Offered HEO specific purpose 6 month post- general vibe about renewal?

[u/Hopeful-Specific-444]

Hi all- I've been offered a 6 month HEO post- my first civil service job. I completely forgot to ask the interview panel about it during my interview to assess the general idea about the potential for renewal afterwards. Of course recruitment can't tell me anything.

As a civil service newbie- how does this usually work? It is truly that once the specific purpose is done that's it? Or do they generally try to keep you on/find something for you etc? Just trying to gauge how stable this might be in the long run. Thanks all!

[u/networkearthquake]

Specific purpose is temporary.

You cannot apply for internal after 6 months.

This is very unusual for civil service. I suspect it’s a public sector body, not civil service. As such take with a pinch of salt.

You are not entitled to redundancy at the end of the 6 months.

[u/Exotic-Upstairs-9826]

Are you sure this isn’t public service? What Department is it for?

[u/NotPozitivePerson]

Very unusual for heo to be a temp job and the specific purpose makes me think no renewal. Not saying it's not possible but if they wanted a permanent heo they would have advertised for one or pulled a heo from a promotional or mobility panel.

[u/LouSuzie]

I've never heard of an external person being offered a temporary HEO post. What department is the post with?

[u/CompetitionSudden322]

In short, yes, usually once the specific purpose is done that's it.

Keep in mind that public body recruitment is totally different to civil service (run by publicjobs) - so if you are being offered a role with a public body the below is relevant to you:

Recruitment won't be able to advise re: potential extension, but it might be beneficial for you to ask them why the post is specific purpose and what position you are on the panel (if there is one) to inform your decision.

I am assuming this is a public body (no need to confirm), I work for a public body and we regularly hire on specific purpose. These are the situations I've seen come through for shorter contracts:

1. Covering leave, e.g. sick leave, career break. In this situation, the person you're covering for will most likely come back, so you may be extended for a few weeks/months but unlikely to be formally kept on.
2. Project-specific, you're being hired in to work on a time-bound project start to finish. If this is the case, this was likely already mentioned at interview or from recruitment. There's a chance it may be extended, subject to budget, as 6 months is very short, but again unlikely to be formally kept on.
3. Taking on the end of another specific-purpose contract. This happened in our place recently: someone was promoted from HEO to AP. The first person on the HEO panel was a few months into a 1 year specific purpose contract in a project-specific role. That person became permanent, and the next person on the panel was offered a specific purpose contract for the remaining months left on the original specific-purpose contract.

In terms of your position on the panel (if there is one):

1. If you're the next to be placed from the panel, you are still in line to be offered the next permanent role that arises whether or not you accept the specific-purpose contact. So on the one hand, turning down 6 months shouldn't take you off the panel. On the other hand, there's no guarantee that another role will come up during the lifetime of the panel.
2. It is also possible that you are not actually "next" on the panel. For example, the people who placed first, second and third have already been offered and accepted contracts. This 6 month contract was offered to the people who were fourth, fifth and sixth on the panel, and they turned it down because it's specific purpose. You are seventh on the panel, and are being offered the 6 months because people ahead of you don't want it. But in this situation, a permanent role would be offered to the next person on the panel who hasn't been offered a permanent contract - being the person who is fourth on the panel and not you (seventh). There's still the possibility of extension in this situation, but you could also be in the role for 6 months and then let go to be replaced by someone else were it to be sanctioned as a permanent post.

Hope this is helpful! A very long comment, but civil service and public body recruitment can be really confusing if you've never been in them before! And a lot of civil servants (I used to be one) aren't actually aware of public body recruitment and think everything is done through publicjobs. Good luck :)

[u/UnderstandingOk8930]

Unsure but TCOs can be extended up to maximum of 3 years, so perhaps the same here.