is my civil service pay progression fast/slow/normal?

[miwashi]

My current boss is very hands off. He is out of the office half the time (I'm not exaggerating), has never appraised me (he leaves it all to the supervisors), has never talked about work difficulties before, you get the idea. When he made mistakes (that I end up compensating for), he leaves it to me to sort them out. For example I was sent by mistake for a crane operator's course. The one at the back of a lorry. I didn't want to go for yearly recertification as it was totally irrelevant (what am I doing up in trees anyway?), and told him, but his response was like "can you just go, if not I'll have a hard time explaining to management why you let your certification lapse". That's the kind of environment I have here, so I really don't think he's fighting for me during rankings. I think he's just trying to keep me here to be his spelling and grammar checker.

Plus he likes to get me to do his slides to bigbigbosses for him, and I do nice ones, but then he mangles them totally during his touching up (ie. backgrounds turn really garish, alignment goes off, spelling and factual errors introduced, etc.) and then opens his presentations by crediting the slide work to me. While bosses may mean well, it makes me look bad when the mistakes are not due to me.

So that kind of rules out boss support for advancement.

I am of course spin doctoring whatever I can for interviews, but when interviewers probe, I have to be a bit more honest. I know what you mean here and I of course make it sound nice, like supervising bangras in grasscutting = leading a team of horticultural professionals in maintaining aesthetics of recreational sites, etc.

Originally Posted by miwashi

I was sent by mistake for a crane operator's course. The one at the back of a lorry. I didn't want to go for yearly recertification as it was totally irrelevant (what am I doing up in trees anyway?), and told him, but his response was like "can you just go, if not I'll have a hard time explaining to management why you let your certification lapse". That's the kind of environment I have here, so I really don't think he's fighting for me during rankings.

hahahahahahaha

You really should write a book about all the sh*t you have to put up with!

but anyhoo, I think I've distilled the problem: it's your boss... BUT I have no more advice...

Like I said before, go to another department, find a director that doesn't need grammar reviews & knows how to use powerpoint. Trust me. Don't suffer a pay cut. it's just not worth it. not in this market.

Originally Posted by miwashi

For example I was sent by mistake for a crane operator's course. The one at the back of a lorry. I didn't want to go for yearly recertification as it was totally irrelevant (what am I doing up in trees anyway?), and told him, but his response was like "can you just go, if not I'll have a hard time explaining to management why you let your certification lapse".

i wish there is a LIKE button for this! power!

[miwashi]

This is not salary issue relevant, but I can make it better.

One of the reasons why I don't want to go for this recertification is because one of the requirements is to get into the crane bucket, have it lifted 12-18 meters above ground, and then, with the rope tied to you, climb out of the bucket and rappel down to the ground.

I never even did anything like this in the army, and when I signed up for the job they made it seem like a knowledge based position - spss, data analysis, event planning, etc. And I ended up doing this kind of Guards work here. I've done this twice already. Ridiculous, and now you see why I'm trying to get out so badly.

Originally Posted by miwashi

Ridiculous, and now you see why I'm trying to get out so badly.

I think you are not the only person overqualified for a job. but I agree with the other forumer here. I think you should transfer department and not get pay cut. When you move outside next time, at least you can hide your crane operator past.

This BS guy has no qualm wasting public funds & resources by asking staff to just attend an irrelavant course and yet expected to get 8 months bonus soon. Something is not right somewhere. **Shake my head**
Fortunately, you have the intelligence and strength of character to do the right thing. Don't waste your talent by staying there too long.

[miwashi]

Who's BS? I don't know who he is.

Originally Posted by miwashi

Who's BS? I don't know who he is.

Boss Savant...

Originally Posted by miwashi

Who's BS? I don't know who he is.

erm... after all you've said, don't you think that if you boss/colleagues were reading this they would know who you were or whom u were talking about?

RE: previous post, HAHAHAHAHHA

[miwashi]

Well, I may not be in the organization or even section or unit you have named, right? Town councils do similar things, places like NParks also do things like that, plus all the gardening companies out there who provide services.