When you get back

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 4, 26 March 1945, Page 30

When you get back

THE PUBLIC SERVICE

The Public Service is classified in three main Divisions : (1) Professional ; (2) Clerical ; (3) General.

(1) To the Professional Division are -appointed University graduates with appropriate Bachelors’ or Masters’ degrees .as well as cadets with Matriculation or higher qualifications who subsequently qualify at the University. (2) The largest Division is the Clerical, and appointments are made chiefly by clerical cadetships to youths between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one who have passed the Public Service . Entrance or higher examinations, or by the appointment to the temporary staff of older .applicants as clerks or office-assistants, who may later qualify themselves for the permanent staff.

(3) The General Division covers a wide range of careers, including the majority of I field postions. These call for technical or practical qualifications which normally must be secured before appointment. The minimum educational qualification is the primary school Leaving Certificate, but for many positions some higher qualification is desirable. Appointees to the General Division must be between the ages of sixteen and forty years. However, temporary positions are frequently available to men over that age.

The Public Service has openings in practically every avenue of work ’that is met with in commercial or banking institutions as well as in the professions, and the conditions of employment are comparable with those in such institutions. Officers appointed to the permanent staff are, subject to satisfactory work and conduct, guaranteed a career by which they may advance to more responsible and better-paid work according to their ability.

The'educational standards required for permanent-staff appointments are not required of temporary employees. It is

likely that after the cessation of hostilities special provision will be made for returned men to study and present themselves for alternative examinations which could be accepted by the Commissioner as qualifying them for permanent appointment. Temporary officers filling permanent vacancies may apply to become contributors to the Public Service Superannuation Fund.

The bulk of the work in the Public Service can be designated as clerical. It embraces such subjects as accounting, auditing, correspondence, insurance, interviewing, investigating, law, recording, stores, statistics, and so on. Most of those activities are carried on in nearly all Departments, but not always to the same extent.

It is worth noting that the majority of executive and administrative positions in the Service are filled by officers from the clerical division.

Clerical Cadetships. ■ — Available to youths with the following qualifications : University Entrance or higher examination — e.g., Higher Leaving Certificate or section of a degree, School Certificate Examination, Public Service Entrance Examination, and any examination which in the opinion of the Commissioner, is equivalent to the Public Service Entrance Examination. Applicants with the School Certificate or higher examination must be over fifteen years and under twenty-one years of age ; those with Public Service Entrance only, over fifteen and not more than eighteen years of age. Appointees to the temporary clerical staff who do not possess any special qualifications are designated as office-assistants or clerks. The commencing salary for the more junior staff is usually determined on an age basis up to twenty-five years, or according to qualifications and experience which may have a special value. The salary of all temporary officers is reviewed annually by the Public Service Commissioner’s Office.

The Commissioner’s representatives in centres outside Wellington are available for interview at any time, and should further information be desired, they will assist. Their names may be obtained from Rehabilitation Officers.

Vacancies in professional and technical positions are filled by the appointment, to either the permanent or the temporary staff, of applicants who have the requisite qualifications. Cadetships are also available in draughting, engineering, forestry, science, surveying, and valuation. The following types of draughtsmen are employed : — Survey : Lands and Survey Department. Architectural: Public Works and Housing Construction Departments. Engineering (Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical) : Public Works Department. Draughtsmen on the permanent staff are expected to study and to present themselves for Department or professional examinations.

Engineering

A limited number of cadetships an available to youths with the Engineering Preliminary Examination. Universit' graduates with the degree of Bachelor c Engineering or the Diploma of th Institute of Engineers may be as Assistant Engineers. Marine engineers are employed main'y in the Public Works Department is Hydro-electric Station Superintendent, Station Operators, &c., and in the Marine Department as Surveyors of Ships aid Inspectors of Machinery. Appointments are made from applicants with Marine Engineers’ Certificate. Vacancies for radio engineers in the Broadcasting and Scientific and Industrial Research Departments are available for youths as technical trainees, and other appointments are made from applicants with a B.Sc. degree in approved subjects or who have suitable qualifications arid practical experience.