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Originally Posted by Unregistered

Right now it's more of project management, where we execute pre-determined policy directions and do liaison work with external counterparts. More operational, but with some leeway for our own improvisation where applicable. Like I mentioned, the SB is quite large and there is possibility to join other departments to do other areas of work after 3 years. I foresee myself staying for as long as I possibly can.

Given the shock and exposure from the first job, you will learn to appreciate your next one better. Haha at least that's the case for me. As for employability, not necessarily so. Like I mentioned, I applied for 3 SB positions, the 2 who rejected me had the same job scope as my first job. (my own theory is that they know the nature of the job causes people to burn out quite fast, and they probably will prefer hiring fresh grads). Given the niche nature of the job, it was also near impossible to find a similar role in the private sector, thus going back to PS was the clearest choice.

Were you doing strategic planning or international relations at the ministry? They are popular places for burnt out cases.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Were you doing strategic planning or international relations at the ministry? They are popular places for burnt out cases.

Yes u are spot on. Did IR and it's extremely demanding. And the JD didn't even mention anything about 'able to cope with tight deadlines' or 'able to work under high paced environment'. it's only after you're in it then you get swarmed by the shear amount of things going on daily. My department were mostly fresh grads, and it was kinda good to know you're not the only one struggling. But undoubtedly some really good learning experience

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes u are spot on. Did IR and it's extremely demanding. And the JD didn't even mention anything about 'able to cope with tight deadlines' or 'able to work under high paced environment'. it's only after you're in it then you get swarmed by the shear amount of things going on daily. My department were mostly fresh grads, and it was kinda good to know you're not the only one struggling. But undoubtedly some really good learning experience

Does your new role in the SB involve regular interactions with the financial industry?
Are you in a developmental or regulatory role? Wondering whether you have found IR experience useful for your SB role.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Does your new role in the SB involve regular interactions with the financial industry?
Are you in a developmental or regulatory role? Wondering whether you have found IR experience useful for your SB role.

New role is developmental, IR experience was relevant for my current job, and I am more like the middle-man interacting with my organisation's colleagues, who in turn interact more with the industry players.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Right now it's more of project management, where we execute pre-determined policy directions and do liaison work with external counterparts. More operational, but with some leeway for our own improvisation where applicable. Like I mentioned, the SB is quite large and there is possibility to join other departments to do other areas of work after 3 years. I foresee myself staying for as long as I possibly can.

Given the shock and exposure from the first job, you will learn to appreciate your next one better. Haha at least that's the case for me. As for employability, not necessarily so. Like I mentioned, I applied for 3 SB positions, the 2 who rejected me had the same job scope as my first job. (my own theory is that they know the nature of the job causes people to burn out quite fast, and they probably will prefer hiring fresh grads). Given the niche nature of the job, it was also near impossible to find a similar role in the private sector, thus going back to PS was the clearest choice.

For the two SBs which rejected to, did the rejection come only after they granted your interviews or did they reject you without granting interviews?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

New role is developmental, IR experience was relevant for my current job, and I am more like the middle-man interacting with my organisation's colleagues, who in turn interact more with the industry players.

Relevant in terms of soft skills, communication skills, coordination skills?

IR requires a lot of coordination, protocol and staffing (including writing briefs) work, right?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

For the two SBs which rejected to, did the rejection come only after they granted your interviews or did they reject you without granting interviews?

Yes one rejected me after i went for the interview, the other just didnt get back to me at ll. But call it blessing in disguise, this SB im currently in was the one which i had assumed to be hardest to get into. Haha

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Relevant in terms of soft skills, communication skills, coordination skills?

IR requires a lot of coordination, protocol and staffing (including writing briefs) work, right?

Yes youre right on the soft, comms n coordination skills. And yes thats quite basically the general workload u can expect of an IR role.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Ah. Nice to meet someone who have had more or less the same experience. Agree with what is said here - both about the learning curve, and also about getting to work with amazing, committed and intelligent folks.

For me, I've too moved on to a more functional role but still work very closely with those in Policy. Knowing their set of rationale/concerns makes working really does empower those down the stream (i.e. execution).

Deadlines are deadlines. Some are realistic, and some are ridiculous. 3/4 AM OT tends to be seasonal, but working at home until 9/10 PM is rather normal. That was so for me back then, at least.

All in all, you need to be comfortable with writing. Copious amounts of writing. And I think this is the third time I said this now, but you would definitely need to be comfortable with your paper being discussed (in some cases, torn apart). The bright side of all these is, as the other contributor shared, you learn a LOT in Policy. I am not sure where else one can learn as much but then again I could be biased, since I started out in Policy and all.

Hope this helps you, as well as all others who are or may be considering a career in Policy.

Your paragraphs reminded me of the good old times I had at IR policy and research - plenty of writing and re-writing for various reasons - some stupid, some worthy. It was extremely fast paced and we work over weekends. Fortunately, I had a bunch of wonderful colleagues. When times were okay, we enjoyed life together. When times were bad, we roughed it out together. It was this strong sense of camaraderie that kept me going. However, as life would have it, 5 years into policy formulation, I stumbled upon a certain train of thoughts - if I were to be a Head, I would be re-writing the papers that my officers submitted; if I were to be a DD, I would be be re-writing the papers that my Heads submitted, etc.

The question of whether I could keep writing on similar issues for the long haul kept echoing in my mind. Not long after, I realised that I could not do the same thing over and over. I quitted, took a pay cut, and did random writing/teaching work offshore.

The funny thing is that 10 years later, when I want to settle down and hence considering applying back to CS/PS, I kind of miss the good old days that I had, and wondered what would life had been, had I stayed on? Most of my friends left. The last one remaining had become the DD that I had imagined earlier. (He's terribly disgruntled now) I really wonder if I should rejoin CS/PS. This forum has been very useful in answering my questions on how has CS/PS changed over the years. I think I may have found my answer.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Ah. Nice to meet someone who have had more or less the same experience. Agree with what is said here - both about the learning curve, and also about getting to work with amazing, committed and intelligent folks.

For me, I've too moved on to a more functional role but still work very closely with those in Policy. Knowing their set of rationale/concerns makes working really does empower those down the stream (i.e. execution).

Deadlines are deadlines. Some are realistic, and some are ridiculous. 3/4 AM OT tends to be seasonal, but working at home until 9/10 PM is rather normal. That was so for me back then, at least.

All in all, you need to be comfortable with writing. Copious amounts of writing. And I think this is the third time I said this now, but you would definitely need to be comfortable with your paper being discussed (in some cases, torn apart). The bright side of all these is, as the other contributor shared, you learn a LOT in Policy. I am not sure where else one can learn as much but then again I could be biased, since I started out in Policy and all.

Hope this helps you, as well as all others who are or may be considering a career in Policy.

Thank you very much for ur insights. It puts a lot of things into perspective. Guess I can go for my interview 2molo in peace now since i understand things better now and with the knowledge tat they most probably wun meet my expected pay. I will still go for the interview exposure. I haven't been interviewing for 4 years liao. Need to brush up my interview skills.haha.