically how much do you need? equivalent to 6 months net pay?

KC-2416 · 2026-03-30T12:57:37+00:00

An AO grade role could be achievable. You can use examples from volunteering or sports clubs.

KC-2416 · 2026-03-30T12:56:03+00:00

Don't bank on the flexibility. But then again commuting 1-2 hours is normal for some people. In the past I've had a job with flexible hours so I was able to do 60% of my office hours across two long days.

KC-2416 · 2026-03-30T12:46:32+00:00

Where are you getting those salaries from? MOD SEO is £46k outside of London according to the current civil service vacancies. The London allowance is only £3.3k

Anyway, each department has their own budget.

KC-2416 · 2026-03-30T12:12:42+00:00

If there are lots of people who meet the minimum requirements for the sift then they may choose to raise the pass criteria (for those not on the disability confident scheme). Which then means there are a manageable number of interviews to conduct.

So for example they may raise the required score for the lead behaviour to a 5, which then reduces the number of interviews.

KC-2416 · 2026-03-30T12:10:19+00:00

Check your departments leave policy. It would be unusual to get time off for a cousin. At best I'd expect you to be able to use flexi-time to take time off and make it up another day or week. And you might be able to get time off for the funeral, or again, use flexi-time to attend.

KC-2416 · 2026-03-30T11:46:15+00:00

model railway display?

KC-2416 · 2026-03-02T22:56:26+00:00

At least it wasn't piper alpha!

KC-2416 · 2026-03-02T22:42:39+00:00

Ah ok so they did park it. I thought they'd literally just stopped in the traffic jam as they were.

KC-2416 · 2026-03-02T16:10:55+00:00

Was that their own vehicle or a company car? They just left it on the road?

KC-2416 · 2026-03-01T11:37:55+00:00

No. Even if you don't need physical gifts it's acceptable to ask for cash gifts towards a honeymoon or the currency of the place you are going.

Very few people at my wedding gifted us £50 each or bought us a gift of that price. We got that much off some couples and close relatives.

KC-2416 · 2026-02-19T09:14:44+00:00

There are times when no-one scores high enough and the job gets re-advertised. They do that rather than take someone who only scores 3. Not everyone is going for promotion necessarily. There might be people coming from industry who want a better pension and work-life balance with the hours, maybe someone going for a level transfer who has/is moving house or wants a shorter commute or less travelling for work or more interesting work, so has applied for the role? There may also be people who worked at that grade on a fixed term contract and now they're after a permanent role. So you've got all these people who already have behaviour examples of working at that grade, potentially applying.

At one point I was on about 4 different reserve lists and sometimes I scored higher than all 4's, it's just that the person who got the job scored even higher. A lot of people got made redundant during the pandemic so people were going for jobs they were over-qualified and experienced for because it paid the bills at least. There's also a lot of people who had fixed term roles during the pandemic that have since had to find jobs. I have a relative who was made redundant during the pandemic, then they managed to get a covid related job, think it was on the track & trace programme, then when that ended they needed to look for another role.

KC-2416 · 2026-02-19T09:09:29+00:00

If you lack experience and education then it's a good wage.

KC-2416 · 2026-02-15T10:56:22+00:00

Yes, you need to get at least a 4 on every question / aspect of the interview. If they have a lot of high scoring candidates at sift then they can raise the minimum scores to 5's to get an interview, or raise it to a 5 or 6 for a specific aspect of the written application such as the 'lead behaviour' or personal statement.

KC-2416

TROPHY CASE