Whirlpool

Hi all,

I'm really gunning to land a position in the Victorian government, why you may ask? Well I know they treat you more of a person than in private, they pay pretty good, and you get help your country/ community.

Most of the position I've seen so far are full time fixed term, usually between 1 to 2 years. I'm wanting to start a family in the next year and I'm wondering, is there good job security in these positions? Is it possible to get a home loan when in this situation? Is it possible to negotiate a full term ongoing employment?

Thanks

This would all depend on the role and how much you'd be getting paid. Normally you would need to be in a role for a certain amount of time before you can use it to get a home loan though.

Depending on the department I'm sure it would be possible to go from contract to permanent if you are good at the role. Why don't you ask them about the possiblity of ongoing employment further down the track?

Go for a permanent full time position not a fixed contract as they can and do string you along for years before cutting you off. Some PS coworkers who were supposed to be made permanent fulltime employees after two years were kept on short term contracts or as temporaries for up to 10 years. They had to battle long and hard to be made permanent.

If possible ensure you get it in writing that you will be made permanent after a set period otherwise managers will just play around with you

Do not expect equal opportunity, fair go or other EEO crap to apply. If they want to get rid of you to save their own jobs and budgets they will.

Many of the grey, faceless people in the public service are absolutely ruthless in sacking workers and which is why they get ahead. With tightening state budgets the PS is under threat to reduce wages and non permanent staff are the first to go.

hihosilver writes...

Go for a permanent full time position not a fixed contract as they can and do string you along for years before cutting you off.

How many roles are going to be permanent right off the bat? In SA there are hardly any PS roles that are initially advertised permanent. Somebody would normally take up a contract role and act in that for a bit and gain permanency if fit in and do a good job. Yes, this really depends on the circumstances whether you do actually get permanancy. But still, it's a foot in the door and you can always apply for other positions within the department.

Do not expect equal opportunity, fair go or other EEO crap to apply. If they want to get rid of you to save their own jobs and budgets they will.

IMO this really depends on who you are working with. If you are working with people that would otherwise get rid of you then I would get out. I know I'd much prefer to work in an environment where I am appreciated for the work I do.

Yikes, this has been a rude awakening for me.

hihosilver writes...

If possible ensure you get it in writing that you will be made permanent after a set period

You're simply not going to get that with a 'fixed-term' position.

I work in the PS and everyone I know who has taken up a 3 or 5 year fixed term has been fine. If you are a good worker, they will find a way to make you permanent.

Having worked for the NSW state gov I would agree with others in saying that the only secure positions are the permenant full-time ones, not the fixed term ones. Friends of mine who still work in the same department I was in have been on fixed term for nearly 10 years. They keep getting renewed but if there was a change of management or financial problems they could be let go. Of course if that happened to them they'd be in deep shit because working in the ps they don't actually do anything useful. :)

TomHagen writes...

Friends of mine who still work in the same department I was in have been on fixed term for nearly 10 years.

That's interesting, In SA if you have been employed on a contract in the same position for more than 2 years you have to be made permanent.

heatus writes...

That's interesting, In SA if you have been employed on a contract in the same position for more than 2 years you have to be made permanent.

That is obviously a better way of doing it. It's completely unfair to keep stringing people along in this way but they do it anyway. The words you hear from them are along the lines of "well you agreed to work on a fixed term basis in the beginning so you can't expect to be made permanent". It's dodgy but the PS is dodgy in my experience. There are soooooooo many people who have been there forever but don't really know anything.

There are lots of benefits working in the PS. But it's not a decision to be made lightly. Many private sector employers will not even look at you if you've been in the PS for a long time.

What does PS stand for?

turion writes...

What does PS stand for?

Public Sector or Public Service. At least that's what I meant by it.

hihosilver writes...

fulltime employees after two years were kept on short term contracts or as temporaries for up to 10 years. They had to battle long and hard to be made permanent.

Thats a pretty common story for IT related positions in Government.

heatus writes...

That's interesting, In SA if you have been employed on a contract in the same position for more than 2 years you have to be made permanent.

same in qld, if there is recurrent funding

turion writes...

Most of the position I've seen so far are full time fixed term, usually between 1 to 2 years.

is there good job security in these positions?
There is good security for the term of the appointment.
Is it possible to get a home loan when in this situation? "]
In my experience people have not had problems getting homeloans with these kind of jobs.
Is it possible to negotiate a full term ongoing employment?
Yes it is possible but it is not a certainty.

When I first moved to Sydney, people in my branch had been employed in fixed-term roles with an end date of 31 December 1998, starting in about 1982. This is because the accounting system was not Y2K compliant, and in the business plan, during 1998 a new branch location was to be built outside of Sydney and commence operation on January 1 1999.

While a number of staff had interest in and were able to gain positions in the new branch location, most didn't want to go there. There were no redundancies on offer, there was no assistance to gain a new position, their term appointments simply expired as scheduled.

As you can imagine, staff fled the branch during the leadup to the changeover, service delivery suffered, but it didn't matter because it was just the public service. All the bills went out eventually and most of the money came out right eventually.

On the flip-side, plenty of people accept temporary appointements and are then suprised to be offered a permenant appointment when the funding arrangements for the position change.