What Do You Actually Do? Episode 45: Will Simpson, Civil Service Fast Stream

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The Civil Service Fast Stream is one of the most popular grad schemes in the country and the Times Top 100 number 1 graduate employer. In this episode, Kate talks to Will Simpson, a current Fast Streamer, about what he actually does all day, the best and worst bits, and his advice for students applying to the scheme.

Will graduated from York in 2020 with a BA in Politics and is currently on the Civil Service Fast Stream in the HR scheme. He’s based in the Department for Work and Pensions.

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Transcript:

Kate:

You’re listening to the ‘What Do You Actually Do?’ podcast. Each week we want to bring you an inspiring interview, a useful tip or encouraging message to help you find your place in the professional world. Hello and welcome to this episode of ‘What Do You Actually Do?’. My name is Kate Morris and I’ll be your host today. In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about the Civil Service Fast Stream and working in Human Resources. Today we’re joined by Will Simpson, who is a Human Resources Fast Streamer in the Department of Work and Pensions. So, Will, what do you actually do? 

Will:

Hi Kate! It’s a really good question! So, I’m currently working within the Department for Work and Pensions on the HR Fast Stream, and I, for my first placement, was placed  in the well-being team, which wasn’t anything I knew anything about before I joined the Fast Stream, and it was all a new challenge to me. It was a lot of learning to, kind of, understand what is well-being, what does the Department for Work Pensions do, what is a civil servant – it was all totally new to me. So coming in I had no clue what I was going to do. And now sitting here, kind of, almost a year in, I can still say that I’m not a 100% sure what I do, because every day I have different new challenges, something new to do. I’m always doing different bits of work with different teams, and not even necessarily in the department. Dotted about doing lots and lots of different things, which is really exciting. But my main role basically is within the well-being team, and that is to deliver our well-being priorities for the employees in DWP, so the majority of them would be work coaches who work in job centres etc. So the department is almost a hundred thousand people, and maintaining well-being and kind of promoting the well-being message is very important within the department from a strategic point of productivity and things like that. And retention is obviously boosted by that positive well-being. But also from a personal perspective of – if you work for an employer, they have an obligation to take care of you, and their well-being is one of the main ways that we can do that, we can offer a holistic kind of support package. It’s been really interesting to be on the ground floor delivering that within a department as big as DWP. 

Kate:

It sounds like you have kind of a core function that then you do get to work on different random projects. Can you talk us through some of the types of tasks that you might be doing, just to sort of help visualise what that really looks like – I appreciate every day is different and that kind of thing – when you’re saying that you are doing these different tasks, what kind of things are they? 

Will:

I’ll start out with a big project that I’m working on. So at the moment I’m working on revamping our financial well-being package, which is quite comprehensive with the DWP. And I’ll be working on that for a few months, just in the background. That’ll be my main deliverable that I’m doing over a period of, so this project is four months. Before that, my big project was delivering a conference virtually, of course, with one hundred and forty different sessions over a month, all virtually. And I planned that with my team for about five months, and that was in the background. But we also, on the Fast Steam, have lots of bits of work that we do within the Fast Stream. So not just in the DWP, so I work with a lot of people from other departments. And currently one of the things we are working on is to deliver an entire day for the Fast Streamers, and kind of to up-skill them and things like that, which is really interesting. It’s not something I would have given or been allowed to do on my role. And then obviously I’ve got a day to day role as well, which is a bit of general admin. But the majority of it is liaising with different stakeholders within departments, and trying to help them deliver their well-being priorities. So if people want to hold a well-being session, we offer professional well-being sessions, we’ll help to facilitate that, we’ll help to be the people that allow these speakers to connect with the job centre or the specific department that they want to do. I mean, every day is different. I open my laptop every day and there’s, kind of, different requests and different emails and things like that, which is really nice, especially when you, kind of, work from home every day, and it’s- the scenery is the same, but the stuff you’re doing is never the same. 

Kate:

So you must have started then during the pandemic. Was it in one of the lockdowns when you started in the civil service? 

Will:

It was. So I started in September, and obviously couldn’t go back to the office. So I started all online. Personally, I found it all a bit mysterious. There was, you know, the government contacting me saying – You work for us now, but you’ll never be in the office, which was quite odd. But I’ve gotten used to it quite a lot now. Working from home is facilitated really well, everyone’s got used to it, and we’ve all got our kit and things like that, so we work quite efficiently. And it’s nice, you know, we have calls every day and people check in on each other. I haven’t yet been to the office, but I know it’s open to some people. I just haven’t been in the office because of where I’m currently located. But obviously the return to work is also being planned, in my team there’s quite a big element of returning to work as well, so we’re working on that. And that’s been a really interesting task for the department, and that’s obviously going to be coming in the next few months. So hopefully I’ll be able to step foot in the office finally then. 

Kate:

It’s quite meta, isn’t it, because you’re experiencing working from home and starting as a new graduate in the pandemic. But then your role is to help other people with their working from home and, you know, transferring back into the office. So you’ve kind of…. Yeah, that must be interesting. I guess maybe that gives you the benefit of having, feeling like a bit of control over the situation. So I think that’s one of the harder things for lots of people where, you know, you’re told – “you’ve got to work from home now” or “you’ve got to back in the office now”, whereas if you’re sort of helping to plan things, and you can help shape it in some way, I wonder if that helps your well-being a little bit more that, you know, you’ve at least got that perspective on it. 

Will:

I think so. I know no different, really. So obviously I know you don’t get to meet for teas and coffees, and things like that, and there’s not quite that office camaraderie, but I know no different, I’ve never kind of worked in a traditional office otherwise. So it’s nice being able to work on this kind of re-entry to work. And I’m hearing from a lot of people, certainly in the well-being team, we are currently working on some sessions that’ll kind of address anxiety about returning to office, people scared about social distancing, or whether they just haven’t worked in the office for almost a year, and they are anxious about returning. And one of the things it’s nice to hear these stories, and see what people are worried about. And we are able as a team to kind of help them with that, and take them through the steps. But it’s also kind of informed me about some of the things in the office that maybe aren’t so positive, and that I maybe hadn’t prepared for, and I have been able to prepare for now, which is quite nice. 

Kate:

Oh that’s handy. So what was your starting point then? Where did your interest in HR and the civil service come from? 

Will:

My interest in the civil service I think came from the fact that I studied a Politics degree. So the civil service is kind of always in the background doing the work of government. They are the people that deliver the priorities, and anything the government does there is a civil servant behind that. So I think that felt to me like a very obvious next step from doing Politics, and I was quite passionate about wanting to do something that helped people. And so the civil service just seemed the obvious next step. And then when it came to applying, there was kind of, I could choose four options on the Fast Stream of what I wanted to go into. And so I chose HR as one of my options, because I, again, I felt that it’s work with people, it’s directly helping people, and I think that it’s obvious where you’re helping people. I didn’t want to do a job that I felt I’m just kind of working for profit, and there’s a bottom line and we’ve got to get to it. Whereas obviously the civil service doesn’t work for that; the only priority we have is to deliver for taxpayers and to deliver for the people that use the services and job centres, for example. And I really like that. To me that felt like where I fit. So it’s been a really nice journey to be in the civil service, I think especially during Covid when the furlough scheme and things like that, and a lot of people being made unemployed, and DWP has played such an important role in helping these people and supporting these people. And it’s just been really reaffirming to be in the civil service at this time. 

Kate:

It sounds like there was an attraction there from an intellectual perspective, but it also fits with your values about what kind of environment you want to be in. You’ve mentioned that you sort of work on projects. So I guess you need to be pretty organised and be able to plan, etc. What are the kind of personal strengths or qualities would you say you need to have to be sort of happy and successful working in HR? And also being on the Fast Stream, because you’re sort of changing every few months, aren’t you, on the Fast Stream? So to sort of manage both of those things. 

Will:

I’ll approach it from the Fast Stream perspective first, because I think when you join the general Fast Stream you change every six months, and when you join the HR Fast Stream, you change every 18 months. So we have 18 months to kind of get to grips with the role, really make a difference, and then we move on. So the way it was always pitched to me was – you’ll have six months of settling in, and you won’t be working really effectively. You’ll have six months of working really productively and learning lots, and then you’ll have six months when you’ll consolidate all these skills. And to me that seems like a really good idea, I mean, it’s very exciting. So one of the most important things, I think, is to – especially in the civil service – to realise that not everything you want to do will be able to be done. And there’s quite a way of life in the civil service, and it’s very efficient, but, you know, sometimes things will take a couple of days longer than it does. And there’s an element of patience in that which, when I joined, I wasn’t quite ready for, but I’m used to it now, I think. And, you know, it’s understandable why it’s there. I think obviously the organisation, being able to switch off from one project that you’re working on, working on to another, being able to just organise your work so that you can set aside however many hours on one thing, and then not have to think about it and switch to another thing – that’s something I’ve learnt. I was never the most organised student, never the most organised person in my personal life, but I think I’ve had to be. And it’s been a really nice learning curve to learn that, because it makes everything easier. I think the other thing I realised is that there’s so many people in the department that want to help, and it is just about reaching out for help. When I first joined I was a little bit nervous to kind of turn to someone and go – “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve been given this task and everyone else knows what they’re doing, and I have no clue. I can’t find anything that’s telling me this is how you do it”. And it was a bit of a learning curve for me to reach out to people and say – “I’m clueless. Can you teach me because I need to know this”. And people are just so willing to help. And everyone’s there to kind of support you in your journey in the civil service, which is really, really lovely. I think people are just so approachable, and I didn’t quite learn that. It would have been nice to know that before I went in. 

Kate:

So when you say it would be nice to know that before you went in, was that because you were maybe feeling a bit cautious about asking lots of questions, and you didn’t know if you were expected to know everything, and didn’t want to look like an idiot? Was that sort of your thinking behind that. Or was there a different reason that you would have preferred to have known that in advance? 

Will:

I think one of the biggest things that I had was, in my first meeting, my first kind of actual structured meeting, everyone spoke in acronyms and everyone shortened everything. And it was all, you know, numbers and letters, and things like that. And I couldn’t get a grasp on that. It made no sense to me and no one had written down: this is what this stands for and this is what this stands for. And everyone else seemed to know what they were saying. And it would have taken no time for me to say – “Well, what does PCNP (which is my department) what do they do and what’s this and that?” And I think people are so willing. They know that you don’t know and they are willing to help you learn that stuff. And I think it was just a bit of nervousness on my part. And you come into the civil service and it has lots of people that have been here for years, and are kind of part of the furniture. But there’s also a lot of people that have been there for months and are still learning. Everyone’s on a different journey, but everyone is there to kind of help you on that journey. I really like it. 

Kate:

It’s interesting because I think that, like, it’s really natural to feel like that at the start of any job. And I think that starting your career completely remotely adds another layer of kind of complexity to that. Because you might just lean over your shoulder and ask someone a question in the office. Whereas I’ve chatted to people where they felt like they needed to save up quite a few questions rather than just sending off loads of different emails. So it’s kind of, I think that’s a combination of – it’s just that’s how it feels when you start a new job, even when you have got loads of experience, that’s how it feels when you start a new job. But I think there’s something unique about working remotely and starting a new job, and I think we’re all learning how to manage that best. But yeah, it’s brilliant that you’ve sort of had that experience of which, I think, I’ve not spoken to anybody in any employment situation where they haven’t had that experience of  – actually people really are nice, and want to help, and happy to answer their questions. 

Will:

Yes. 

Kate:

So it sounds like there’s loads of really great stuff that you really love about the work. What’s the worst aspect of the role? What’s the thing where you’re like – “oooh, I don’t like Tuesdays or whatever, because I have to do that.” 

Will:

That’s a really good question. What’s the worst thing about the role… I think, DWP is such a big department. My team within the department is relatively small. It’s, I mean, DWP is almost 100,000 people, and each different department has their own priorities, and each different team has their own priorities and, and obviously there’s quite a limited budget, and sometimes you’ll be working on something for a little while and then it’ll just stop because it’s not important in that time or whatever. And I understand why it happens, but it doesn’t give me back that days or weeks that I’ve worked on something, for it to just then be paused. So that’s quite frustrating. But I think that’s just the nature of the beast, really. 

Kate:

Yeah, I can understand that. If you’ve kind of invested in something and it’s like – oh, change of plan! 

Will:

Yes, absolutely. 

Kate:

Thinking ahead, what do you think the key challenges will be for HR, and the civil service in general over the next few years? Because as you said earlier, you know, you’ve been in a unique position with your role, with sort of managing the DWP stuff with all the, you know, it’s affecting the whole of society at the moment. Is there anything else that’s on the horizon, that’s kind of a big thing that you’re preparing for, or thinking about, or you think it would be useful for students to start to research and consider? 

Will:

Well, I think certainly one of the challenges for HR will be the return to office. And what does hybrid working – if we want to embrace that – what does that mean? Does it mean you are in the office three days a week and you’re at home two days a week? Or is it slightly more flexible than that? And it’s, you know, you come in when you have a meeting, but otherwise you can stay at home. And I don’t think anyone has the answer to that yet, and I think it’ll take a lot of practice and a lot of experimentation to find what works best for each different organisation. And then obviously, I think for the civil service, there’s still a lot of uncertainty around Brexit and things like that. And what that will mean combined with the effects of Covid, with unemployment and things like that, that’s going to be a huge challenge as well. But it’ll be a challenge that I think the civil service is ready for and it’s prepared to meet. I think certainly if I could go back to being a student and start preparing, something that I really wish I knew before I went to the office – I think there’s a lot of really useful resources online and things like that that are available even for a day just to kind of learn. Here’s all the shortcuts for Excel, or here’s all the shortcuts on how to do X, Y and Z on Word and things like that. Just all these basics that really take no time at all, but they save you so much time. And I think I found some really good TED talks and things like that on how to organise yourself, how to approach work – because work is different from personal life – how to approach the organisation, and the responsibilities that you’re going to be given. That was really useful. And then I think also talking to people that are in positions that you’re interested in. I mean, if you reach out to people on LinkedIn… I did that with a lot of HR people before I entered the civil service. I reached out to a lot of people just saying – “How did you get where you were? What interests you in what you do? What advice would you give me? What do you wish you had known?” – things like that. People are always willing to give that advice and it doesn’t take very much time, and it’s really useful. And potentially you are building a network of contacts that you might not have had otherwise. And that network can come in really, really useful as you kind of progress. I’m still in contact with quite a few of the people that I contacted initially, because they’ve taken an interest in what I’m doing, and also I’ve taken interest in the kind of mentoring role that they can offer me as well, which is really, really useful. I think any professional that’s willing to mentor you in your chosen area is really, really useful. 

Kate:

I’m speaking to more and more people who have benefited from using LinkedIn, or University of York Profiles and Mentors, or whatever other university equivalent. I think that networking and actually speaking to real people who’ve done the job is so useful. But it sounds like a combination of sort of networking, getting those insider insights, but also just the basic admin tasks and building up confidence and familiarity in those kind of things to help you hit the ground running. Is there anything else on kind of tips for applying to the Fast Stream? Because I see a lot of students who, you know, it’s such a long process and it can be pretty stressful. Are there anything that you would say – “Oh, I did this, and this went really well as a result of that”, or “Don’t do that because it went badly because of that”. 

Will:

I think specifically for the Fast Stream, I think the first thing to keep in mind is that a lot of people will apply quite a few times before they get in. And it’s not, just because you get rejected once, it doesn’t mean that that’s not an option for you. You kind of build up some experience, you can prepare for the application again, and you can apply again, and you’ll have a much better chance then. I think one of the most useful things I found was – when it came to doing interviews and things like that, generally for other jobs as well, but initially, specifically for the Fast Stream, I wrote down interview questions I thought would be asked. The civil service has a list of behaviours that they asked questions on. So I Googled that, made sure I knew them, wrote out questions based on this, and wrote my examples in the STAR format, so the situation, task, action, result. And I wrote out that, and I kind of had that in the back of my mind, that if they ask a question on when have I shown leadership, I would have written down my example and can put it in the STAR format, and it gave me a lot of confidence going into the interviews. And then also there’s a lot of resources online for the Fast Stream specifically. There’s a ton of examples on the Fast Stream website of how to apply and the questions that are asked. But there’s also more generic tests for just jobs, and things like that that you can do online. It’s just good to not be blind when you go into the application process, to know what they’re going to ask. And I think there’s an element that you can predict what’s going to be asked on a lot of these things. You know, they’re going to ask you about when have you shown leadership, when have you shown resilience or something like that. And it’s just good to have all of these things in the back of your mind, and you know what your example is. Another really good bit of advice that I got was – everyone’s nervous, and there’s no need to pretend not to be nervous. They know you’re nervous, they know that it’s quite a scary process, but they’re not there to trip you up. They are there to help you, and find the best bits about you, that’s why the Fast Stream wants to hire you. They’re not there to laugh at you, if you mess up a word. So I think being aware that it’s OK to be nervous, and knowing that, it’s really helpful when you’re going into the application as well. 

Kate:

That’s brilliant, thank you so much. Well, for more information about the careers we’ve mentioned today, I’m going to add some relevant links to the show notes and a link to the full transcript of today’s show. And I’ll put some links to the interview preparation resources as well, and psychometric tests and things, because I think you’re right, it’s really useful to try and anticipate what’s going to come up rather than just rock up, have a go and see what happens. But Will, thank you so much for sharing your experiences today and kind of spending time with us. Really, really appreciate it. 

Will:

No worries. Thank you very much for having me. 

Kate:

Thank you for joining us this week on ‘What Do You Actually Do?’. This episode was hosted by me, Kate Morris, edited by Stephen Furlong, and produced by both of us. If you love this podcast, spread the word and follow us. Are you eager to get more tips? Follow University of York Careers and Placements on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. All useful links are in this episode’s description. This has been produced at the University of York Careers and Placements. For more information visit york.ac.uk/careers