A civil servant is first and foremost a servant of the crown working in a civil capacity. The enduring image for most will be that of Sir Humphrey engaging in an endless battle of wills with the minister in the BBC classic, Yes Minister.
There are myriad levels at which to enter the service. So, as a support staff worker, does it represent a good choice of career? What is the best way to make the most of the opportunities it offers? And can you avoid its famously difficult exams?
Lauren McGovern, 25, is diary secretary to Tessa Jowell, the secretary of state for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). She is based in Whitehall, London. "My current role involves responding directly to requests from the secretary of state and the department," she says. "How I achieve this is very much up to me. I work closely in a team to ensure that Tessa's diary runs smoothly and that she has everything she needs."
A graduate in communications and audiovisual production, McGovern had to pass an initial entry interview. "I applied two and a half years ago after seeing an ad. My first interview was with two people from the department and I didn't need to take any tests," she says.
Since then, she has applied for other posts in the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office and has sat a number of tests. "These [tests] are designed to measure your numeracy, spelling and ability to think logically."
As far as opportunities for training and promotion are concerned at the DCMS, there is an established framework. "Promotion boards take place once a year. I have attended courses held at the department and the Civil Service College, gained promotion last year and have joined the department's fast-track development programme."
The fast stream has a reputation for its difficult entry exams. It is open to graduates with a 2:2 degree or higher in any subject and, according to the service website, only 500 are accepted each year. There are several ways to join and, when you apply, you need to choose the option that is of most interest to you. The general fast stream has five options encompassing roles as varied as diplomat, economist and statistician. There is also the option to join the intelligence services.
Joining the fast stream guarantees a series of intensive job placements designed to prepare candidates for senior managerial positions, and participants move regularly between projects and sections within their departments.
Of course, many employees join the service without going through the fast stream. But any employee with two years' service may be interested to see if they qualify for the in-service nomination scheme to join it.
Julie Corey, 42, has worked at the Inland Revenue since 1983. "I applied for my first post as administrative assistant through the job centre. When I joined the department I had some qualifications, including a first-year Business Education Council Certificate in physical sciences. This meant that I didn't need to take an entry test," she says. Entry into the service also included an interview with a management inspector. But when she later applied for a job as an administrative officer,she faced an interview panel of three senior civil servants, and had to provide concrete evidence of her qualifications.
Corey has since progressed within the service and is now revenue assistant for the inspector of taxes. "In order to move up the ranks I undertook substantial training courses on taxation and I was encouraged to do this by my boss."
But McGovern adds that while there is a wide selection of training on offer, those working in a private office may find it difficult to take advantage of courses.
Mike Emmot is employee relations adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). He says service support staff should think of themselves in the context of the wider labour market. "Civil servants often perceive themselves as performing a unique job within the economy," he says. "However, this can lead to a loss of confidence if staff are faced with the prospect of having to use their skills in the wider workplace. The CIPD advises those in the service to attain a qualification to give them the edge and definition within their role as well as looking for career anchors."
Those within the services get other benefits. Corey says that she has been lucky when it comes to work/life balance. "I was alone with three children for six years and this job gave me the flexibility to work around an illness. I could be off one week and then make up the time the next. In my experience, the civil service has been a child-friendly sector to work in. My career has continued uninterrupted and I've had the opportunity to retrain. At present I'm doing a course at Cardiff University that is targeted at women in clerical, administrative and support grades."
Not all aspects of the service are as positive. Last autumn, a CIPD report showed that, despite its commitment to progressive human resource practices such as family-friendly policies, the state of the "psychological contract" or employment relationship in the civil service is far from ideal.
The Psychological Contract in the Public Sector report was conducted by Professor David Guest of Kings College, London, and co-sponsored by the government's centre for management and policy studies. The report focused on issues such as trust, loyalty, commitment and work/life balance to demonstrate the impact of any organisational change.
Workers' trust in management and their perceptions of that management's ability to deliver promises, said the report, was higher in the private than the public sector - especially in central government. "The results show that there's a great deal of negativity among staff in the civil service," adds Emmot. "Management structures are in place but these do not necessarily translate into good employee relations."
The findings also showed that civil servants did not seem to be proud to say who they worked for. The decline in the psychological contract, concluded Guest, was caused by the decentralisation of employment systems such as pay bargaining, the adoption of tighter frameworks for managing performance and the fact that it was becoming increasingly difficult to identify "the distinct public service" ethos that the service once had.
Emmot says that the bureaucratic nature of the public sector, and the civil service in particular, plays a part in the report's negative findings. "It is a friendly but paper-based culture and there is an emphasis on financial control that doesn't lend itself to good people management," he says.
The question of low pay in the public sector in general is a continuous gripe. The government's New Earnings Survey shows that the average full-time salary in the public sector was £22,464 in April 2001 compared to £23,400 in the private sector. For the civil service, however, rates of pay vary depending on the level of entry. But according to Income Data Services, civil servants along with a range of public sector employees, are set to receive substantial pay increases this year as employers seek to address recruitment and retention issues, establish more competitive salary levels and deal with discriminatory pay systems.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is one of the largest civil service unions, with 280,000 members, and it is the main union for support staff. The union is currently involved in redressing the low-pay rates that it claims exist across the board. "We work in partnership with management to assist in areas such as pay negotiation, disputes and training," says Ben Hurley of the PCS. "Training is encouraged and we have a learning development centre in London. Staff can attend IT training courses there and we also have regional versions of the London learning development centre."
So does "jobs for life" in the civil service ring true? Research has shown job security to be generally very high and this has often been cited as the trade-off for accepting lower rates of pay than the private sector.
As for the Yes Minister analogy still being applicable to the civil service in the 21st century, Emmot begs to differ. "That image is vastly outdated and it was so even 15 years ago," he says. "If you are starting out in a career and join as a support staff member, you will be working with people who are very much like yourself in a typical office."
· DCM: www.culture.gov.uk
· The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development: www.cipd.co.uk/
· Incomes Data Services: www.incomesdata.co.uk/