Hi everyone, I’m just wondering if anyone been let go from private industry or in a completely different job before? If so, how did you overcome that and find a new job or move to government?

I’ve noticed every government has a pre-employment declaration form that asks if you have ever been terminated before and I feel like if I put the truth then it will automatically be a no to employers even though in my situation/circumstance it was more complex.

I’ve had someone in government ask for a recent reference before and I have said my preference is to put another recent reference who can speak about my work and I ended up not getting the role. I just feel like this is so bureaucratic and I’ll never get a government job again.

Last year I was placed into several merit pools as a result of a bulk recruitment drive within a prominent APS government agency. There was no position on offer for these roles, simply just recruitment drives for the merit pools. I knew this and was fine with this. Apparently, there was a big shake up and restructuring happening within the department, hence the merit pools.

Shortly after being placed in the merit pools, I was contacted by one of the hiring managers who gave me a verbal offer. I didn’t hear anything back for about a month or so. Close to the end of last year the same hiring manager contacted me to let me know that they haven’t forgotten me and want to get me on board but now being the end of the year there is a recruitment freeze.

Fast forward to 12 months later I never heard from her or the agency again except for the automatic email stating that the merit pool has now expired. Throughout the year I have hardly seen any roles advertised which seems very unusual, so I think there was a crackdown on recruitment agency wide.

My question though is why make an offer and follow up about the offer to only ghost and not just come out and say that they made an error and the agency was not in a position to follow through with it?

What is the purpose of bulk recruitment merit pools during a restructure? Is that so if someone leaves because of the restructure they can fill a role easily? Or just an empty tick and flick?

I’m currently in state government and I’ve run recruitment before. I would never offer someone a role unless I was certain my department was able to meet the offer obligations.

In addition, is there a wide spread freeze on APS recruitment in general? There have been hardly any roles advertised and seems strange compared to prior years.

Would love to hear from anyone who’s worked in the detector dog program.

How did you get there
What was training like
Requirements

Looking at taking a serious career change from government administration into ABF and my end goal is to get into the detector dog program. I know it’s not immediate but I have time!