If you currently work in operational delivery or are thinking about this as a possible profession, this section of our website will help you to explore the different career pathways you would need to follow to get to that job role.
Like most people you probably have an idea of where you see yourself now and maybe even in five years time. If not, take some time out to think about your skills and what career path you would like to take.
The profession aims to provide support by:
- supplying visibility of career options within operational delivery
- helping you to broaden your horizons beyond the department that you work in
- making it clear what is required in each of the key job roles
- providing information about what it is like to work in key operational roles.
A professional career in operational delivery can help to improve your personal motivation and engagement and further develop your skills by involving you in a wide variety of work.
Career pathways framework and job families
To find out what job role you are most suited to, you need to start with the career path framework. The framework covers operations across all government departments. Although the grades and job titles may be labelled slightly differently in each government department, it should be relatively easy to see where you currently sit on the framework.
Operational delivery career pathways framework and role profiles [PDF file, 340kb]
The framework is presented in a grid format and shows the key job roles by grade in each of the three key job families of operational delivery:
- contact centres
- face-to-face
- processing.
Some jobs don’t fit neatly into these categories and span two or even all three of the above functions, so don’t worry if you feel you cross-over more than one box on the framework.
When you think about moving up and along a career path, is your first thought about getting promoted to do the job your current line manager does? If yes, the profession would encourage you to broaden your horizons by thinking:
- vertically (upwards)
- horizontally (lateral/sideways)
- diagonally (up and across).
For example, if you are interested in a career within the processing family, this might be in your own agency or department but it could be in another department within the Civil Service. There may be other government department buildings in nearby towns or cities and the operational skills and competencies you will need will be very similar at each grade within each job family within the profession across the Civil Service. The technical skills and business knowledge you will need will be different but you will learn this when you start working there.
A career move in operational delivery may not be about a promotion but about the variety of work and gaining some broader experience. Horizontal progression into a different job family and/or department can help you get a more rounded view of your department and other direct public services provided by the Civil Service even if you have no current interest in promotion. A horizontal move can provide unexpected development opportunities which will help to build experience and capability for later in your career as well as giving you a new focus and challenge if you feel ready for a change.
If you are interested in promotion opportunities, these may exist in other job families. Many of the skills and competencies you have developed in your current and previous roles will be relevant, so you might want to think about developing your career in another job family in your department or even a different department through a diagonal move.