also
Military clichés are everywhere.
Six months and no posts. Been too busy, too confused.
Could have written about the incredible blatant racism I have witnessed in Milton Keynes.
Could have written about job searching.
Could have written about working for the NHS during lockdown and going in to work every day.
The paranoia of people seeing my NHS id. This misleading and terror created by the media.
Reflections on how easy it was to implement a global lockdown.
Reflections on what happens when the leadership does not follow its own instructions and gets away with it.
Reflections on the relevance of Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince as a guide book in 2020.
Could have written about getting work with the Cabinet Office.
Could have written about my reflections on my two degrees.
Could have written about the silence of the 75th anniversary of the Japan nuclear bombings and the celebration of war for VJ Day.
Could have written about how my plans have been on hold for six months.
Could have written about how some employers have been superb during lockdown and others have been utter and absolute spineless and evil bastards.
Could have written about the falsehoods around online activity being high CO2 consuming activities. I had promised the SGR I would.
Every day there has been something to write about, and my ToDo list does say, every day, “Post something on the blog”. But time, where does it all go?
It is hard to be an unemployed jobseeker and be positive and creative to wrote blog posts. Then, when doing a new job, one is tired and busy.
It is hard to change the world when changing one’s own. It is hard to write when busy doing. I shall try again, from today, now I feel a little more settled in my new role.
You know, bite the bullet.
Does the government provide poor careers support because civil servants have jobs for life and politicians have no work experience?
When I started my career change it was early 2012. At that time the government careers service was NextStep. That was changed to the National Careers Service. So I created an account on there in April 2012 and used that instead.
Over time it became an excellent resource for hundreds of different jobs. It had all sorts of facilities for self assessment. I made a lot of use of it. It came with a Lifelong Learning Account. It allowed one to:
I made full use of the Skills Health Check Tools and Action Plans and uploaded CVs.
But it has all changed, presumably to fit into the gov.uk web sitre structure, which does not suit it at all. There used to be loads of job market analysis for the roles but that has gone.
It now seems no more useful than the useless ‘careers advice’ we got at school: “What do you want to do? Oh, we don’t have that on the list. How about train driver, policeman, typist or nurse? We have those.” And the information and advice they provide on searching for jobs and filling in forms could be put on a couple of sides of A4.
So it seems the Lifelong Learning Account and National Careers Service have survived for less time than it has been taking me to change career. I started my research before it opened, have done an undergrad degree and not yet completed my postgrad degree and the Account and Service have gone.
What a shame. And waste of taxpayers’ money them constructing it all in the first place for it to be switched off again before people have finished with it.
Fortunately, the Lancaster University Careers Service is superb and has provided me with huge amounts of advice, information and support so I’m OK. But that does not help the millions of people out there who must be coping with leaving education, being laid off, wanting career change or just being unemployed and wanting to explore their options.
I am terribly excited. I have been able to apply for my first paid peace sector role. It is as an Operations Manager for the Peace Pledge Union. It uses my training, is in exactly the sort of organisation I want to work for and totally conforms to what I want to do.
My ambition in 2012 when I started was to work in war prevention. Supporting those who are campaigning to promote the idea that war is not the answer, that there are alternatives, matches my experience and skills.
Now I just need to hope I get an interview…
So I am preparing for my Master’s in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies at Lancaster University and reviewing my plan. My intention was to get a Peace Studies MA then a job in conflict prevention somehow such that I could do my bit to stop the UK starting any new wars by providing evidence-based arguments that there are better alternatives.
A few people have – in jest? – asked if I am intending to do a PhD or suggested I do one. Having looked again at the university I have chosen – a “triple top ten university” with a joint top best research library and one of the top 3 research universities in the UK – and it seems I have chosen well. One that prides itself on the quality of its research. I wonder if that applies to the social sciences too, specifically the politics and international relations? If so, I would be in the right place.
I had an idea the other day regarding modelling of the kind done in IT, physics and maths: are there models for conflict resolution? If not, fame and fortune awaits if I invent the first. If so, there is the opportunity to learn about them and apply them in the workplace. But an academic view might be to review them, compare them, evaluate them – that could be what I do with this MA.
But there is a further opportunity. I am a practitioner by nature, not an academic. I have been seeking ‘the learned journal for peace’, the professional body for peacemakers, the text books, the methodologies, the best practice for the people working in the field. Do these things exist? If not, they need creating and there is the scope for a PhD.
If I could create or document a framework for peacemongery such that practitioners could take it off the shelf and use it, that would be a heck of a legacy. If I could form a ‘professional body’ or a methodology, that would also be a great contribution. Even creating something so that when someone says “There is no alternative to war”, I can say “Yes there is, I wrote the book!” would be an immense move forward.
I shall keep pondering on this idea…
At some time in 2016, for rather convoluted reasons to do with supporting the Peace Tax Seven, I started getting emails from a Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) mailing list. Today’s was a job ad for them. I can’t apply because I don’t have the essentials in the person spec., but their web site is interesting.
The ethics around the technology developments required of modern warfare are a major part of their raison d’etre, and they were formed from peace groups merging. They are affiliated with a number of peace organisations, each of which I need to investigate as both sources of information and as potential employers. They are concerned about the military influence on science and technology research. They have information booklets on ethical careers. They have a list of potential ethical employers in the peace sector. They have resources on security and disarmament. They produce reports and briefings including security. They have dozens of newsletters I need to go through.
I have joined their mailing list proper. I have joined their LinkedIn group. Today I post my membership off to them.
Their Wikipedia page is a bit thin. Here’s someone else’s words about them.
They do get articles published like this one in the Guardian.
I firmly expect a bunch of committed scientists can provide me with loads of data for evidence-based peace.
I had not heard of SGR before – this highlights the problem I found at the start in 2012: where is the peace industry? The arms industry has a fantastically high profile, the peace industry is barely mentioned other than to criticise white poppies.
In 2012 I decided to change career from large scale IT project management to war prevention. I have made progress in doing so.
That is in accordance with the plan I had in 2012. I have not done everything in the plan as some has not worked out – I was too optimistic about being able to change the world quickly. But I am getting there.
My ‘how to change career’ plan came from books I read about 5 years ago, and the generic advice boils down to this:
You need three things: relevant qualifications (to get your CV through the tick-box checklist); work experience (nobody wants to give training or risk taking on someone who may be unable to do the job); to know the culture (so you can get through the interview).
To get these three things:
1. Volunteer for anything in the same sector or doing the same kind of work. This gives you knowledge of the culture and starts your people networking. Volunteering is way to get work experience.
2. Make sure your study is appropriate for what you want to do. I am doing an Open Degree because the OU doesn’t do a Peace Studies degree. Check the careers information on government and academic resources for what qualifications are expected and decide if you need anything else. Sometimes free courses through MOOCs can be a good enough substitute depending on what you want to do.
3. Read everything you can about your desired role / sector. Wikipedia, text books, online articles, journals, e-journals, blogs. Get to know how things are done, what is the jargon, who are the big names.
Also, networking is essential these days. See who is doing the job you want on LinkedIn and try to join the same groups as them to see what is being discussed and what is important. Also, try to make connections with them.
Getting a job doing what you do now in an organisation which also does the job you want, and then moving sideways, can be much easier than trying to get the job you want straight away.
I would also suggest self-advertising. Blog about what you are doing and how you are getting on. Create a web site about it. Have business cards describing you in your new role. Give them out and tell people what you are doing: strangers like to help and offer advice and there can be gems in that free advice.
That is what I have been doing, so I do follow my own advice. 🙂
I have asked the lobbying organisation Conscience:Taxes for Peace not War if I may do a couple of weeks work experience next summer.
This is my formal request:
Dear Mr Dolan,
I am seeking the opportunity to gain work experience in the peace sector next summer and hope Conscience:Taxes for Peace not War would be able to provide that for me.
By 11th June 2018 I will have finished my undergraduate degree which covers social science, history, philosophy and psychology aspects regarding peace and war. I hope to start a post-graduate Master’s Degree in Peace Studies in October 2018. My academic experience to date has covered the ethics of war, 20th century European political history, how society is controlled by the state, the use of violence by states as a management tool and why people act and think how they do even when it is illogical. This has included use of online databases, independent research and producing reports and analyses of existing academic writing.
I can offer a week full-time on site and should appreciate the opportunity to shadow you as Campaigns and Communications Manager and/or your experienced peace worker volunteers. Although I should like to invest longer than a week on site, personal finances, accommodation requirements and my wife’s leave constraints will prevent that. So, if you can think of a specific project, possibly research, possibly writing something up, that could take another week or so that I could subsequently do at home, that would be excellent for me.
If I could end the summer having done a work experience ‘project’ with something tangible to show for it, it would be good for my CV and future study. If that would be of benefit to Conscience:Taxes for Peace not War, so much the better!
I should appreciate it if you would consider my application and identify a useful project I could undertake for you.
I look forward to hearing your decision.
Simon.
I’m feeling optimistic!
In today’s Civil Service News bulletin email, there was reference to the Civil Service Fast Stream. This I took to be the Civil Service’s new graduate recruitment and fast progression scheme, intended for young people just leaving university. It seems I thought wrong:
Did you know you don’t have to be a graduate to join the Civil Service Fast Stream, the development programme for our future leaders? And you can apply from within the Civil Service. Applications for the 2018 intake are open now.
Find out what’s new in the Fast Stream
So I had a butcher’s and saw I can apply now for entry in the scheme in 2018 when I have completed my degree. I can also apply now as a Civil Servant, regardless of having a degree. Any Civil Servant can. Link.
There are apprenticeships – no, thanks – internships – no, thanks – and the various schemes organised by government function. Having gone through the schemes, one says:
“Safeguarding the UK’s national security by…working to reduce conflict…
…prevent and resolve conflict; and build stability overseas.“
That’s me that is! That’s what I want to do! Those items are listed under the responsibilities of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office within the Diplomatic Service Fast Stream.
So I have started my application. 🙂
All I need to do is the two online questionnaire tests, the e-tray exercise, the video interview and see if I have passed. Then the application form and see if I pass the sift. Then attend the half day assessment at the assessment centre to such exercises as the leadership exercise, the group exercise and the analysis exercise and see if I pass that. (I have done part of one of those days before some years ago and it went horribly wrong for me; they had the wrong exercises and, well, what do I know about being an HR Director?) Then it is the final selection process will be an assessment at an assessment centre with specialist assessments to assess capability and motivations. If assessed as successful, I presume one has jumped through the acceptance hoops. Then it’ll just be probation, training, assessment, placements for 2 to 3 years, resulting in a potential salary of £28k circa 2021 but doing a job I passionately want to do.
If I don’t get accepted the first time – as many don’t – I can reapply a year later. That will be after my Master’s Degree so is better anyway.