I have been in the Civil Service for 14 years, working for 7 other government departments in that time. I’d always been interested in joining the Home Office and have now been here nearly 1½ years.
My day-to-day work is really variable. Some days it’s the usual team and ad-hoc meetings and the never-ending inbox and some days it’s crisis mode, all hands on deck and emails have to wait. Whatever kind of week, it is always interesting, and the challenge keeps me on my toes.
What I enjoy most about the job is my team. I may be biased but I absolutely love the team I have built. It’s a really high-performing and diverse team in every way and working with them makes every day worth it. I also love the diversity in the challenges that get thrown at us. Overcoming them and achieving positive outcomes makes the job not only enjoyable but rewarding.
Working in such a large, complex department provides a really good environment to develop strategic thinking and leadership skills. The fact that the department provides critical public services and is very much a media focus, presents opportunities to work on diverse and challenging issues both at strategic and operational levels.
If you were thinking about joining the Home Office, I would say “Do it!” It’s one of the largest Civil Service departments and has lots of great development opportunities. The department carries out a wide range of functions, so you are sure to find the right job for you with many opportunities to progress your career.
