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Old 23-07-2020, 12:02 AM
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Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
Hi. Read from another thread that Economist Scheme > FSO in terms of competitiveness? Any insights?
The Foreign Service is the most prestigious and coveted role in the civil service, particularly, in terms of remuneration. They have the highest starting base salaries (around 5k) and are entitled to bonuses particular to the scheme above and beyond the normal schemes (retention bonuses in the 3/4/7/8/9th years in service, other special bonuses and allowances).

That said, they also have the roughest working hours (8am - 12am almost 7 days a week - and for the more intense Desks, 2-3am is the norm). You will be worked to the bone. You will be shouted at and the working environment is not for the faint of heart.

Its also a boiler-pot chock full of elites. Most FSOs (even the non scholars) are either local university scholars or hail from top universities abroad (Oxbridge/HYPSM and the ilk). Do a simple search on LinkedIn if you don’t believe me. Even second uppers are rare. A significant proportion are also law graduates or lawyers by training (given both the relevance of the role as well as the fact that it is the only role in the CS - other than the Legal Service - which pays well enough to make it a reasonable alternative to practicing law in the private sector).[Note: I have to caveat that I am talking about FSOs in the Political and Economic track.]

Put simply, it is the only job in the civil service where you can hope to draw mid five-figures a month in under 5 years - if you get in (one of the lucky 20-30 out of the 5000 or so applicants annually) and if you survive.
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