HEO job offer Case Officer

Thank you for that. Interesting insight. This isn't an inspector role but not entirely dissimilar I imagine. That said a friend works as a welfare inspector and loves it so horses for courses I suppose. I must ask him what he loves about it!

Yes it would be her first geographic move. She's been in one Dept 10 years and gone from CO to EO in that time. This would be new Dept, new office, completely new work hence her trepidation which I completely get. Hence we are fact finding as best we can before decision. She's tired a couple of times for HEO before with no luck. Fear of the unknown now I suppose. That said she is a practical and tough cookie and with 3 kids to put through college in the next decade or so the extra income would be most welcome. Ten years in one job makes one very comfortable though!

Thanks for that. She actually mentioned that type of scenario as a few of her best buddies are not far off places on different panels both interD and internal and 1 or 2 years could see them scattered anyway whether she stays or goes.

A friend of mine works in DSP at AP and I rang him this morning,unfortunately he doesn't know much of case officer but was a SWI for a while. He was saying there is alot of movement now and that age wise it might be the oldest Dept so over the coming years there will be a major 'brain drain' with retirements etc but also major opportunities for movement and promotion for those remaining. Interesting to hear.

Ok I see what you mean. No we are rural people and it's just an average size Irish town the role is in, pretty nice place actually we'd occasionally go for an afternoon out in and a walk but would not know people in. It wouldn't have the issue you describe to be fair.

As you say promotion is promotion and practicalities of family finance and long term pension pot etc are not insignificant for our household like most others. I hear ya about how nice it might be to work in one of the nicer Departments you mention but the reality is they are not physically based near where we live. Her current Dept is revenue so it's not one of the better ones you mention but she has enjoyed it. She hasn't had a customer facing role in it so I think that would be the biggest thing for her aside from the change of location. The admin side of the job such as folks applying for schemes and courses etc like any in the civil service I suspect is fairly dull but I don't think any of them are overly exotic that said. Myself I'd love a stint in Foreign Affairs doing some travel but 3 kids later that ship has long sailed!

All very well put trashcan. I suppose in the absence of a crystal ball one will never know until they try and make a go of the new opportunity. There are no perfect decisions with something like this. Making the best decision you can with the information available is all can be done hence here's me on boards and ringing folks who might know a bit about DSP and case officers! I changed jobs myself about 10 years ago and initially hated it, regretted it and even spoke to my previous boss about going back. He told me give it 6 months which I agreed with and I settled in well after a few months. So I know where she is coming from quite well (plus she remembers how I felt!) After a while though it just became like any other job I've had. Go in. Work/have lunch. Come home and forget about it!

I think she would regret not giving it a try if she doesn't. I think most people would be the same.

Final update from mise. Missus Maximus has accepted the offer today. Fingers crossed now! Thanks for the feedback in the thread it was informative and did help.