This article is written by Victoria Camp, Project Director at Local Partnerships.

  • The problem: Moving between sectors, private to public, is difficult and can put people off making the move.
  • Why it matters: The public sector is an incredibly rewarding and fulfilling sector to work in.
  • The solution: Be prepared, be advised and be amazed.

My transition from the private to the public sector was bumpy, pretty bumpy in fact and yet I’d never change a thing. Honestly, even on the worst days, I’d never go back.

I’m sharing below some tips to get you through the door, and then to help you as you transition into what I hope you might find a rewarding and incredible career. If you want to read about the types of people you might be working with, you can see another piece I wrote a while back.

1. Exam answers

Getting an interview is step one–most public sector organisations still operate traditional recruitment methodologies, although thankfully some of that is falling away now. You might have an excellent CV and yet if you can’t follow the application formula you won’t even get shortlisted. The whole process is incredibly formulaic. Review the job description and the person specification–do you meet most, but not all of the requirements? Yes. Brilliant. Now word for word you need to explain, linked to each relevant item on the person spec/job description, how you meet it.

It’s not enough to explain the work you have done in the private sector as this might seem unrelatable to those reading you need to explain how for example managing projects with multiple departments is similar to managing multiple departments. How is a board of directors like a set of elected members? You need to draw the line between what you know and how that skill relates to the skills they are looking for, and you need to be specific, using their language, not yours. It took me 11 applications to get an interview for a job with the same exact job title I was doing in a bank.

2. Passion

Working in the private sector is fantastic and yet I cannot think of a time where people’s emotions came through during a bank board meeting. The whole experience was very flat for me. In the private sector people are interested, engaged and excellent in their work and yet the passion that you see in the public sector is unlike anything else. People care about the project in a way that I did not experience in my time in finance. People feel linked to their work: it’s not just a job.

That was the case, but then five years of trying to battle endless meetings, knock backs, disappointment, new leadership, new hope, more hoops, and paperwork means it becomes so much more and we feel the work we do. Don’t be scared by this, embrace it like it’s a superpower, because you will never (in my experience) work with people who give just about everything they have every day for the greater good.

3. People

Since joining the public sector I have not been performance managed at all. I’ve found this really hard: how do I know if I’m doing a good job? What are my goals? What happens if I meet them? Or don’t? What about that guy in the team who does nothing, how come he gets away with it?

You will ask yourself all these questions and more and I haven’t yet landed on whether I think this is good or not. If you want goals, set them yourself. Discuss with your superiors and agree on regular reviews. If you don’t, then just crack on with what you think is a good version of the job.

Also learn that in some organisations entire departments and directorates will be run entirely based on the personality of one person, and that person might not be a great leader or manager. Again you can try and fight this, get annoyed, but ultimately just work around it as best you can and remember my point above and below–passion and love. Everyone, even those you least expect are doing their best.

Learn what levers to pull, who to bring in early and why, which meetings matter and which don’t.

4. Embrace red tape

You’ve heard all about this, haven’t you …the red tape and the inefficiencies in government and public sector. I can’t lie because they do both exist in abundance, and yet here is where I would add two vital caveats to how to interact with the bureaucracy of the machine.

  • It’s no one’s fault. The machine has taken over and no-one is to blame for this, many many people are trying to fix it and they are making progress and yet it still takes time and effort and things are still slow. Everyone is doing their best in the circumstances, remember that, daily.
  • Learn the system–learn what levers to pull, who to bring in early and why, which meetings matter and which don’t, apply your private sector experience in getting things done and just twist and turn it to suit the organisation you are in. Don’t stop because you will make progress and it will feel good.

It would be easy to feel afraid of making this transition, and it is not without its difficulties. If you can learn to embrace everything about this sector and see what a huge impact you can make on the lives of others then there really is no other place to work.

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