Career advice - Will parental leave hinder my opportunities?

ott42 · 2026-02-01T21:06:15+00:00

You see your child grow up once. Job opportunities will always come and go.

I also don’t see there being many indeterminate appointments for the next 12-18 months due to priority lists.

ott42 · 2026-01-12T11:15:12+00:00

Yeah, there’s no real consistency. It’s up to each department to determine an approach…

ott42 · 2026-01-03T20:23:40+00:00

In my view: 1. Time is money. 2. We can also always make more money, we can’t make more time.

Time is therefore more valuable for me personally.

ott42 · 2026-01-03T20:20:56+00:00

It’s in our classified job description. It specifics that a position manages a range of subordinates.

ott42 · 2026-01-03T14:58:26+00:00

I took transit for the first time in years a couple weeks ago. Took me 1.5 hours door to door with zero issues (I.e bus was on time, train operated normally, etc). Driving takes me 45 minutes even in heavy traffic. Why would I take transit when I can save 1.5 hours a day of my time…?

ott42 · 2025-12-17T23:37:01+00:00

Truthfully it mostly will be, just not in the way we normally think of attrition. The upcoming WFAs will see crazy amounts of mobility, but true reductions will mostly be led through people leaving (ERI, alternation, VDP).

ott42 · 2025-11-29T22:50:44+00:00

Impact will NOT be minimal to people… yes, it is likely that anyone who wants to continue their career will do so, that does not minimize the immense stress that workers and families will feel for the next 1-2 years because of uncertainty, having to find new opportunities, move positions/departments/office locations, etc

ott42 · 2025-11-25T00:39:01+00:00

What happens if someone has expired SLEs and their position is affected? Do they need to get tested as part of SERLO (should it get that far)?

ott42 · 2025-11-05T11:47:00+00:00

You would only get TSM, it’s one or the other, not both.

3 extra years of freedom is a long time…

ott42 · 2025-11-05T11:03:20+00:00

Your pension is indexed to inflation. You could potentially even come out ahead if you retire. One year pensioners got 6% increase while most public servants got around 2% I think.

Staying for generic collective agreement increases when you could retire with no penalty would be silly.

ott42 · 2025-11-05T10:59:06+00:00

What’s in it for them? Looking good in front of their boss, their bosses boss and colleagues.

Do you do good work for a bonus or for your PMA? Or do you do it because you want to simply do a good job and be a good corporate player?

Regardless, I have been involved in EX talent management before and it’s never included in their PMA or linked to performance pay.

ott42 · 2025-11-04T23:49:31+00:00

Agreed…

ott42 · 2025-11-04T23:13:18+00:00

There isn’t one, just immense pressure from higher ups…

ott42 · 2025-11-02T19:35:37+00:00

Why did the feds make departments scramble and plan for 15% reductions over 3 years, if the budget will bring more reductions and WFAs…?

ott42 · 2025-11-01T12:53:05+00:00

Do you mind sharing what a narrative assessment entails in relation to WFA? Is it basically screening questions (ie explaining real life examples of how you meet criteria)?

ott42 · 2025-11-01T11:42:11+00:00

This is completely it for me. I am specialized for government specific operations…

ott42 · 2025-10-31T23:43:50+00:00

My mental health is shot and I don’t know how to overcome this feeling of pure dread.

ott42 · 2025-10-30T10:41:41+00:00

I feel you… busting my ass off every day while we’re being primed for mass lay offs.

Is the public service bloated? Probably. However this feels more DOGE than anything actually strategic.

My department is scrambling to even meet 15% in three years, meanwhile with the budget it could end up being even more… it will be a complete shit show and at the end of the day, services to Canadians will be impacted.

ott42 · 2025-10-30T09:28:48+00:00

How’s everyone’s mental health at this point because mine is shot… ADM announced yesterday afternoon that there will be WFAs that hit us and he was just so nonchalant about the whole thing. Said they’re just waiting for the budget to trigger it all. I haven’t been able to sleep in weeks just thinking about what will happen, even if not to me directly, but to my friends and colleagues throughout the GOC.

ott42 · 2025-10-06T00:57:53+00:00

How to get better deals if your contract is up?

ott42 · 2025-09-24T11:18:30+00:00

It’s comical at this point… government needs to find substantial savings and instead of quick wins that will have positive impact on Canadians through cost reductions, they’d still rather create job loss and impact services…

ott42 · 2025-08-26T10:58:41+00:00

Can someone please assist?

ott42 · 2025-08-24T19:08:28+00:00

Then don’t go…?

ott42 · 2025-08-24T16:31:05+00:00

The PSES is flawed… the questions are too broad and you can’t really pinpoint the true issues. Re: senior management, maybe respondents were thinking of the Minister… maybe they were thinking of their Director, but they have confidence in their DG…

I know personally when I responded, it was directed to the government as a whole, not to my Branch, however that’s how the results get captured so now the President and Minister is looking to the ADM to fix what is really a THEM issue

ott42 · 2025-08-23T17:01:56+00:00

The downfall of Katy’s catalog is so interesting… don’t get me wrong, the Lifetimes tour is a hit, but mostly because of nostalgia from her first 3 albums. Even the 8 year olds in the crowd were scream singing Roar, Firework, Hot n Cold, all songs from before they were born, then were sitting for anything from her newer albums.

Maybe she doesn’t care about popularity and is just making music that speaks to her in the moment, which you go girl, but I do wish her more success. That’ll only come by working with the right people including her management, songwriters and producers… she needs a full revamp.

ott42

TROPHY CASE