Cummings' Jobs Advert

[steveatesh]

Didn’t see any of these roles being referred to by Sir Humphrey in Yes Prime Minister

We live in interesting times.........

[Kent Border Kenny]

Application sent in.

There’s very little chance that I’m ready to change careers, but the day when I am is getting closer, and this could perhaps be interesting.

[Sway]

BlackTails said:

This sounds suspiciously like Cummings replacing a “people like us” recruitment culture with a “people like me” culture. Plus ça change...

Cummings may find his abrasive my-way or-the-highway/I’m-in-charge-do-as-I-say-or-get-out style works when there’s one of him, but works less well when there’s 10,000 of him.

He's saying he wants to make himself redundant within a year or two.

I think the "you'll be out in a couple of weeks" is more relating to those that can talk a good game in interview. Or play bullst office politics.

[Sway]

Kent Border Kenny said:

Application sent in.

There’s very little chance that I’m ready to change careers, but the day when I am is getting closer, and this could perhaps be interesting.

Good luck!

I'm genuinely thinking of doing the same - like you, not really ready to move, but then the best time to move is when there's still work left to do...

[anonymous-user]

Sway said:

He's saying he wants to make himself redundant within a year or two.

No one has ever said that, and at the same time wanted to leave successors in place who have a completely different approach to their own.

[Sway]

BlackWidow13 said:

Sway said:

He's saying he wants to make himself redundant within a year or two.

No one has ever said that, and at the same time wanted to leave successors in place who have a completely different approach to their own.

Approach, no. Style, yes...

So there's no need for 10k abrasive, my way or high way types. 10k unconstrained, intelligent free thinkers with a penchant for parallel adoption into unrelated fields however... Which is something the private sector success stories have often done (Ford applying abattoir lines to car production, for example).

[Ridgemont]

Saw it and the project manager brief. Very interested and I have the cv for it (I think!) but sadly I’m probably a bit too long in the tooth, with a family & mortgage to consider the pay cut and the likely hours (he linked to an article on C.C. Meyers who essentially runs construction projects stateside by delivering massively within timescales, largely by throwing the kitchen sink at it, therefore picking up early delivery bonuses. Great idea, just don’t fancy the 18 hour work day and zero time with family, with a pay cut, at this point in my life).
Would have been great 15 years ago: would have bitten arms off to get it. Sounds like an absolute blast and a once in a lifetime opportunity.

[Murph7355]

Sway said:

TheFungle said:

JPJPJP said:

I think his approach is fantastic

It is either doomed to fail if he doesn’t find and retain a sufficient number of those people quickly enough... or it will radically and positively transform the way government runs

I have my fingers crossed that he can make it work. I think he will.

fking hell that sounds like fun

Oh wait, it's the running of a country at a crucial time in it's history, is this really the time for such thinking?

At certain levels this all does feel like a giant game that the majority of us are unwittingly taking part in.

It really does.

Challenging times are exactly the best time to drive radical, constructive change.

When times are 'normal' it's impossible to get traction for organisational change - even if it's needed for the long term (and recognised as such).

An open mind during challenging times, and a willingness to consider ideas that would sound insane normally have lead to some of the greatest advances in human history.

The last major shift in 'government CS' approaches was I believe driven by Blair/Campbell - and not for the better, dispute how well those changes have stuck since.

This is a golden opportunity, as Cummings puts. Big mandate, no concerns really over short term policy, and a real identification of an urgent need to drive the foundation level changes that'll likely take this term to actually come to fruition.

In my living memory, the only PMs with that opportunity have been Thatcher and Blair.

Totally agree.

To add, everyone needs to realise that we've always been part of one big game. If it's unwittingly, that's our own fault. Our sociological constructs are all a big game. The trick is, how to enjoy it.

[Ridgemont]

Murph7355 said:

Our sociological constructs are all a big game. The trick is, how to enjoy it.

Good observation. All work is largely monopoly writ large: you whizz around spending money, picking up capital and paying bills.
As you say, the aim is to spend it doing something that is emotionally rewarding. That little hit of serotonin that transforms a mindless merrygoround into something that can be a laugh or exhilarating.

[anonymous-user]

Sway said:

BlackWidow13 said:

Sway said:

He's saying he wants to make himself redundant within a year or two.

No one has ever said that, and at the same time wanted to leave successors in place who have a completely different approach to their own.

Approach, no. Style, yes...

In this particular context, that is very likely to be a distinction without a difference.

[Kent Border Kenny]

Sway said:

Good luck!

I'm genuinely thinking of doing the same - like you, not really ready to move, but then the best time to move is when there's still work left to do...

Why not give it a try? I think that there’s a good chance that I’ll get asked in for an interview, and I’m happy to take half a day out to give that a try. Even if they have no interest in me after that, or vice-versa it’ll likely be interesting.

[anonymous-user]

PSB1 said:

I love it, appeals to the weirdo in me..

Likewise. Having worked with some genuinely brilliant, and slightly odd, STEM types I think it could be a stroke of genius letting some of them poke around around in the policy machine. I can understand why the usual second rate classics grads are worried.

[0a]

pablo said:

Lol, couldn’t even get a .gov.uk email, You send the application to a gmail account.... stay classy number ten!

I would imagine he doesn't want the CVs mysteriously being deleted before he can see them.

[andy_s]

fblm said:

PSB1 said:

I love it, appeals to the weirdo in me..

Likewise. Having worked with some genuinely brilliant, and slightly odd, STEM types I think it could be a stroke of genius letting some of them poke around around in the policy machine. I can understand why the usual second rate classics grads are worried.

I think most political energy is spent in the wrapping, bows and string rather than the appropriateness of the content of the parcel, that content is largely self-referential rather than subject-orientated. Cummings seems to be the lightening that joins the heady intellect to the feet on the ground, and it looks like there's appetite for more. 'Not right, not left, but forward' as Yang puts it.
I'm all for some thought acid to cut through the pretence grease.

[anonymous-user]

I haven’t read much of his blog previously, but I am enjoying some of stuff I’ve found there

This is probably a good start if you want a bit of background to his job ads

https://dominiccummings.com/2019/06/26/on-the-refe...

[Dr Jekyll]

princeperch said:

Good luck with this. He wants to recruit talented people, at the top of their game.

The problem is money. A grade 7 or grade 6 (which are fairly senior roles) earn between 50-70 ish at the moment. A senior civil servant can get promoted and get a ten pc pay rise from the G6 salary.

So the sums involved, especially if you are in London, are pretty small. I know spad roles can pay more (up to about 100k or so) but I doubt they will be recruiting at that level, the roles will be at g7/G6 level.

Pay really is a problem in the civil service. A lot of people simply can't stomach the money.

Dominic Cummings is only on abut £100k so it's difficult to see his recruits being on more.

[Eric Mc]

The description of the people he seems to want indicates to me that the "weirdos" he'd end up with would be exactly the WRONG type of people to lead teams, work in groups, exercise "people" skills etc.

[Dr Jekyll]

Eric Mc said:

The description of the people he seems to want indicates to me that the "weirdos" he'd end up with would be exactly the WRONG type of people to lead teams, work in groups, exercise "people" skills etc.

Might be the right type of people to get some actual work done though.

[Eric Mc]

Dr Jekyll said:

Eric Mc said:

The description of the people he seems to want indicates to me that the "weirdos" he'd end up with would be exactly the WRONG type of people to lead teams, work in groups, exercise "people" skills etc.

Might be the right type of people to get some actual work done though.

"Might" is the operative word. "Might not" is just as applicable too.

[Camelot1971]

princeperch said:

Good luck with this. He wants to recruit talented people, at the top of their game.

The problem is money. A grade 7 or grade 6 (which are fairly senior roles) earn between 50-70 ish at the moment. A senior civil servant can get promoted and get a ten pc pay rise from the G6 salary.

So the sums involved, especially if you are in London, are pretty small. I know spad roles can pay more (up to about 100k or so) but I doubt they will be recruiting at that level, the roles will be at g7/G6 level.

Pay really is a problem in the civil service. A lot of people simply can't stomach the money.

The money won't be a driver for those who are genuinely interested in shaping government. Anyone who wants to earn more than most ministers or even the PM is looking at the wrong place to work if they apply.