How to Get a Job With the Government

If you ever wondered how people get government jobs, or particularly, how people get a job with the  Government , this article is for you. Government jobs tend to be more stable and mostly are in a Unionized environment. Though the wages are not as competitive as their private sector counterparts, the pension and benefits tend to make up for this. So if you're someone looking to switch career focuses or if you're a student or graduate looking to move towards a direction of public service, this article might be for you.

There's always a misconception of the only possible way of getting a government job is to be related to someone who's already working with them. While it may help to know someone, there are other options out there that you can go through, simply by hard work and patience.

For people who are already working and are seeking a change in career towards the Ontario Public Service here are two of the main options you have:

Applying Directly from the OPS Site

Salary: Ranges from $40,000 up to $170,000

Frequency of position updates: Daily; with 1-2 new postings

Time of the Year to apply: Year-round

Contract lengths: 3 months to Permanent

Number of work Hours: Part-time 36.25 per week

Open competitions are the Full-Time and Part-time positions that are available to the public to apply to. The postings can be found on the OPS career website and you can filter the categories based on Region, City, Job Category, and Minimum Salary.

The regions category range across Ontario, Cities category are all of the cities within Ontario that have provincial positions available, the Job Categories are a range of professions within the OPS, and the Minimum Salary range is the salary that generally does not fall below $40,000 a year.

Temporary Agencies 

Salary: Ranges as it depends on the type of position, but generally $12-$25 per hour with pay deductions

Time of the Year to apply: Year-round

Number of work Hours: 36.25 per week

Pros:

• Getting your foot in the door
• Builds resume with experiences
• Opportunity to learn about your own work habits
• Unsteady/flexible work terms
• Networking Opportunity

Cons:

• Unsteady work terms
• Docked pay
• Feeling like the Outsider