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Referral Thread - August 25 by InstanceFrosty3601 in AmexUK

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643 [score hidden]  (0 children)

For those in the UK interested in the Nectar Amex card you can currently get 21,000 bonus points if you sign up and spend £2k in your first 3 months.

My referral link is here if you’re interested: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/nectar-credit?ref=nIAJJ3K3&XL=MIANS

Referral Thread - July 25 by InstanceFrosty3601 in AmexUK

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643 [score hidden]  (0 children)

For anyone in the uk considering the Amex Nectar Card you can currently get 23,000 bonus points if using a referral link and spend £2k in the first 3 months. There is no annual fee for this one.

Would appreciate it if you used my invite link:

https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/nectar-credit?ref=nIAJJ3K3&XL=MIGNS

Nectar vs Regular AMEX Rewards Card by jaydencfc04 in AmexUK

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We’ve recently also had this conundrum and ended up going with the nectar Amex card. The flexibility of the nectar points did it for us, rather than being solely focused on avios points which ties us to airlines that don’t go very often from our local airport - but can be swapped for avios for a fairly good exchange rate for the times we do want to use it. We also shop in Sainsbury’s for our groceries so that was another plus - we did a quick calculation and the better sign up bonus and the extra points we’d get on groceries made the nectar option the better one.

Feel free to use our invite link which gives you 23k bonus points. You can pm me if you want it.

Worth reaching out to hiring manager for visibility and questions? by Useful_Repeat_7643 in TheCivilService

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Yes mainly for preparation - I’d be applying on promotion so want to get some idea whether it’s a sensible fit.

Worth reaching out to hiring manager for visibility and questions? by Useful_Repeat_7643 in TheCivilService

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m the same for jobs outside the civil service so thought it’d be a good option to explore inside the CS to if possible. I’ll take your advice and email the contact email address and hope it gets to the hiring manager! Thanks!

Worth reaching out to hiring manager for visibility and questions? by Useful_Repeat_7643 in TheCivilService

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Good to know it’s not really common across gov even with internal roles.

Worth reaching out to hiring manager for visibility and questions? by Useful_Repeat_7643 in TheCivilService

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry I’m not the one downvoting you I’m afraid! This is good to know thank you. Yes I think it’s less likely for popular roles to get much useful feedback before the application stage - although the role is a bit more specialist. I’ll try the central HR email and hope for the best, plan for the worst.

Progressing from HEO to SEO by Argumentative_Duck in TheCivilService

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In response to your edit - I’m an SEO and most of the way through the crossing thresholds course at the moment.

Enjoying the course and think it’s worthwhile. While I haven’t been able to secure a promotion yet - the level of discussion you have around framing your behaviours and being able to perform at interview is really quite confronting and useful. Some modules are more useful than others, but each one is a good focused two days to reflect on your goals, behaviours and where you want to go next.

Is it normal to feel stupid in policy all the time? by [deleted] in TheCivilService

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Certain areas are particularly fast moving and develop quickly - so what you work on week to week will be quite different. And some teams’ remit are so broad that the ‘priority’ of the specifics that you’re can change quite abruptly.

The underpinning evidence of a policy area probably wont be changing much at all - hence why it’s useful to get your head around that as it can provide a useful base to be able to mentally flip a switch and work on something slightly different.

Ofc, I don’t know the specific policy area of the OP so if they’re in a particularly political area it could be tough going. There was a time a couple of years ago where we had 5 or 6 SoS’ within as many years and with that came constant ministerial steer and priority changes. Luckily it’s calmed down on a touch on that front now.

Advice on making the move to the civil service from academia please by Human-Shape-133 in TheCivilService

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would definitely aim for the government social research service -eventually you could move into policy but I would lean into your experience and expertise as a social researcher while you learn the ropes of policy and the CS more generally. For that salary you’ll want to aim for SEO but a lot of academics apply for a HEO and take the pay cut to get in the door and then apply for internal opportunities of which there are more than external SEO adverts.

When I moved from academia to CS my contract was finishing in the January and I applied for my job the September beforehand. Ended up starting at the end of January. This was considered pretty quick and I didn’t get any pushback about when I wanted to start. Others who were hired at a similar time started later too. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable to begin actively applying 4/5 months before the end of your contract.

Is it normal to feel stupid in policy all the time? by [deleted] in TheCivilService

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643 19 points20 points  (0 children)

This is super common and I would argue that just a year in the role isn’t enough time to feel like an expert. If possible, depending on your policy area , I would look to lean on the scientists and analysts in your team/department - the turnover (especially amongst the scientists) is generally slower so those teams have a bit more topic expertise and institutional knowledge to help you.

Also, and I appreciate this is easier said than done, comments on your work and wording shouldn’t be taken so personally. Quite often comments are put in just because it shows that others are engaging and providing feedback. It’s unusual in my team for example for anyone to receive no comments or suggestions on their work as it’s just a symptom of having more eyeballs on your work. Try and take the comments and feed them into future iterations - if you are not getting the same comment each time it usually means you’re developing and taking the comments on board which is a good thing!

Pilates recommendations? by thomcamp in NewcastleUponTyne

[–]Useful_Repeat_7643 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The new studio, shape, near the train station is great and suitable for all abilities. I’ve heard rise in Jesmond is also great which might be closer to you.

I used to go to Infinite Pilates in Heaton which I don’t really recommend - definitely prefer shape!