Dilemma: Ministry vs Stat Board
 

hey folks, which one would you choose?

A ministry offering a promotion in designation vs. joining a stat board but same designation

both offer around same pay but job scope differs. Joining ministry need to learn from scratch, joining stat board actually also need to learn but not as much as it is more relevant to my current experience.

Join both, hold multiple appointments like big boss

I think it'll be better to join Ministry as you'll learn more. Unless the stat board is a tier 1 stat board like EDB or MAS, else it'll be better to join the Ministry. Another thing to consider is the job scope; see which job scope provides better training and transferable skills.

Lastly, look 5 - 10 years ahead if you're intending to stay in public sector. Usually Ministry will have a better prospect than stat board.

Thanks for sharing! May I know why ministry will have better prospect than stat board?

it really depends on which agency wat

think abt exit opps. think abt how the agency's domain can tie in wif ur expertise

If you wish to progress while staying in the public sector, your experience in the ministry will definitely be beneficial as opposed to starting out in the stat board, as you're exposed to big picture right from the start. In addition, if you are to be chosen for those management programme, you will still need to be seconded to the parent ministry if you're from a stat board, to be assess by the PS. That's at least 1 - 2 years lost in proving yourself again.

In addition, whatever increments announced for civil servants, you can be sure that you'll get it. If you're in stat board, depending on which stat board you're in, you may not get it. So in the long run, your base salary will lose out to those in ministries (unless you're in tier 1 stat boards).

Finally, my personal experience is that it's always easier to jump from ministry to a stat board, and not the other way round. Reason being stat board always welcome those from ministries (especially parent ministries) because they know how the sector works, and have the big picture experience.

can list down the tier 1 stat boards?

Can't compare. Really depends on job scope. No difference between ministry and SB if you're in a supportive role (HR, OD, Finance, etc). Ministry has inflated titles however so AD in SB is equivalent to at least SAD in ministry.

Do also note that any slightly interesting job in a ministry will most likely be filled by a scholar. If you're not scholar, I highly recommend you don't join policy in a ministry (even if you can) where it's a scholar's playground and you'll end up seeing your scholar peers rise up like crazy.

Anyway, even if you join SB and you're deemed "high flyer" (again, mostly reserved for scholars) you'll be seconded to ministry for 2 years anyway as you move up the ladder. But ultimately you still belong to a SB and there're more space to move compared to ministries which are much smaller.

Exceptions are the huge ministries e.g. MOE or MINDEF...but most ministries are small.