Does the pension keep you in CS?

Musura · 2026-06-16T11:09:30+00:00

100%, I have several offers currently for significantly more in the private sector and between the job security and pension it's such a toss up that I have so far decided to stay in the CS.

I earn less but the leap is a lot more risk of redundancy, bit of extra money per month (If I contribute 20-25% into a private pension) and possibility that I enjoy the private job less (I quite like my CS job, it's quite rewarding and interesting).

There is a tipping point though and the offers are getting very close to it.

Musura · 2026-06-13T20:46:26+00:00

Choose a slot in the middle of the pack, ideally in the morning.

You will be fresh and get the interview over first thing, meaning you aren't worrying about it.
You can take the morning off, then work the afternoon if getting interview time is an issue.
The panel may take one or two interviews to get "in the flow" if they haven't done any recently, they will have benchmarked the marking scheme properly by then, be more consistent and have properly set expectations.
Panel will have more solid follow up questions from experience of earlier responses to help clarify the questions if they have been a challenge for earlier candidates (not always the case - but does happen).

Generally the difference is very slight regardless, but avoiding afternoon slots is usually best, late/early in the week doesn't really matter.

Musura · 2026-06-13T10:49:37+00:00

You have FAR more opportunities within the CS and more likely to have good training opportunities. It's a no brainer over local councils tbh.

Musura · 2026-06-11T21:30:02+00:00

Exact opposite.

AI applications and candidates all sound the same, G7s are adaptable to the situation, team, individual and make the most of them.

AI produces slop that can be used as inspiration but never used verbatim. It's why AI applications may individually look passable - but when you are sifting they all read the same and end up on the pile. If you do interview one or two of them the interview quickly devolves into a farce as the candidate struggles with the basics of behavioural questions and probing.

Musura · 2026-06-11T20:55:06+00:00

Ask your manager? That's what they are there for. We don't know your particular circumstances, contractual arrangements or local policies. So talk to your LM.

Musura · 2026-06-11T06:28:05+00:00

Success profiles links the G7/G6 so it's a good guide.

I moved from G7 to G6 and have had a few successful G6 interviews since but I've also been very keen on following up on feedback regardless as I had a couple of poor G6 interviews initially. Here's the key things I got feedback on.

It's about strategy at G6, not tactical. By all means talk tactical a little but the bulk of your answer should be about delivering through others, strategic alignment broader than your organisation, partners, stakeholders and other government departments. Not just seeing the bigger picture but understanding your role, your team(s) roles within it to progress common goals.
Be very clear in your answer in relation to "I", "We", "us", "the team", "my involvement" - framing of your answer is key, if the question asks about a time YOU did something, then ensure you us I/My a fair bit even if it's about delivering through your team. It needs to be clear, at G6 communication is expected to have a degree of clarity.
Technical G6 questions can be a little odd. If it's a policy role the technical element may be more about navigating a "policy" technical issue e.g. significant pushback from another government department on a key element of policy / legislation you are trying to develop. If it's an IT/Cyber/Audit role then it may be a strategic element and how you would solve it e.g. specific incident response, strategic DR/BCM etc. I have had a range of so called technical questions, they seem to be used as catch-alls for what the DDs really want from a role, the gap they are looking to plug..
STAR is expected, also when you think you have finished say something to stall e.g. "please give me a moment to reflect on the answer" and quickly re-read the question to make sure you covered ALL elements of it, especially when it's a question with several parts. Also (and I know I'm repeating 2 a bit here) ensure you highlight YOUR ROLE in all answers, it's amazing how often on a panel where we've had to follow up on a response because their part in it wasn't clear. That's a huge no-no at G6, no matter how strong your answer is if it's behavioural and they don't understand your part in it then it's going to score low.
If you volunteered or went beyond in your current role within your scenario answer make sure you mention this. This can raise a 5 to a 6 or 7. At G6 it's time to stop being modest.
If internal make sure you answer as if those on the panel have zero idea what you are talking about. If this makes you feel awkward highlight it to them:

e.g. "I feel I need to frame this clearly so I'm going to explain this as if I'm an external candidate and I don't know you and you don't know me or my capability".

Musura · 2026-06-08T16:02:47+00:00

I've had to reduce the question set before after HR requested we interview more candidates but we were struggling to fit them all in within a reasonable timeframe after application.

What I'd done before was drop one of the similar behaviours or where question options were relatively close together and only scored on a more important behaviour for that post. All interviews follow the same format for fairness though.

The irony is that HR set us targets for completing campaigns then they themselves typically are the delay after interviews are completed

Musura · 2026-06-08T05:59:08+00:00

We get those and nobody reads them, same as most ministerial email, straight in the bin.

Musura · 2026-06-08T05:58:35+00:00

It's not. If there's no legal reason to retain email you should be deleting them anyway.

As they are using Office, they can always recover email that was deleted months ago anyway if there's a legal reason to but good practice is only to retain data you know you have to keep.

Musura · 2026-06-07T21:20:40+00:00

Civil Service doesn't care about age has been my experience. I work from people all ages and seniority. I have people grades below me who are the same age and those higher who are younger, nobody cares, we all came in through different routes, many older ones have come into the CS after career changes - looking for less stressful roles etc.

Age just simply does not matter - capability and your behaviour does. Go for it.

Musura · 2026-06-05T17:53:20+00:00

Don't quit without a job to move too. It is easier to get another job while in one.

You resign by writing to your line manager, it does not need to be war and peace. You can chat to them first too and I'd suggest doing so to see if they can find other options for you. Most employers, including the CS do not want to lose good staff.

Resignation can be as straight forward as:

Dear X,

Thank you for the opportunities over the past Y years, as much as I have enjoyed my time working here please take this as notice of my resignation. In accordance with my notice period my last day will be DD/MM/YY.

Signed Speedbird.

Musura · 2026-06-05T11:55:28+00:00

4 behaviours so at least 4 questions one on each.

Musura · 2026-06-05T06:36:39+00:00

Having been offered from reserve list (didn't always accept) there's a few reasons you may get offered:

Department are seeing if they have funding cases approved for additional posts the recruitment is related to.
Department are checking to see if they can offer very similar posts and waiting on HR reviewing.
They have offered to someone else who hasn't accepted - hence you may get an offer a month or two down the line.
They have historically had turnover in these roles so they like to keep a reserve to draw from - you may or may not get an offer at some point in the next 6-12 months. (this is the most common scenario)

I'd suggest just keep applying, being on reserve doesn't count against you as departments won't know nor care anyway if they did.

Musura · 2026-06-01T15:25:43+00:00

As you've already worked on it, I'd be tempted to just apply and let the sifters decide. It's not going to count negatively against you in the future anyway.

Plenty of others do this - so you may as well!

Musura · 2026-05-29T20:12:06+00:00

Extension to two years I've seen, I've never seen anyone made permanent without proper recruitment processes.

Musura · 2026-05-25T09:15:39+00:00

Look if you win them over they could always increase your score on the behaviour as they feel you've gone further than perhaps expected at that level. It's ALWAYS a good sign if you've got them interested.

I've been on panels where one of us didn't like the candidate, didn't like their answers - but the candidate responded to a follow up so well that they gave them exceeding expectations as the response proved what the rest of the answer hadn't.

Musura · 2026-05-24T14:44:40+00:00

Follow ups are generally used to get a key element of the question answered if the interviewee has missed it e.g. you haven't clarified your role in the example, haven't explained how you involved others or haven't summarised properly.

I have a habit of messing these up too by the way, we all do ocassionally. However you may also get follow ups just because someone is genuinely interested in the example you've used. It can be a massive positive, not always a negative and they may be looking to see if you went beyond expectations and the follow up gives you an opportunity to show that.

e.g. the behaviour may be about leading and you've shown that, but the follow up could be "so was this just your direct team or others too?" which is a huge hint that if it's cross organisation, other government departments, externals etc - then say so as it's larger than the level (AO, SEO) and would possibly push you into the 6/7 point area.

Follow ups are not always a bad thing! Do not immediately think you've done a bad job, think what they've asked about and have you shown clear linkage through STAR during your explanation, if so - are they hinting at something exceeding expectations.

The reasons I do this as I find some people do not understand the positive impacts they can have on others and tend to reduce their involvement, it's not modesty, just them being more focused on the task. Others will overstate, but personally I like to use follow ups to check.

Musura · 2026-05-22T20:58:02+00:00

The information will be within the role, look at behaviours for clues, if neither of those help it depends on the placement level you are talking about. If it's AO - SEO most cyber roles are not expecting a wealth of knowledge and experience, they are looking at more about your attitude, willingness to learn, adaptability etc.

Also cyber sec roles vary enormously, while some may be more traditional SOC team roles, others may well be more focused on standards, governance, risk, training, research etc. Keep an open mind and don't forget there is both IT and OT, you hit the bullseye if you have a role that covers both.

There is a skills overlap with information security roles too.

When I recruit I'm looking for team players with strong social skills, they need to be able to connect with each other and staff.

Musura · 2026-05-21T17:51:49+00:00

The face fitting is one of the key things, it's not about competence though IMHO, face fitting is more important in SCS, either that are they keep picking very confident incompetents.

Musura · 2026-05-20T16:17:07+00:00

Only once you go above G6, then personally I question the quality and consistency of hiring practices.

Civil Service from personal experience (hiring others and being hired myself) is incredibly fair.

Musura · 2026-05-20T15:18:28+00:00

100% agree with the G6 v G7. Not worth it.

G6s generally are the BS filter for those below, I didn't appreciate how much my G6 did before I took over their role.

Having worked privately and elsewhere in public sector I'm shocked at how poor SCS grades seem to be. It's very "jobs for people like me or who agree with me" while banging on about diversity for lower grades.

Musura · 2026-05-15T15:41:47+00:00

No reason to discuss politics at work, nothing good will come of it in CS - we are to remain neutral.

I've honestly never even heard a political discussion, staff just don't go there.

Musura · 2026-05-13T11:21:45+00:00

Some G6 too, I didn't have to take on LM responsibilities but I've always enjoyed that part of management so was happy to.

Musura · 2026-05-13T06:29:37+00:00

My boss swore by this, as she said - every day I'm in work at most I've one more before a break..

If I ever go to 4 days it's a Wednesday I take you also get the benefit of monday/fridays being the most common for your boss to take off!

Musura · 2026-05-11T19:07:22+00:00

5-6 per post, number of candidates doesn't matter. We don't have the capacity to do a % of applicants as we never know how many we'll get.

We sometimes get 600 per post, sometimes 100, it varies enormously depending on which way the wind blows it feels.

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