HR in the Civil Service

Since I often get asked the question of why I dislike working for my country's government, I thought it'd be a better idea if I put it into writing. I would, in particular, like to address this post to Benedict, who is currently keeping a lookout for IT-related jobs for his freshly graduated GF. Nothing I am writing is new, and whatever material I am posting here has already been covered in the papers over and over again. I am just reorganising the material.

First, understand that potential and performance are two qualities that lead to very distinct consequences in the official appraisal system. One can be judged as having high potential but in practice performs terribly,or, alternatively, one's performance can be judged as outstanding, and yet have his potential assessed as being low.

Now, Performance is linked to annual bonuses and increments, whereas potential is linked to promotions. The govenment measures potential through your CEP, or current estimated potential, score. Factors contributing to a good CEP score are scholarly-like academic results from young, having undertaken leadership roles in NS, > 2nd upper grades from NUS (notice that I intentionally left out the other local unis) or qualifications from an Ivy League or equivalent institute. And of course, who could forget the psychometric test that everyone of us has to undergo when we apply for that civil service job.

What this effectively means that your CEP score is assigned to you even before your first day of work. Thus you can see that nothing you do in terms of actual work, (whether it is utterly brilliant or utterly dumb) can actually affect your CEP score. And of course, disclosures of your score will never be made known.

If you do badly in school and join the service, your CEP score will be assessed as low. Even if you produce top tier work year after year, you will get promoted slowly, if at all. Now suppose a PSC scholar performs terribly year after year. He will not get good bonuses, because bonuses are tied in with performance. But he will get promoted yearly because his CEP score has been assessed as high. This is because CEP is a measure of your latent abilities that cannot change.

To quote someone else:
"Thus how much career success you can achieve in the civil service, by the age of 45 or 50, has already been determined. It was determined when you were 22 or 24 years, at the time you first joined the civil service, on your very first day at work. Sorry, before your first day at work."

It has, and it always will be, a system of meritocracy. While I can understand that it is in your (Benedict's) best interests to let your g/f work in a 9-6 culture environment so that she can have more time for herself, and perhaps in future, more time for the kids, I cannot safely say it is the best choice for her as a fresh grad. One should always strive to work in the best companies in their field when young, and perhaps downscale to a more senior position in a smaller company when they're older (when the health/family issues start to kick in.) Besides, unless she has a high CEP score, working for DSTA/IDA when she has a shot at IBM/HP will dampen her future economic viability. Reasonable starting pay, yes. - but bleak prospects.

Again, strive for the top while you're young. Me? Every waking day I spend thinking of ways to get into that insular finance industry.

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Funny happenings in the past month.

Empyrian puts forward the notion of there being an inverse correlation between EQ and food quality. Quoting him verbatim: "Normally hor, the more guai lan the hawker, the better the food."

Kim Fatt, as a result of studying too hard, falls asleep in class. Only to awaken 30 mins later dreaming that he invented a financial reporting standard.

The entire audit team going home early because they want to go to Eunos to queue up for the chilli crab there (2 for $35 btw.)

Realising that a certain lawyer has been actively following Lucky Star. Bastard only admits to it when probed.

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"Hell, it's about time"

The development of the sequel to the game that radically changed the RTS scene has been announced. Yes, there will be a Starcraft 2. And you can be 15025326% sure that I'll buy the original.

I can't wait till 2008.

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The Season Where Cherry Blossoms Bloom

Hanami Season in March/April is, from what I've been hearing, the best time to visit Japan. This is when the cherry blossoms trees come into bloom all over the country for a week or so. Since I couldn't get to go this year because of my job, I guess I'll have to wait till '08.

soooo....

Anyone in for the ride?

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Sacrifices

One of the things that saddens me is the fact that my parents probably won't be around to see me "make it" (very cheap term, I know) in the world. To witness me make my first million, and to give testament to the fishmonger at the wet market or the friendly garang-guni man that I was everything they hoped to be - A good son, a doting husband and caring father.

If I were to chronicle my life into a book, I catagorise everything from the day I was born till now as chapter 1 - where I laid the foundation for the long & winding road ahead. And I profess that while my achievements to date are not the most praiseworthy amongst my peers, I can say that I have done everything possible while I was(and probably still will be for a long time) *studying to equip and prepare myself for the pages beyond. From the small things like getting a license, paying the premium on my first insurance plan when I was 17 & becoming a techie, to the mandatory stuff - like getting an education, molding my interpersonal/communication skills & serving a fulfilling NS, to the more important things like choosing the right kind of friends, landing myself an excellent girlfriend, learning how to invest my money and getting that job in a big company.

All that's left to do now is to make the next chapter brilliant, and turn this into a bestseller. So if I haven't been a good friend lately, or if I've been ignoring you, it's not because I'm bo chup. Fundamentally I'm still the same person, I still loathe slow internet connections, hate rush-hour traffic, detest the lorry drivers that park outside my house and get pretty dulan with people without goals/direction in their lives. I still love KoF and CoH, I still like badminton, and I still care about you people though I haven't been mixing around with the crowd lately.

So don't write me off just yet. And see you around soon.


*(yes, I intend to further my studies after ACCA)

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