A fair way to entice people to work in public service

Tucked away last Sunday in the Shelbourne Hall in the RDS, the one-day Public Sector Careers Expo seemed a low-key affair compared to other recruitment fairs but, at the same time, struck a hard-working, unpretentious note.

"There's definitely a bit more of a buzz around the civil service," said Ms Fiona Grehan (37), a mother of two from Clondalkin.

Currently working in a call centre, she thinks there are more opportunities in the civil service today.

Like many other sectors, there are indeed more opportunities in the civil service, with staff shortages affecting almost every department, according to delegates at the fair.

The organisers, specialist recruitment company High Skills Pool, believe more than 7,300 people turned up to check out the vacancies on offer at the fair, now in its second year.

More than 35 exhibitors from the civil service and various semi-state bodies were represented.

However, the task of attracting fresh recruits to an area once considered an automatic and prestigious choice by many school-leavers and graduates is not likely to be helped by poor rates of pay in comparison with similar levels in the private sector.

The Irish Times revealed last October that there were nearly 1,800 vacancies across all 15 Government departments. The shortages were particularly acute at the lower grades.

There is also little in the way of job perks or company cars, even for those at the higher levels.

Although it is hoped that the pay issue will be addressed by the public service benchmarking body, it is not expected to publish its conclusions until next year at the earliest.

However, Mr John Behan, the head of corporate development at the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners, said that the issue of pay is not likely to be foremost in the minds of those interested in joining the civil service.

So how is the civil service selling itself as an attractive career option?

"Any civil service work you're doing - whether it's processing social welfare claims, giving people health grants and advice, giving people Leaving Cert results - you're having an impact on people's lives," said Mr Martin Vaughan of the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners. "There's more of a human dimension to the work that you wouldn't find in other parts of the economy," he said.

"If you take the sectors that have developed here in Ireland, a lot of the jobs seem to be process driven or technological jobs without that kind of human element."

There is also a great variety of options to suit those with specific qualifications, such as science or engineering.

For those who are the unfortunate victims of recent high-profile closures of technology companies, the service also offers some good opportunities in IT, Mr Vaughan added. There is an IT element to almost every civil service job.

Many of the delegates at the fair emphasised job flexibility, flexible working hours and family friendly policies as the main selling points of a civil service career, rather than job security.

As one delegate put it: "Is my time more important to me or do I just want the money?"

The civil service also seems to be attracting more mature applicants, some delegates said.

Indeed, there was a wide variety of age groups among those at the fair, including many with partners and children in tow.

However, those driven by a sense of public duty were still to be found among the fair's visitors.

"I always had a view that I would go for something in the public sector," said Mr Stephen Logue (32), who is working for a private company and has a degree in public administration.

"The whole notion of doing something not purely for profit's sake but for the greater good appeals to me a little bit, so that's where I'm looking at the moment, " he said.