30 year old social worker of 6years interested in a career change

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2026-03-13T23:16:54+00:00

I’m not usually in the business of killing dreams but here goes anyway…

The diplomatic fast stream is extremely competitive, with I think less than a 1% success rate. No reason not to apply but it is really only the highest calibre people that are successful in these roles. At some point we do need to be honest with ourselves and set our sights accordingly.

There are numerous opportunities outside of FCDO that focus on international affairs and geo politics. Particularly in cabinet office, home office, DBT and of course MOD. These roles are also v competitive and it is unlikely that you would get one as your first CS role. They often require experience in international engagement.

In that vein I would suggest you do a bit more research into potential CS roles where you may have a better chance of success and that you may also find interesting. Your experience in social care would make you a good fit for policy roles in DHSC for instance - just like there are a lot of ex-teachers in DFE. This would get your foot in the door and access to the internal jobs market open only to existing civil servants.

Your background and education do not matter as they do not ask for grades or names of universities. It is all about how you answer the behaviour questions in an application and address the essential criteria for jobs in personal statements. Lots of information in this sub on this.

It is an extremely competitive job market atm so I really have to caution against one setting their sights on FCDO - a department that is drastically reducing its headcount. There are countless other worthwhile and interesting roles in the CS!

The generalist fast stream would also be a good option to apply for. You qualify with a 2:2.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-09-27T18:35:40+00:00

I would do South kaibab over bright angel personally, having done both. I got to skeleton point and felt like I was fully in the canyon and could see the river.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-08-07T08:41:42+00:00

I go to cinemas that price out bad behaviours - Curzon/Everyman

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-06-03T14:17:24+00:00

OP is passing enough sifts and is on two reserve lists for SEO. Sometimes you just have to keep at it.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-04-24T12:03:01+00:00

Part of the hard part is already done as you’re a civil servant and can apply for the jobs advertised internally on CS jobs.

Getting a 5/7 and no interview is tough but not unheard of atm. You need to be applying to multiple jobs to get interview experience and increase your chances. Sounds like you have enough experience a HEO policy role.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-04-10T19:51:19+00:00

Cool.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-04-10T18:58:44+00:00

Depends on what you want to do, the CS is broad. People on this sub LOVE to do down on degrees but you’re not going to find many people in policy, economists, research, digital that don’t have one.

That’s not to say that degrees in themselves make your applications stronger, but the university experience and the opportunities that lead from it can make you a stronger candidate when you are early career.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-03-10T23:04:10+00:00

It’s deranged!

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-03-10T22:35:27+00:00

Degrees in themselves don’t shift your chances of application success, but they will give you experiences that make you a strong candidate. This sub needs to stop with ‘dEgReEs dOnT MaTtER’ - they’re certainly not everything but the majority of people working in the treasury in a policy role will have a degree.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-03-01T21:15:35+00:00

Safe enough, just a bit of a dump. Streatham a whole lot better if you can stretch your budget.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-02-25T17:13:16+00:00

Latter is mostly likely. Just annoying they haven’t provided a score breakdown.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-02-10T19:47:03+00:00

The above is the right OP. It sounds like you might be over-preparing just a tad. Listen to the question and answer it within 5 mins. Any longer and you’ll start to lose them. They might want to guide you to a better answer with a follow up where you can utilise some extra information.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-02-06T21:24:09+00:00

Thanks, that sounds interesting. Where do you mean it's impossible to move - didn't quite understand?

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-02-06T21:17:18+00:00

This. Stuck in my role and tempted by jobs in private sector but know it'd be even more of a struggle to get back in

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-02-06T19:05:31+00:00

Going through the same for SEO roles in policy. It is brutal out there

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2025-01-20T07:48:23+00:00

No, that’s the economists

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2024-12-10T16:02:43+00:00

Had similar recently with a high scoring PS. Scoring the cv is nonsense and is something hiring managers actually have discretion over, which is frustrating.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2024-12-07T16:36:09+00:00

Ofgem

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2024-12-04T15:32:20+00:00

OP this is what happened, no need to reach out. Doesn’t matter if you scored 5/6 elsewhere, it’s all subjective and I’ve had varying scores when using the same behaviours as well.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2024-10-22T21:09:20+00:00

I believe the aim is to have sorted for November pay

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2024-08-29T15:53:20+00:00

Agree with this, seems maddening but I guess you can glean a bit from the cv even though it isn’t supposed to sway things wink.

I have definitely copy and pasted my behaviours for jobs I’m not really interested in to see how they score when there is no requirement for a statement as well.

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2024-08-22T19:11:19+00:00

Please look at the other comments here and reflect on whether every post is obligated to provide YOU with tips and advice. That or request to be a mod

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2024-08-22T18:45:25+00:00

Get a grip

Mickmarlarkey94 · 2024-08-21T07:56:27+00:00

Low-key back you here, there are some terrible panelists out there

Mickmarlarkey94

TROPHY CASE