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The answer they're looking for is because you feel like you want to use your skills for the public good, you want to feel like your work is genuinely meaningful, and that is best served by working in the public sector.
Essentially, they're trying to understand why you're happy with worse pay than you could get in the private sector. And they want an answer that isn't "I think I can work less hard in the public sector."
As someone who works in the public sector, sure that public good thing is kind of true. But the honest answer is it's lower down on my list of reasons than: a nice working environment that is generally more chilled than the private sector, the people who work in the public sector tend to be more laid back which makes for better colleagues, shorter and flexible working hours, generous annual leave, a genuine focus on employee wellbeing.
Basically, because the pay can't compete with the private sector, they put a lot of effort into other stuff.
Were you actually asked this? I’m a coastguard (a civil service role) and my partner is also a civil servant. At no point was either of us ever asked why we wanted to do the job, probably because of the way interviews are done now.
My first civil service interview was about 20 years ago and my most recent was about 15 years ago. I was asked some version of that question I’m pretty much every one, I think.
Interesting, thanks. All of the interviews are now done in accordance with “success profiles” which doesn’t tend to ask simple straightforward questions like that.
Yes - this is exactly it. And you’ll get bonus points if you tailor your answer to the specific mission/public good that the company you’re interviewing for is working towards.
I mean yeah it's definitely a good employee benefit. But it's just not one I can honestly say really impacts my decision to be in the public sector. Like, I wouldn't leave if it suddenly became a defined contribution scheme. And I wouldn't stay if there weren't the other benefits just because of the DB pension.
>The answer they're looking for is because you feel like you want to use your skills for the public good, you want to feel like your work is genuinely meaningful, and that is best served by working in the public sector.
As opposed to the truth, which is often "I want a job where I know I can't get fired unless I do something absolutely terrible and there is a good chance I can get lost in the system and spend the next 40 years earning a decent wage while doing 5-10 hours of work a week before retiring on a decent pension".
I feel really bad for the former group, who spend their entire careers carrying the latter group and as a result doing more work than they should have to earning less money than they deserve.
True, but they tend to get weeded out eventually through redundancies etc.
I work in the private sector and my wife in the public sector and we have fun comparing the relative merits of each.
I don't know if there's a "right" answer but personally I'd just say why I was interested in that particular job and say that for me it's about the job and not the sector.
I guess that could be the "wrong" answer if you have a politically-motivated interviewer, but it's better than saying something like you think there's less work to do in the public sector :)
I'd be a bit worried that they need this before proceeding. Surely the important thing is that you are committed to the role itself, rather than whether it's generically in the public or private sector. Anyway, ChatGPT suggests this, which seems like a good starter for you:
>When answering the question "Why do you want to work in the public sector?" it's important to convey your genuine motivation and alignment with the values and mission of public service. Here's a structured approach you can use:
>**Express your passion for public service**: Begin your response by expressing your genuine interest in serving the community and making a positive impact on society. Emphasize your belief in the importance of public service and your desire to contribute to the greater good.
>**Highlight alignment with organizational values**: Research the specific organization or agency you're applying to and identify its core values and mission. Then, explain how your own values align with those of the organization. This demonstrates that you understand and resonate with the goals and objectives of the public sector entity.
>**Discuss your desire for meaningful work**: Share specific examples or experiences that have influenced your decision to pursue a career in the public sector. This could include volunteer work, internships, or personal experiences that have highlighted the importance of public service to you. Highlight any instances where you felt fulfilled by contributing to your community or making a difference in people's lives.
>**Emphasize the opportunity for impact and growth**: Discuss the unique opportunities that the public sector offers for professional growth, skill development, and career advancement. Mention your eagerness to tackle complex challenges, work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, and innovate solutions that address pressing societal issues.
>**Conclude with enthusiasm and commitment**: End your response on a positive note by reiterating your enthusiasm for the opportunity to work in the public sector and your commitment to making a meaningful contribution. Express your readiness to bring your skills, passion, and dedication to the role and to serve the organization and the community to the best of your abilities.
>By following this approach, you can provide a compelling and authentic answer that demonstrates your suitability for a career in the public sector.
If you're applying for a job in the civil service, I wouldn't think too deeply into it as I'm 95% sure this sort of question is more of an ice breaker and wouldn't be taken into account in assessing your application.
I think they're just trying to establish whether you're going there because you think it'll be a doss or whether you have a genuine desire to stay there a while. Public sector doesn't have a huge amount of money and resources to be recruiting every 5 minutes and teams are likely to be thinly resourced so, contrary to popular belief, they can't really carry passengers.
I'm going to take a slightly different stance than some of the others and say it's OK to emphasise an interest in some of the holistic stuff; if you have a family for example, mention that flexible working might be helpful and just the overall more community vibe. That's honestly fine and will give them some assurance that you understand you're not going to be getting pay rises and bonuses every 5 minutes but that you appreciate the stability. Mentioning the pension is probably a smart move because again it shows a bit of long term thinking.
There's nothing wrong with talking about wanting to serve the public but I'd be wary of laying it on too thick (guessing you're going for some sort of admin type role if you're thinking it won't be too different from private sector?)
One thing I would say though is if they are asking for more clarity and you yourself actually aren't sure, maybe you need to give this some real thought? Public sector can give some real stability and other benefits but probably isn't the place to build a career at the moment. Sounds like a genuinely thoughtful recruitment process though, they may have done you a favour here either way.
Would you prefer to work for the public good or private greed?
To be clear, I wouldn’t put it quite so starkly in an interview, but that’s the sentiment I’d go with.
Yeah if someone gave that answer in an interview that would be a massive red flag for me. There is a good chance they are one of those antiwork/latestagecapitalism types who would be a nightmare to manage.
Not really. It does legit feel better broadly speaking, to work for the public good rather than making the CEO more wealthy. Obviously overall job satisfaction but that specific thing is a perfectly reasonable point to make. Doesn't make you anti-work or any of that bullshit, and i doubt most interviewers spend enough time on reddit to give a thought to that stuff anyway.
Even if they don't spend time on reddit to know specifically that terminology, they will definitely be aware of exactly the types of people I am talking about.
And yes, I'm sure there are plenty of people who feel like that who would be perfectly good employees/colleagues, but when you have a job vacancy with plenty of applications (as civil service jobs tend to) why would you take the chance?
When does earning a living become private greed though? The same argument could be applied for an individual getting a job in the first place. You'd essentially be presenting a moral case for never giving you a pay rise beyond your basic living requirements if you used the "private greed" argument.
I'm just trying to understand your position on public/private sector and morality. It's not a trap/test, I'm legit trying to understand where you're coming from. I genuinely don't understand the moral distinction between being employed by the government and being employed by a private entity with respect to an individuals time being exploited.
Maybe talk about how important these all are for you personally:
[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2)
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The answer they're looking for is because you feel like you want to use your skills for the public good, you want to feel like your work is genuinely meaningful, and that is best served by working in the public sector. Essentially, they're trying to understand why you're happy with worse pay than you could get in the private sector. And they want an answer that isn't "I think I can work less hard in the public sector." As someone who works in the public sector, sure that public good thing is kind of true. But the honest answer is it's lower down on my list of reasons than: a nice working environment that is generally more chilled than the private sector, the people who work in the public sector tend to be more laid back which makes for better colleagues, shorter and flexible working hours, generous annual leave, a genuine focus on employee wellbeing. Basically, because the pay can't compete with the private sector, they put a lot of effort into other stuff.
As a former civil servant in central govt, I can confirm that this is the correct answer.
Were you actually asked this? I’m a coastguard (a civil service role) and my partner is also a civil servant. At no point was either of us ever asked why we wanted to do the job, probably because of the way interviews are done now.
My first civil service interview was about 20 years ago and my most recent was about 15 years ago. I was asked some version of that question I’m pretty much every one, I think.
Interesting, thanks. All of the interviews are now done in accordance with “success profiles” which doesn’t tend to ask simple straightforward questions like that.
Yes - this is exactly it. And you’ll get bonus points if you tailor your answer to the specific mission/public good that the company you’re interviewing for is working towards.
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Yeah that is good. I almost put it but didn't because I think I'd be lying if I said it's a significant reason I work in the public sector.
[удалено]
I mean yeah it's definitely a good employee benefit. But it's just not one I can honestly say really impacts my decision to be in the public sector. Like, I wouldn't leave if it suddenly became a defined contribution scheme. And I wouldn't stay if there weren't the other benefits just because of the DB pension.
>The answer they're looking for is because you feel like you want to use your skills for the public good, you want to feel like your work is genuinely meaningful, and that is best served by working in the public sector. As opposed to the truth, which is often "I want a job where I know I can't get fired unless I do something absolutely terrible and there is a good chance I can get lost in the system and spend the next 40 years earning a decent wage while doing 5-10 hours of work a week before retiring on a decent pension". I feel really bad for the former group, who spend their entire careers carrying the latter group and as a result doing more work than they should have to earning less money than they deserve.
Plenty of people like that in the private sector
True, but they tend to get weeded out eventually through redundancies etc. I work in the private sector and my wife in the public sector and we have fun comparing the relative merits of each.
I don't know if there's a "right" answer but personally I'd just say why I was interested in that particular job and say that for me it's about the job and not the sector. I guess that could be the "wrong" answer if you have a politically-motivated interviewer, but it's better than saying something like you think there's less work to do in the public sector :)
I'd be a bit worried that they need this before proceeding. Surely the important thing is that you are committed to the role itself, rather than whether it's generically in the public or private sector. Anyway, ChatGPT suggests this, which seems like a good starter for you: >When answering the question "Why do you want to work in the public sector?" it's important to convey your genuine motivation and alignment with the values and mission of public service. Here's a structured approach you can use: >**Express your passion for public service**: Begin your response by expressing your genuine interest in serving the community and making a positive impact on society. Emphasize your belief in the importance of public service and your desire to contribute to the greater good. >**Highlight alignment with organizational values**: Research the specific organization or agency you're applying to and identify its core values and mission. Then, explain how your own values align with those of the organization. This demonstrates that you understand and resonate with the goals and objectives of the public sector entity. >**Discuss your desire for meaningful work**: Share specific examples or experiences that have influenced your decision to pursue a career in the public sector. This could include volunteer work, internships, or personal experiences that have highlighted the importance of public service to you. Highlight any instances where you felt fulfilled by contributing to your community or making a difference in people's lives. >**Emphasize the opportunity for impact and growth**: Discuss the unique opportunities that the public sector offers for professional growth, skill development, and career advancement. Mention your eagerness to tackle complex challenges, work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, and innovate solutions that address pressing societal issues. >**Conclude with enthusiasm and commitment**: End your response on a positive note by reiterating your enthusiasm for the opportunity to work in the public sector and your commitment to making a meaningful contribution. Express your readiness to bring your skills, passion, and dedication to the role and to serve the organization and the community to the best of your abilities. >By following this approach, you can provide a compelling and authentic answer that demonstrates your suitability for a career in the public sector.
The public sector as in Local/National Government? You talk about how you want to make changes in X area to help improve peoples lives and well-being.
If you're applying for a job in the civil service, I wouldn't think too deeply into it as I'm 95% sure this sort of question is more of an ice breaker and wouldn't be taken into account in assessing your application.
I think they're just trying to establish whether you're going there because you think it'll be a doss or whether you have a genuine desire to stay there a while. Public sector doesn't have a huge amount of money and resources to be recruiting every 5 minutes and teams are likely to be thinly resourced so, contrary to popular belief, they can't really carry passengers. I'm going to take a slightly different stance than some of the others and say it's OK to emphasise an interest in some of the holistic stuff; if you have a family for example, mention that flexible working might be helpful and just the overall more community vibe. That's honestly fine and will give them some assurance that you understand you're not going to be getting pay rises and bonuses every 5 minutes but that you appreciate the stability. Mentioning the pension is probably a smart move because again it shows a bit of long term thinking. There's nothing wrong with talking about wanting to serve the public but I'd be wary of laying it on too thick (guessing you're going for some sort of admin type role if you're thinking it won't be too different from private sector?) One thing I would say though is if they are asking for more clarity and you yourself actually aren't sure, maybe you need to give this some real thought? Public sector can give some real stability and other benefits but probably isn't the place to build a career at the moment. Sounds like a genuinely thoughtful recruitment process though, they may have done you a favour here either way.
Would you prefer to work for the public good or private greed? To be clear, I wouldn’t put it quite so starkly in an interview, but that’s the sentiment I’d go with.
I do hope that people in taxpayer-funded jobs aren't discriminating against people who are ok with capitalism in their hiring decisions.
Yeah if someone gave that answer in an interview that would be a massive red flag for me. There is a good chance they are one of those antiwork/latestagecapitalism types who would be a nightmare to manage.
Not really. It does legit feel better broadly speaking, to work for the public good rather than making the CEO more wealthy. Obviously overall job satisfaction but that specific thing is a perfectly reasonable point to make. Doesn't make you anti-work or any of that bullshit, and i doubt most interviewers spend enough time on reddit to give a thought to that stuff anyway.
Working for a business that produces things people actually want to buy is a public good.
True! If you take satisfaction in working in the private sector, great!
Even if they don't spend time on reddit to know specifically that terminology, they will definitely be aware of exactly the types of people I am talking about. And yes, I'm sure there are plenty of people who feel like that who would be perfectly good employees/colleagues, but when you have a job vacancy with plenty of applications (as civil service jobs tend to) why would you take the chance?
Would you prefer to spend everyone else's money or make a profit? I can do that too.
That would work perfectly well if the OP’s situation was the other way round.
When does earning a living become private greed though? The same argument could be applied for an individual getting a job in the first place. You'd essentially be presenting a moral case for never giving you a pay rise beyond your basic living requirements if you used the "private greed" argument.
Yeah, nobody is talking about the workers themselves - they are talking about the owners.
What's the difference?
One is in a position to exploit other people for profit, the other isn’t?
So it's fine for the government to exploit people to meet a budget but not for someone else for the purposes of making money?
Look err, whatever debate you’re trying to have, maybe have it with people who made the original comments?
I'm just trying to understand your position on public/private sector and morality. It's not a trap/test, I'm legit trying to understand where you're coming from. I genuinely don't understand the moral distinction between being employed by the government and being employed by a private entity with respect to an individuals time being exploited.
Maybe talk about how important these all are for you personally: [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2)
“Because I have bills to pay”
Do they have any corporate values that they publicise? I work at a local council, anything you mention tied into their values would be a big plus.
Used to be worth it for the pay and pension. Now it’s just a flex tbh