Who I am

I find myself 18 years deep into my Civil Service career, spending most of those years in HMRC before moving to the Department for Education (DfE) last year. I have always been strongly motivated by societal outcomes – I firmly believe Civil Servants are the backbone of a well-functioning society.

The Path That Led Me Here

I always intended to go to university; it was the “done thing” in my friend group – except coming from a very low socio-economic background, I was simply unable to face the enormous costs. I had part-time jobs from the age of 14, working and studying in college for my A Levels. I was studying with the idea that I would go into a job that enabled the betterment of others – teaching, care work, vet work were all ideas in my head. After college, I very quickly applied for a role in HMRC, which is where everything changed for me.

Getting My Foot in the Door

I was on the hunt for a full-time job and applied to several companies, one being a role in the Contact Centre for HMRC. I was offered the job at HMRC, but they couldn’t place me for 6 months – at the same time, Mercedes offered me a job (and a company car) which was very tempting! I had to weigh up my options and make a quick decision. At that point, HMRC offered me a temporary, lower-paid role whilst they waited to place me in the Contact Centre. On balance, I took that role and the rest is history.  

A Day in My Life

I am the Programme Delivery Manager in the Funding Directorate in DfE, which is the Agile delivery team that sits as part of the DDaT framework. The service is responsible for paying out over £75bn of funding to education providers. We are a blended team of dedicated Civil Servants and Managed Services, and my main task is to ensure everything we are delivering is done to time, cost and quality – ultimately ensuring education providers get the funding they are allocated to support learning.

I have overall responsibility for planning – we plan using Programme Increment (PI), which is a 12-week period of planning. There are places for Agile and Waterfall in planning, and I must balance that with the needs of working in Government, where Agile isn’t always suitable. My next big challenge is to see how we can bring those planning approaches together…

I have responsibility for the Managed Services contracts – working closely with Commercial and our Suppliers on Statements of Work, reacting to the needs of the business by onboarding the right skills into the team, dealing with contracts, purchase orders, invoices etc.

I have a strong belief that good governance should be embraced and is there to help, so I have a bit of a personal mission to embed good working practices in the team!

Our mission is to provide opportunities for all – this is the very foundation for supporting society, and I am incredibly proud to be part of something so important.

Lessons That Shaped My Career

I can pinpoint the exact moment everything changed for me. HMRC carried out a programme to centralise all its offices into city centre locations, which meant my local office was closing. I had two choices – take a voluntary exit or move to a role in the city centre with a longer commute. I scoured the job site and saw a role come up in HR – that’s where everything changed. I joined the HR team, and someone saw talent in me and encouraged me to join HMRC’s talent development scheme. That catapulted me from an AO through to G7 in about 5 years. In those 5 years, I learnt so much about how to be a well-rounded leader – resilience, empathy, strong decision-making skills etc. It also helped build my confidence in myself – something that hadn’t been very strong for a little while.

I’d love to go back and thank my colleague who encouraged me to apply for the scheme – I have no idea where I’d be without her!

There have been so many learning curves in my journey from AA to G6. In one of my more recent roles, I engaged with important external stakeholders, including Ministers. That was such a high-pressure role that toughened me up even more – stakeholders can be brutal when things aren’t going right! The key I find is to always be clear in your communications, even if it’s something they don’t want to hear – listen and be respectful, but hold your boundaries too.

What I Wish I Knew Earlier

1. Explore the routes that are open to you – Apprenticeships, the Fast Stream or lean on a friend who works in the Civil Service to help with an application.
2. Make sure to get your tips from the Unofficial Civil Service Guides to help with writing an application and preparing for an interview.
3. Familiarise yourself with the Civil Service Jobs website and how to write applications using the Success Profiles framework.
4. Write your examples in plain English and make sure you follow the STAR framework.
5. Don’t be afraid to start small – I joined at the most junior grade 18 years ago, and the opportunities to develop and progress are there as long as you are prepared to grab them.
6. There is an excellent learning and development offer in the Civil Service, including professional qualifications – so it’s ok to enter at a more junior grade and work your way up.
7. If you don’t have one already, find yourself a mentor within the Civil Service – someone who can give you direction and advice, and who will help by reviewing any applications or prepping you for interviews.
8. There are so many careers in the Civil Service that sometimes you have to find your way by trying different roles. I started in tax processing and now I am a Chartered Project Professional – but every role I took along the way has led me here.

If you are thinking of a career in the Civil Service, I have one thing to say – go for it.