Graduate Recruitment Case Studies

Andrew Paulson University Degree class/subject:

I spent two years after University travelling and working, living in New York and Brussels before I joined the Treasury in September 1997.

My first post was in the European Union Future Financing team. I was involved in the Agenda 2000 negotiation, setting the spending priorities for the EU to 2006. I worked on the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU Structural Funds and Enlargement, feeding the Treasury's views into policy decisions.

Another of our responsibilities, the British abatement, aroused a good deal of political and media interest. The posting was a whirlwind introduction to the EU's working methods, and to Whitehall's internal processes in the formulation of the Government's negotiating position.

I am now in my second posting, in the Work Incentives and Poverty Analysis team, working on the introduction of a new Working Families Tax Credit.

This post has a more analytical and policy-formulation focus. The team's remit includes broader questions about the future role of the tax and benefits system, and the extent and characteristics of poverty in contemporary Britain.

Fiona Hearn University Degree class/subject

I joined the Treasury in September 1997 after two years working for an economics consultancy firm in London.

What on earth was the big attraction of the Treasury over the private sector?

For me, as an economist, it was being able to use the skills that I had learned at university and having the opportunity to apply them to the real decisions that government takes.

My first post was in the Public Services Directorate in the team responsible for Treasury's interests in health expenditure. I immediately became involved in the detailed discussions that were underway in the Comprehensive Spending Review. I was given responsibility early on for a number of policy areas, and was soon drafting submissions to Treasury Ministers, and meeting with senior officials from across Whitehall to move forward policy decisions.

My current post is with the European Monetary Union (EMU) Policy team. As EMU policy is a Treasury responsibility, I have a much greater insight into how major policies affecting Europe link together.

I have, for example, been involved with developing UK policy towards economic co-ordination within Europe, as well as developing economic papers that analyse key aspects of policy. Given that the single currency is such a high profile area, the management of the interface between government, Parliament and the public is also challenging and often unpredictable.

I have found the work at Treasury very interesting, and have made some good friends both from the teams I have worked in, and from the graduate intake of 1997!

The hours can be quite long at times and the work challenging, but the end result - of often reading about your area of policy in the newspapers and seeing it discussed on television -means that the work is never boring. I find the extra holidays help too!

Chris Felton BA in Medieval Studies from Manchester University.

I left university in 1993 with a degree in Medieval Studies -- don't let anyone tell you that you need to be an economist to work at the Treasury!

Then I worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Charity Commission for several years before deciding to apply to the Treasury, which I joined in 1998. Its main attractions were the variety of work and its position at the heart of government policy-making, and I haven't been disappointed.

My first job was in the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland team (now Devolved Countries and Regions), working on devolution policy. This gave me an opportunity to be involved in a central part of the Government's constitutional reform programme, which included working with a wide range of other government departments.

Once the majority of the work on devolution had been completed, I moved to the Globalisation, Trade and Institutions team to work on the reform of the International Financial Architecture -- as I said, the Treasury offers the opportunity to work in a wide range of policy areas! The highlight of my work in the GTI team was to accompany the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to the OECD Ministerial Meeting in Paris.

I've just been promoted and taken up a post in the Home and Legal team, as head of the branch shadowing the Government legal departments -- primarily the Lord Chancellor's Department. The focus is to promote the Treasury's interests in the Government's reforms of the criminal justice system and legal aid provision.

I have enjoyed working here and found it rewarding, although at times it can be very demanding. Training opportunities are excellent -- for example through the Treasury Development Programme's economics courses. There is also the chance to travel to places as diverse as Cardiff, Paris and Washington.

Yannick Shanks BSc in Economics at London School of Economics. MSc in Economics at Warwick University.

I started my Civil Service career in HM Customs & Excise, where I worked for two years as an Assistant Economist. In 1998, I moved to the Treasury, joining the Public Sector Finances team.

It is a friendly team, and although it gets hectic around Budget time, when we have to coordinate the public finances forecasts and edit a chapter of the Budget Red Book (the Financial Statement Budget Report), you get a valuable insight into the Budget process . . . and an invite to the Budget party at Number 11! I also got my first chance to manage someone, which has been a very rewarding experience, although not as easy as I thought it would be.

The Treasury offers a variety of posts, and for my next job, I am moving away from taxation -- you are positively encouraged to get a wide range of experience in your first few years. I will be joining the International Finance Directorate and will be assessing the readiness of those countries wishing to join the EU. In my first month I will be going on a four-day conference in Romania, and will have lead responsibility for several countries, again with country visits -- not that this is the reason I chose this post!

Joining the Civil Service involved a very steep learning curve. Real-life economics is nothing like university. However, learning to be pragmatic, and presenting information in a clear and concise form, are important skills I have acquired.

You quickly have to become the 'expert' in whatever you do, and although it's scary giving advice, and defending your point of view, it is also a very satisfying feeling when you succeed. And of course, being 'behind the scenes' gives you a unique insight into the policy-making process.

Rebecca Lawrence BA in Economics from Oxford University. Graduate scholarship in Government from Harvard.

I joined the Treasury in 1994, two years after leaving university, having spent a year in an economic think-tank and a year at graduate school at Harvard. I also had some spells in investment banks in the City.

The difference from my work in the private sector struck me immediately. Many of the skills were the same, and the environment equally challenging, but the context was different. I found working on public policy, and taking forward Ministers' agendas on issues which mattered to people and which appeared in the newspapers, extremely rewarding.

In the Treasury, you also have the opportunity to develop your own career path and to learn continually to support those choices. I had always been interested in Europe, and I took training courses on European affairs and weekly French lessons.

After a year finding regulatory solutions to the mis-selling of personal pensions and another at the heart of the Budget process on tax policy -- I was seconded to the European Commission. I worked in the office of the French Commissioner Yves Thibault de Silguy, responsible for economic and monetary union.

I was able to apply this experience back home, returning on promotion in 1997 to a new Government and to a fascinating post coordinating the UK Presidency of the European Union (including the Brussels meetings which launched the euro), and managing a branch of five people. I began learning German two years ago, which I put into use when Austria and then Germany took on the Presidency after the UK.

Now I have returned to the domestic agenda, in the Health team, where my analytical skills are being stretched to the full, advising the Chancellor and Chief Secretary on how best to get quality and cost-effective performance from the NHS.

Naseef Huda BA in Economics from Strathclyde University.

I joined the Civil Service in September 1995 and my first post was in the Department of Health -- working on international comparisons of healthcare and pharmaceutical pricing. This led to a challenging but enjoyable six-month stage in the European Commission.

After returning in 1997, I moved to the Treasury. I'd built up my analytical skills in my previous posts and wanted to get more involved in policy, dealing with other departments, drafting letters and speeches and briefing Ministers.

My first post was in the Trade Policy team. Like many teams in the Treasury, it is small yet covers the whole raft of a large and fast-moving policy area. We don't have the resources to involve ourselves in the minutiae -- nor would we want to. The Treasury's role is to concentrate on those areas where we can maximise the economic benefits to the UK of a sound trade policy.

This means a steep learning curve, an ability to get to the heart of the issue, willingness to take on responsibility, confidence in putting your views forward to a senior audience, including Ministers, and a questioning mind. These qualities are essential in almost any job in the Treasury.

An opportunity came up to do a longer secondment at the Commission -- working on the trade and environment agenda, a real growth issue. Being a Treasury official justifiably carries an excellent reputation over there. It was an opportunity I felt I couldn't pass up and I'm now in Brussels again for a good couple of years.

But the Treasury is still my home department and I hope to return there after Brussels -- there are just too many interesting things going on to give that up for too long!

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