What Do You Actually Do? Episode 75: The Civil Service Science and Engineering Fast Stream with James Halpin

/ Hilary Neary

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Listen as Kate gets to the bottom of what James’s job looks like. They cover the variety of postings James has undertaken on the Science and Engineering Fast Stream, the transferable skills that have helped him in his role and the future challenges for the Civil Service.

James’s Bio

I’m part of the UK Civil Service Fast Stream graduate programme and I’m on the Science & Engineering scheme. I’m currently working at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and my past postings include the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and a secondment at the Newton Venture Program.

I hold a first-class integrated Masters degree in Chemistry from The University of York and I spent my masters year at the University of Helsinki as a year abroad working in a research lab. After University I worked for the charity Shelter for a year before joining the Fast Stream.

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Transcript


Kate
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, science and engineering fast stream and we’re joined by James Halpin, who’s currently working as a Policy Officer in his fourth posting on the fast stream. So, James, what do you actually do?


James
Hi Kate. Thanks for having me. First of all, I’m really excited about this. I do remember listening to a couple of these podcasts when I was trying to work out what I wanted to do a few years ago. So what do I do? That’s a great question. So you mentioned I’m in a policy role at the moment, but I think it’s probably worth stepping back and saying what, what is the fast stream? What am I doing on the fast stream.

Kate
Yeah. So you’re on specifically the science and engineering one. What does that entail then?


James
Basically there’s like you said, there’s lots of different streams on on the fast stream; commercial, HR, science and engineering is one of them as well. It’s one of the smaller ones, but it’s growing and it’s all about using science and engineering and using evidence to try and influence policy for the purpose of the profession and the scheme itself, and using that knowledge in day-to-day roles in government to try and influence that. So basically on the science and engineering scheme across three years, you’ve got four different postings across different government departments and different types of postings to get experience in different ways, from policy which is basically supporting us to create and deliver a government policy of the day. Some examples could be future transport, for example and working on future methods of transport. Other ones could be strategy roles, for example working in the Ministry of Defence on a big sort of budget for research in the next generation of defence equipment. It really ranges from one thing to another.


Kate
So do you get to choose the postings or do you kind of get told, hey, you’re going to work for the Ministry of Defence next week or something like that.


James
Unfortunately, I don’t choose the postings. To be honest, it’s probably a good thing. So you have to fill out a preference form and you put your preferences down and then you get given basically what you get given and that’s really good in some ways because you get a variety of things and things you might not have even considered before, a classic sort of phrase, you’ll hear like all the fast streamers say is, I didn’t think I’d enjoy this posting, but after actually doing it, it was actually really, really cool and It’s what I want to do going forward. So you do get to put some preferences down and they do influence it, but you do get told where you end up pretty much.


Kate
So that sounds quite good then. It’s taking you out of your comfort zone and exposing you to sort of different areas that you wouldn’t necessarily have thought of. So going back to your original question then what are you doing in your current posting?


James
Yeah, so in my current posting, it is a policy role. It’s all to do with the building regulations, uh, which is extremely exciting, I promise!


Kate
It sounds it. It really does sound it!


James
But yeah, so it’s in the department for levelling up housing and communities. Which is not one of the departments you hear about as much in the news, but it’s as important and my team basically sits between or basically we have to advise the ministers on changes to the building regulations to make them safer, better for developers and all the sectors. It’s our job to take the advice given to us from the experts, translate it to something understandable and then pass it on to the Minister, to then decide. So basically I suppose we’re responsible for the building regulations in that sense.


Kate
What’s the key element of your role? You’re having to do this advising of ministers of kind of technical information, so presumably there’s an element of making that understandable to people and non-technical specialists. But are you having to have lots of meetings with the technical specialists? Are you having to read lots of reports? What does the day look like for you?


James
This year on on this post, a lot of talking to lots of different people. So it’s my team’s job to sort of create a policy that the Minister is happy with and then deliver it through legislation that we’d hope to lay in Parliament to enact what we want to do. And that involves lots of different steps that involves speaking, doing a public consultation where the public can have a say and experts. So we have to analyse those responses and then create a policy from that. Then we need to take into account an economic impact assessment. So how will this policy affect the economy and then you have to look at quality impact assessments. So how does it affect all the different groups that are protected under the Equality Act? Many, many things. How are we going to communicate this to the public when it comes out and put a put together a comms plan and how we’re going to get it through Parliament so it ensures it’s passed. So it’s lots of different elements while we’re speaking to experts and comms teams and lawyers. And you have to take that all in and put that at the end of the day, into a policy. That number 1, will pass and number 2, when it’s delivered, it will actually work.


Kate
So it’s kind of like a big project basically, but you’re kind of responsible for all elements of it?


James
Yeah. So I’m not the expert, but I’m the person in the middle trying to stick it all together. Yeah and use my sort of scientific background to support that.


Kate
And are you kind of getting out and about and physically going to meet all these people or is it mainly kind of via zoom and you’re sat at home doing it or like, what’s the sort of setup?


James
Yes, again, it depends really on the role. So this year I’m speaking to different people, but it’s not going out physically and speaking to different organisations in that sense. But in previous roles I have done that. So at the moment across the Civil Service, you know there’s a hybrid approach where working from home and working in the office for parts of the time which is really good and flexible. In previous roles where I was doing slightly different things I did have a lot more discussions with people outside of government. For example in my first role, which was in a net zero directorate or area I should say, sorry, I was responsible for sort of setting up research projects for evidence gaps in net zero policy. So very sciency was really, really good to put these projects together and then commission them for people outside of government to then go away and do them. Then it was my job to take the results from those projects and again, communicate them to the policy teams who make the policy on net zero issues and when I was doing that, it involved a lot of speaking, going out and speaking to people and trying to work out how we’re going to put this research project together, who’s gonna do the research. And so that was a lot more, I suppose, active looking outside of government as well.


Kate
So you’ve mentioned your current policy role and this net zero posting. What were the other two postings that you’ve had?


James
So the other two were, so yeah, the net zero posting was in the in the department for Business, Energy and Digital Industrial Strategy. Then my other government posting was in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and that was slightly different. So I sat in a team within an area all to do with genetically modified organisms. So I’ve gone from building regulations to net zero to GMOs or genetically modified organisms, and my role there was to run a secretariat for a committee, and that committee was a scientific advisory body made-up of professors and experts across the country who aren’t part of the government and it’s that committee’s job to advise the government on all issues to do with genetically modified organisms. So I had to run that committee and again take the advice and translate it and pass it on to policy teams and ministers. I had to run a recruitment campaign as well to get new members of the committee. And so that was really cool because that was probably the most technical role I’ve done because I’m involved in discussions with, you know, professors at the top of their game on genetically modified organisms, so you really need to be able to understand that and translate that to layman terms within government. Then one of the great things about the fast stream, which I’m sure we can talk about lots of the other great things as well, but you get you know on a lot of the schemes including in the science and engineering scheme, you get the chance to do a secondment so the secondment was my fourth role and I spent six months outside of government. And that could have been in the wider public sector, that could have been in the charity sector, or that could have been in the private sector, for example, some of some of my friends worked at universities and at charities such as the WWF and the Wellcome Trust. I was sent to a private sector company and that was called Newton Venture Programme and it was all to do with venture capital.


Kate
So, I mean, it sounds like it’s been so varied so far.


James
Absolutely.


Kate
And using a variety of like your actual scientific training, but also your transferable skills. Do you want to just give a little summary of the venture capital work just for people who are not too sure what that might be?


James
Yeah, absolutely. First of all, I knew nothing about venture capital beforehand and again, I was thrilled there to make the most of it, which is a great opportunity and venture capital, all that means ,most people, a lot of people probably have heard of it, but don’t fully understand. It’s just investing in early stage tech startups so early stage companies that are just getting going in the tech space and Newton Venture Programme is a joint venture between a venture capital firm and London Business School, and basically they designed and delivered programmes to train up the next generation of venture capitalists with an ethos of diversifying the industry in particular. So in that role I had to be the programme manager, so I was now using programme management skills to deliver those programmes, to upskill current and aspiring venture capitalists. Then Newton had a sort of initiative to get more STEM people into venture capital because traditionally there’s not a lot of STEM people in venture capital and it was contributing to an issue in the wider system where because people didn’t have that STEM knowledge, they weren’t taking the risks to invest in STEM companies that they didn’t fully understand. So I had to put an initiative together to get more STEM people involved in venture capital. So that was more of a strategic role and by strategy, that’s basically where we are now? Where do you want to go and how do we get there? So on this secondment I did more of a programme management role and a strategy role, but being able to do that in the sort of sector of venture capital which I’d never come across before was really, really cool. And I was able to learn all about the investment world, but also how do you fund STEM startups from, say, universities, that are coming out of universities. How do you fund them from the first point to scale up to be this huge global company and where does the government come in to that and where do venture capital capitalists come in on that? Where do private equity firms come in on that? So it really gave me a big picture of how the whole research innovation system worked in this country. And obviously I wouldn’t get that if I wasn’t in the fast stream and I didn’t get the chance to do a secondment so yeah, it really opened my eyes to a lot of things.


Kate
It’s really interesting because it sounds like you’re getting a really broad exposure to different public sector roles and functions, but also private sector and academia if this venture capital firm were sort of linking up with the university. So it’s kind of you’re covering all bases there, which is amazing.


James
No, absolutely. I think that’s one of the key things I took from it. How best do government and academia and the private sector and even the charity sector work together and both in that role and I spent a year working for the homelessness charity Shelter before the fast stream. Both those roles sort of showed to me how crucial government really is in pretty much everything, which might be an obvious statement. So. yeah, that really showed it to me because when I was at Newton and at the venture capital firm. We were asking government for a lot of things and when there was some big issues in the market the government came in to support. So yeah, that that opened my eyes to that aspect as well.


Kate
So going back to your uni days, then you did an integrated Masters degree in chemistry. So where did your interest in government and policy come from?


James
That’s a great question. If I’m being totally honest, it wasn’t when I was at university. I graduated in 2020 which was the first year of COVID obviously and I sort of finished university and as many people do, I sat there and I was like what do I want to do with my life? I had no idea how to answer that question. So I basically went away and googled and read and listened to as much as I could and pretty much read everything and then I decided a graduate scheme would be a good idea because I wasn’t really ready to commit to something yet and it would provide really good training and opportunities, so I pretty much went about and started to to apply for every graduate scheme there possibly is out there and then there was a moment where I sort of had a light bulb moment, and I sort of realised why I went into chemistry at university. It was all to do pretty much with obviously I enjoy science, but the effect chemistry has on everything really and all the big challenges that you know, the world faces now, whether that’s climate change or AI or global food supply, chemistry is really crucial to all of that and so is government and so is the civil service. Having listened to a couple of talks as well that showed that sort of social responsibility that government has, as well, especially from my shelter days. That combination of the government being crucial to solving the big problems and that social responsibility side, those two things really drew me to the fast stream. I just had a gut feeling that that was meant to be, so I sort of halfway through all these applications I took a step back and stopped going any further through all these applications and I prioritised the fast stream with a couple of others as an insurance. Of course I really focused on that and went with my gut feeling to be honest. So in summary to your question in a roundabout way, I didn’t really know anything about the civil service or policy before or during my time at university, and it was only really through Google when I was desperately trying to find out what I wanted to do that it just popped up.


Kate
It’s interesting, though, that it sounds like the purpose of chemistry and the purpose of government. You saw there was really a line, so it was kind of not necessarily the technical skills that you were gaining. You know, your knowledge of different chemicals or whatever, that’s been the useful thing that you’ve taken forward. It’s been why are we doing this? We’re trying to solve these big problems. It has this impact on every part of the natural world. And as you say, the the government is responsible for all of that as well. So that’s really interesting that it’s the sort of the ethos behind it. That was the thing that you had in common.


James
Yeah. No, absolutely. That’s what really drives me on today I suppose. I still don’t know what I want to do long term. And I know I’ll be in a civil service post fast stream for a couple of years and after that I might stay for my whole career. I might not and that’s a positive of the civil service, you can do that, but that’s where I can’t see myself at the moment being motivated by you know, a different purpose. I feel that I need that sort of purpose to actually have an effect on the things that are most important ,I feel, in society, to solve today, to try and have an effect on that. So yeah, that’s why I ended up trying to apply for the fast stream.


Kate
I think it’s quite a common experience as well to sort of have a bit of a panic and apply for everything and then realise actually, A, this a takes a lot of time and B, It is not necessarily going to be that successful. Actually refining your approach and thinking about what you want and why you want it will mean you’re gonna make a much more impactful application, but also hopefully end up doing something you’re actually Interested in rather than something that just happened to be the one that replied to you.


James
No, absolutely and yeah, that was one of my points I think we’re gonna come on to near the end about tips and I think that was one of them, to understand why you want to apply for this specific scheme and really understanding that first.


Kate
So I noticed from doing a little bit of LinkedIn stalking, you have done a lot of football coaching and various volunteering roles alongside part time work when you were at university and I wondered how these experiences impacted on your career?


James
Yes. I think the classic phrase and it is true, that it makes you a more well-rounded individual and that is true. That’s 100% true and another sort of go to point is it gives you transferable skills such as being able to work in a team and communication and resilience, and again, all these things are totally applicable and are really useful sort of evidence for when you do apply to these sorts of schemes and jobs. I think though the thing that I’ve took from those and my part time work and everything else in terms of volunteering, the coaching, is sort of before really stepping into the world of work you need to experience real life in that sense, so. I remember I worked for a year at Starbucks before university after finishing college. I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I sort of delayed it slightly. So there’s a theme there, the same as I did before the fast stream, but that working at Starbucks with the public. As anyone who’s worked in retail, etc etc, it really gives you a sort of resilience. Speaking to real people each and every day, that was, that was certainly true when I worked for Shelter and when I was speaking to some people who rang up Shelter, who needed support. They would come to me as my role was to do an in-depth triage on them and try and support them and that was so eye opening and again a real sort of life experience and these volunteering experiences and even the football coaching, they all were the same as well. Yeah. working and speaking to lots of different people, lots of different types of people, all with differing circumstances and yeah, it gives you a a broad knowledge and experience and resilience and yeah, I really enjoyed it as well. So that’s a really you know, a good added bonus. But I’d I’d say, yeah, its that real life experience that I took from it the most.


Kate
Because it sounds like at the start when you were describing all the different postings that you’ve had, you must have to really quickly build relationships with people. Work out what you trying to do, what the purpose is, how they operate best, how you’re gonna effectively kind of communicate to get the best out of the other people. So the fact that you’ve done a lot of these different people facing roles, whether it’s through a love of sport or helping people that are homeless, it sounds like that ability to adapt your communication style and build relationships with different people or deal with different members of the public who are perhaps not always the most polite when they’re trying to get their morning coffee from Starbucks. Actually that sounds like really good training for what you’re doing in the fast stream,


James
Yes. Absolutely. I probably didn’t answer your first question too well about what is the science and engineering fast stream, but it goes back to that a little bit. The fast stream in general is a development programme, a training scheme for, well, the fast stream would say the future leaders of the civil service but its a bit cringey, but so it’s more like a leadership training programme and the biggest thing about. leadership and working just generally because leadership can come in so many different ways. It’s not just a person who leads a team. It’s being able to work with people, communicate with people, and obviously it’s a buzz word at the moment but in terms of AI and what that will do too for society in the workplace, but being able to deal with people, that’s never going to go away. And that’s the biggest thing about work or leadership, its being able to deal with people and get on with people.


Kate
So it sounds like those communication and people skills are really important and we’ve talked about project management and leadership organisation. Are there any other sort of personal strengths or qualities you’d say are really useful to have if you’re going to be both successful but also happy and actually enjoy working in the science and engineering fast stream.


James
I think you need to have a curiosity I’d say, because you’re going from one posting to another, one scientific area to another scientific area, and again all my roles, none of them have been directly related to chemistry, which is quite important to say, and having that curious mindset that inquisitive nature, wanting to learn more and understand, I think that’s really key because otherwise you won’t have the sort of motivation to do the best job you can and make the most of it. An ability to learn or want to learn continually is pretty important, I’d say on the fast stream in particular.


Kate
I guess you must be quite adaptable as well, because you’re having to sort of make changes on quite a regular basis. If you’re doing these placements for six months and then moving on to the next one.

James
You perfect the sort of routine you have to do in the first couple of weeks of a role by the end of the fast stream because you do it so often within a couple of years and adapting to the role, first of all, because we’ve gone through some examples, but I suppose understanding the fast stream, you can split into three sorts of types of roles you’ll do. You’ll sort of have a role where you bring a scientific mindset to it but maybe not working on a really scientific area, day-to-day, then the second one is you’re applying sort of your specialist knowledge across a broad policy area. And then the third one’s more of a deep specialist where you’re actually using your scientific skills and that’s a core element of your of your job. Whether that’s as a research scientist or inspector, toxicologist and so you’re having to adapt to the rules. Then you’re having to adapt to the teams and the teams are so varied in the civil service which you get in an organisation that’s 450,000 people or whatever it is now, and your role within that team, and then you having to adapt to a new department and potentially a new location. So it is quite a lot to take on, but. It’s important to say everyone’s sort of in the same position and you’re there for your potential. You’re not expected to be amazing straight away, and it’s a process and you’ve got to also be able to not be too harsh on yourself at times. It’s very competitive to get on to the fast stream and yeah, it’s a great thing when you do and sometimes that has a sort of sometimes that people might think that everyone is super competitive and got you know there for themselves, etcetera, etcetera. But in reality it’s not. Everyone’s there trying their best and its a really supportive network, but everyone’s really learning on the job. Everyone talks about imposter syndrome and if you’ve not come across it basically means that you’re in a role and you don’t believe you should be there but everyone else believes you should be there if that makes sense, and having that, being able to sort of, you know, support yourself and not be too hard on yourself as well as having that motivation to push on, I think that’s really important to succeed on the fast stream and then, you know, anything else, anything really.


Kate
No, I can imagine that could be really significant when you’re making a lot of change, and because if you’re building, you’re starting a new role, you’re building up confidence and doing well there and then Oh, no now it’s time to change again. And then Oh, no now you change again. So, yeah, I can imagine that could creep in there and we actually did a special episode on Imposter syndrome on the podcast so people can listen to that if they want to. I wondered what you know, it sounds like you you’ve really been enjoying this scheme, I wonder what you would say is the best thing about it? And what’s the worst?


James
The worst? Well, nothing’s ever perfect. The fast stream obviously market brilliantly, but it is actually a great scheme. I really do recommend it. The main reason is that the opportunity and the variation you get. It’s rare that across a two to three-year period you’ll get four jobs across different sectors across different departments in government, one might be a policy role, one might be an operational role, that variety is quite unique in a way, especially at the civil service. You don’t really realise until you get into it. It’s crazy the amount of variety across the whole civil service and what it actually does, it’s not really, I wouldn’t say that well understood in the general public actually how extensive the civil service is. And so yeah, that variety is definitely number one for the fast stream. But also you get as a fast streamer because you’re there in your postings to do that job in that posting, but you’re there also to develop as well. You get quite a lot of flexibility in a way. So you might say I fancy going to this event or I fancy doing this or shadowing this person for a couple of days and it’s like, yeah, that’s great, sure, go and do that. So being on the fast stream, you sort of get that pass to sort of focus on yourself at times and take opportunities that you wouldn’t get in a normal sort of structured training or just a normal job in that sense? What else? Also the I’d say the cohort nature as well, because it is a little bit like university, an extension of university in a way because there’s in my year there’s 40 science and engineering fast streamers and we’re all going through it together. Even though we’re all on different postings across different departments, we do come together and do things, whether that’s training or away days or whatever it is. You’re sort of together. So obviously it’s great to sort of meet new people and make friends, but having their support network when you’ve gone through it as well is really good too on the fast stream. So yeah, overall that variety gives you the opportunity and the flexibility are some of the great things I’d say about the fast stream and it puts you in a great place post fast stream even if you don’t want to stay in the civil service even if you don’t want to stay in science. Having that on the CV and being able to develop in the way you do, it really sets you up for whatever you want to do going forward.


Kate
What’s the the worst bit then? because I’m hearing all these good things, there’s gotta be a downside here.


James
Yes, yes, obviously it is the public sector. So even though I think it’s quite a good wage for the position, you’re sort of coming straight out of university etc etc. especially if you’re in London. You are on a public sector wage still but again I think it’s not too bad. You are expected to do a lot. So not only are you having to do your normal day-to-day work on your posting, you have learning and development and that’s core to the fast stream that you have to do. You have a corporate objective which is basically an activitiy out of your day-to-day role and that will support the department or society. So it can pretty much be anything. I’ve led a STEM competition within schools across the country. I’ve led away days as well for the science and engineering fast streamers, which are great, but again, it’s something else to do. You have assessments quite regularly every six months where you have to sort of prep and write up and have an interview. You have professional activities. So I’m part of the science and engineering profession and there’s activities that you have to do and again really good activities. I’ve done some really good courses and attended events, but balancing that all, there’s quite a lot to balance and it can be quite hard and it can be quite intense at times. And then it goes back to being, you know, being organised but also supporting yourself and supporting others is really important. And yeah, probably the only other thing as well is you don’t have total choice on where you go and you might be relocated, but the one thing I would say in that is the civil service are trying to get more and more roles out of London across the country. So there’s a lot, there is more flexibility now in terms of where you. go so if you were really struggling, you can definitely have a sort of conversation and see if you could work in a certain place. Yeah, so they’re probably the things I’d I’d mention but again, it’s not perfect but the pros definitely outweigh the cons, in my opinion.

Kate
Thank you. That’s really useful. You mentioned the civil service is trying to change in terms of having more opportunities outside of London. What sort of, again looking ahead, what do you think the key challenges are going to be for the civil service over the next few years then for people who are thinking about perhaps entering. What should they anticipate or perhaps start to, you know, do a bit more research on anything that is worth having a heads up about?


James
Yeah, I think that’s a huge question in a way. I think the civil service is different and you have ministers that you have to, you know, deliver the priorities for. So that’s slightly different. But the civil service is like any other large organisation. Going forward, people adapting to the new way of working, with hybrid working and you know, technological advancements. I don’t like using the example of AI because everyone uses it at the moment, but how is that going to affect things? And so you’ve got that side of things. But you’ve also got the the stuff that’s unique to government. So unfortunately the economic I don’t want to speak too much about politics, but the economic environment is difficult at the moment, as everyone knows, and that has a big effect on public spending. And then obviously what the civil service is able to do. So it’s been asked to deliver more and more with an ageing population in particular. But with less and considering the economic environment. So how can the civil service sort of go forward and achieve all the goals and deliver public services and invest in the country to meet the challenges needed? In that sort of challenging environment, it basically comes down to obviously big decisions at the top, but for each individual team and each individual area, how best can they sort of lead and work their way through that challenge of that sort of macro environment, but focus in on what you can focus on and delivering the best you can on the sort of resources you have available. It’s going to get harder in that sense, but that sort of motivation and reward for being able to deliver on those challenges and the challenges of society, face and deliver the public services as well, and that will still remain. I’d say, yeah, it’s going to be challenging, but you want to, you know, be able to solve the biggest challenges.


Kate
Yeah. Yeah, I guess that’s what you sign up for, isn’t it? And I think what you touched upon earlier, that the science and engineering fast stream is relatively new and there’s a gap with these venture capital firms with people who don’t have those science skills and knowledge. They can’t understand what the possibilities might be, so you know, you people who’ve got the STEM degrees, that gives you a real advantage. And if you’re able to sort of work in this middle role where you’re translating the complex information and helping people understand its potential applications, it’s really doing something fresh and offering new ideas and new perspectives. So It sounds like whilst it’s a massive, massive, challenging time, it’s on the other hand an opportunity to make a real difference.


James
Yeah, absolutely. I think you summed it up pretty well there, Kate so I won’t try and add to that, but one thing I will add which I haven’t really mentioned is, yeah, the science and engineering element. Historically in governments, there’s not been too many science and engineers or people from STEM backgrounds. and for example, I think the stats a couple of years ago where 10% of fast streamers were from STEM backgrounds and it’s not that STEM is more important or more valued than another. It’s just having the correct balance, though traditionally there’s been more arts in the civil service and economics or economics backgrounds in the civil service. So there’s a real push now to get people from science and engineering backgrounds and STEM backgrounds into the civil service and yes there’s a big push from the top on that. Whether that’s a government chief scientific advisor, which started with Sir Patrick Vallance, who people might remember being on the podium during the COVID days with Chris Whitty and Boris Johnson. He’s really led the push to increase STEM in government. So it’s a real opportunity to, like, come in if you still want to use your science knowledge, but not in a lab. I really enjoyed my masters year in the lab, but I just knew it wasn’t for me when I looked at myself and compared myself to all the other PhD students and I want to use that knowledge and I want to make a difference in a you know, in a challenging environment and with challenging situations, so science and engineering have a great opportunity to come in and make a real difference on challenges that aren’t easy to solve, so that would be my big shout out really to consider the civil service and maybe not even not necessarily just the civil service, even though I think the fast stream is a fantastic sort of foundation to push on, but careers outside of labs, careers in sort of policy and and thinking about science in a more sort of strategic way that can influence basically, going from the fundamental research that universities do, which is crucial but going to the other side of things and how can I apply this and and the civil service is one way of doing it, but I didn’t really consider that before and it wasn’t really talked about as much as it should have been at university and and again, if you want to go into you know, an academic career or career in the labs, that’s great because we need that, but also just consider for a second the other side of things.


Kate
So on a final note then, any sort of tips or advice for applying to the science and engineering fast stream or the civil service more generally because we hear a lot, it’s really competitive. It’s really difficult, there are all these processes you go through. You mentioned having a focus and understanding why you want to apply is really important, but is there any other sort of top tips that you would give?


James
Yeah on the fast stream specifically first. Yeah, I think that focus is really crucial because it is an intense application period. It goes over a number of, and I won’t go through step by step because you can find it on the website, but basically by the end of it, when it comes to the final stages where you’re speaking to people face to face, you know that will shine through. I think don’t be again, don’t be too disheartened. It is competitive. People fail multiple times and then get on. Those early sort of online tests I do still say there’s an element of luck to it and so I would practise those sort of initial online tests and there’s ways to practise those but practising practising it will sort of help with that. Then when it gets to the latter stages, when you’re actually speaking to people having a reason for why you want to join and the civil service is really big on civil service behaviours and civil service strengths. And if you’ve not come across those before, give them a Google. It’s called civil Service success profiles. If you go through the behaviours you need to have a an example for each behaviour ready for the interview and you need to answer it in a certain format. There’s lots of variations, but the one I use is STAR, which basically means Situation, Task, Action, Results and you discuss your example through that, and if you’ve never come across these before because I hadn’t really because I didn’t know anyone in the civil service, reach out to currentt streamers on LinkedIn or I know there’s a fast stream social mobility network as well that do a lot of outreach work. It’s a really nice community. It’s all about helping each other and I’m sure I know people do that for people interested in fast stream as well. So if you’re aren’t used to sort of ways of answering interview questions do reach out and and yeah, just be yourself. Because when it comes to it the advice I was given I’ve really stuck to it for everything. It’s just be yourself and because eventually you’ll get found out and if you’re not being yourself, then you’re actually going to, when it comes to it, not be able to enjoy the experience in the same way and that comes to the application phase as well, because if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be and you’re more likely to do that if you can be yourself. Very briefly on the civil service and more generally, the fast stream is not the only way through. There’s a big push now with apprenticeships in particular and specific departments and then you’ve also got normal entry level jobs and I know a lot of people who don’t get on via fast stream will go through in normal entry level job and then in some ways you’ve got the the flexibility that you don’t have on the fast stream where you can sort of choose your job and you can move when you want and you can work your way up or work your way to a destination, whether that’s up or across. So you do have flexibility in that way and a lot of people do that and still be successful, and be successful on what they want to be successful in, crucially as well. So there’s some tips there. Hopefully they’re useful and I’ve not just rambled for too long.


Kate
No, that’s really helpful. Thank you for information about those different schemes and finding those jobs and we’ve got lots of advice about the STAR method and the CAR method and preparing for interviews. We’ll put all of those links on our blog of the episode. James, thank you so much for taking the time to sort of share your experience and give your advice and tips there. I think lots of students will find that really helpful so thank you very much.


James
No, thank you.