90% of jobseekers surveyed said they would consider applying for a public sector post. But the research identified a number of factors that might cause them to go elsewhere.
82% of respondents perceived the public sector as bureaucratic, 66% believed it is an ungenerous employer, and 50% were concerned about limited job prospects. A further 65% said that public sector employers did not have a modern outlook.
Comparisons with private businesses also proved worrying. Only 15% of those surveyed thought public bodies paid high salaries, compared with 69% who believed the private sector had deeper pockets. 44% of jobseekers also felt that private sector employers were more effective at promoting the benefits of working for them, while 22% favoured the public sector.
Examples of jobseekers' grumbles regarding public sector employment included:
- "Boring, bureaucratic and attracts the cardigan brigade with no ambitions. A job for life, but you may as well have died early anyway for all the excitement it entails."
- "Too process-driven. Does not encourage an entrepreneurial spirit."
- "I worked there before. There are very limited career options as so many people are waiting for their pensions in ten years' time."
- Despite the fact that 43% of the UK workforce now uses the internet to look for job opportunities, only 10% of respondents thought that public sector organisations were good at promoting their vacancies online.
