Early Diversity Internship Review

I really enjoyed the insight and it definitely convinced me to consider a career with the Civil Service. What I particularly liked was the varied opportunities to talk to so many fast streamers who were happy to answer all our questions openly and honestly, as well as listening to inspiring talks from [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions]. And even when things got a bit confusing (when we first went off to shadow our allocated faststreamers) we got to witness real life examples of the dreaded 'networking' as one fast streamer reached out to all her friends to find someone who would know the people we were supposed to be shadowing.

Whilst the first year insight scheme obviously doesn't enable you to contribute significantly to the work of the civil service I still felt valued. This is because the fast streamers we were paired with put significant time and effort into our timetables and subsequently planning the activities for us to do. In addition, they reached out to so many colleagues who specialised in areas that we would potentially be interested in pursing career wise, demonstrating that they cared about the experience we were having during our short time there.

We definitely received a lot of guidance and advice about pursuing careers in the civil service and how to approach fast stream assessment tasks (with a few activities focused on those tasks). We were also given advice from our mentors about the ways in which to get more experience prior to entering the fast stream.

Whilst the skills I developed and activities i participated did not help in assisting my degree studies, the experience as a whole really helped to put my current studies in perspective . Additionally, the information I received and advice from fast streamers and inspirational speakers were beneficial in terms of assisting me with future job applications and the application to the fast stream. This is particularly true for my group as one of the activities they planned for us was to jot down how we met the Civil Service competencies based on activities we had done throughout the week.

After speaking to some of my friends who were on the insight scheme I noticed there wasn't a universal structure for everyone, with some of their mentors not planning much for them to do. However, my group was really fortunate as our fast streamers created a timetable and printed them off for us, detailing every activity we were going to do (and there was a lot) whilst also leaving a few spaces for us to decide what we wanted to do and so it was super structured.

The general atmosphere was good. The job market is extremely competitive so i assumed there would be a competitive atmosphere but everyone was super friendly and equally as excited as the rest of us. It was also really fun to hear about everyone else experiences throughout the week, although I wish there could have been some sort of universal structure so everyone broadly did the same range of activities as some interns got to go to Downing Street and France.

In terms of training and development I would say our mentors invested a somewhat significant amount of time in us. However, given that the internship/insight week is so short with only 2 and a half days of actual shadowing itself there wasn't a lot that could be done to 'train and develop' us. That being said the existence of the scheme itself highlights the Civil Service's dedication to diversity.

What made the experience so great for me was the it definitely helped me understand what it would be like to have a full time role with the Civil Service. Not only did we get to meet so many civil servants and hear about the varied experiences they have had, we got to understand the nature of the everyday work that goes on at the Civil Service.

Not only did this render any stereotypes I had about working for the government obsolete but the insight also highlighted some of the benefits about working for the Civil Service such as flexible working. The insight also helped our understanding of culture, as one of the most interesting aspects of the Civil Service was neutrality and it was useful that we got to ask questions on how that worked in practice.

It was extremely valuable. Not only was the insight day inspiring and educational but I am now definitely going to apply or the Summer Diversity Internship Programme. Prior to the scheme I assumed Civil Servants worked on the same thing throughout their careers, but the shadowing and activities throughout the internship highlighted the wide range and interesting work that Civil Servants do.

The expenses policy is extremely confusing given that the descriptions vary on different emails, with one stating you must spend £10 a day before being able to claim travel expenses while other sources state differently. This is definitely one of the few negative things about the internship, as it's aimed at people generally from a low social-economic background so the majority of interns may have not enjoyed/been able to spend x amount of money on transport. However the accommodation expenses policy is clearer and quite generous.

Yes. Opportunities to network and meet other employees was what the internship was largely about. Not only did we network amongst ourselves (future colleagues) and participate in several icebreaking activities, we also met a large variety of fast streamers from DEFRA to generalists. And within my group we were also introduced to government psychologists, lawyers and a wide range of other people, all of whom were happy to share their contact details.

As previously stated, the networking activities were one of my favourite parts about the internship. Firstly, networking with the fellow interns was extremely useful and I have now made some friends that I'm stilling contact with and likely will be throughout our Civil Service journey. Additionally, networking with fast streamers, and grade 7's was not only useful but it helped develop our confidence. Most of us thought that asking someone for their contact details could be construed as a hassle but the fast streamers I spoke to said they took this as a compliment and many were happy to share their details with us.

Yes and No. My group was quite social so we certainly took the opportunity to ask several fast streamers about the activities that happen outside of work, but after asking so many different people we got a wide range of responses. Thus the Civil Service appears to follow the general consensus of most work places and that is, if there are social people within your department who are willing to make an effort there will be more that you can get involved with outside work.

If you're considering a career in the public sector I highly recommend the Early Diversity Programme to a friend. Yet my one piece of advice is to be very specific in terms of career aspirations as this is what (I assumed) was used to match you to a department. I was very specific about my career interests and so I got placed in the department I wanted, but others who weren't as specific were placed in departments they didn't have a particular interest in.