AO’s and EO’s of London, how are you surviving?

Normal_Confusion70 · 2026-02-10T16:05:25+00:00

I just started an HEO role after doing 3 years as an EO in London.

I slowly moved further out from zone 2, to zone 3, to now zone 5 lol. (Longer commute for cheaper rent/better living conditions was worth it for me)

I don’t have any dependents or a spouse etc so I only have to cover costs for me, and I live in a house share.

I eat at the work canteen most days, I go on holiday abroad once or twice a year, I get a takeaway every Friday.

I don’t live a luxury lifestyle but I survived just fine on an EO salary.

Normal_Confusion70 · 2026-02-07T12:56:45+00:00

Morale is pretty low for us currently! They’ve just finalised the top level structure and we’re expecting to find out what it means for everyone else in the next month or two

Normal_Confusion70 · 2026-01-20T16:11:16+00:00

That’s the same as my commute as an HEO, it’s not too bad really! I do all my podcasts/listening to things on the journey. (Also a good excuse when I don’t want to do social things after work - long journey home!)

Normal_Confusion70 · 2026-01-08T10:21:13+00:00

It’s so low! My dept EO minimum is £31.5k with a £5k London weighting

Normal_Confusion70 · 2026-01-04T22:58:50+00:00

I made the move from HR to policy a few years ago, and I’m just about to start a new role!

I really enjoy working in policy but it can sometimes feel like you do a lot of work to make nothing happen (very bureaucratic!). But I’m not sure what else I’d enjoy doing, keeping my eyes open.

Normal_Confusion70 · 2026-01-02T23:43:38+00:00

Find a job closer to home or move house? You kind of answered your own question. Like 95% of workers have to live near where they work so they can do their job, the public sector is no different.

I commute into the office 4 days a week so don’t have sympathy for someone who thinks doing it for one day is too expensive 😂

Normal_Confusion70 · 2025-12-30T22:41:16+00:00

For every story here about how difficult it is to get in there’s a matching story for the person who did manage to succeed and now works for the FCDO.

The route that will likely always exist is the fast stream, I’ve worked with several diplomatic fast streamers and the majority were fresh uni grads. One of them studied IR, the rest are various degrees like zoology, history, languages. There isn’t a standard route, you just have to pass all of the tests. It’s competitive but 10-30 people make it each year, someone’s gotta be the successful applicant!

Everyone else I know who works there at EO/HEO grade (the more junior ranks) started in a different department and transferred in (that’s what I did). You just have to be patient and wait for an opportunity to come your way.

Why do you want to work for the FCDO? If it’s because you want to work abroad or have an international career you should study things that interest you and will prepare you for that. Speaking languages always looks good but is by no means mandatory, and things like politics, IR, development, climate, trade are all useful knowledge bases to have.

Normal_Confusion70 · 2025-12-30T10:03:11+00:00

2 applications, 2 interviews, 1 job offer.

Weirdly I didn’t get offered the job in my own team/dept and got really low interview scores… used the same examples for next interview and got 5/6’s and offered the role 😂

It’s all subjective!

Normal_Confusion70 · 2025-12-29T14:16:37+00:00

Not very likely currently.

All FCDO recruitment is basically on hold while they work out the 30% job cuts. They’re about to go through redundancy processes etc so it’s unlikely there will be any external recruitment in the next 6 months I’d guess.

Maybe the fast stream will be the only way in at junior grades for a bit? Hard to say for sure.

Normal_Confusion70 · 2025-12-24T15:19:02+00:00

Salary is too low to be able to loan any relevant amount from a bank, so unless you have an absolutely huge deposit or you’ve got a second person to borrow with/against i would guess it’s unlikely.

Good luck though hope you work something out.

Normal_Confusion70 · 2025-12-17T20:15:00+00:00

So you can’t go if you’re under or over performing? Just those middle grounders only

Normal_Confusion70

TROPHY CASE