Pros
* Relatively secure job * Decent pension * Decent number of holiday hours
Cons
There is such a lot to say. Its all good when you're starting (especially if its your first 'professional' job), but the pressure quickly gets piled onto you and you soon realise what you have gotten into and you'll want to start applying for another job. The micromanagement you are subject to within Asylum at EO level is crazy... and is considered among the worst in the civil service. Asylum is infamous for "burn and churn". Take into account that in this job you will be exposed to very grim stuff. If you get easily upset regarding certain things that happen around the world (e.g. war, death, destruction, torture, civil wars, the most disgusting things human beings can do to each other that i cant write on here) this job isnt for you. A lot of applicants have been through awful experiences and often enough you'll have people break down in front of you. Often enough you'll have to refuse people Asylum too. Its a bit much and youre expected to shake it all off and get as many cases out as possible. The mental health support is non existent!!!! You dont get any mental health breaks. When it comes to mental health btw... You'll get AI written wellbeing emails and also annoying wellbeing times where you'll do some annoying quiz that one of your colleagues prepared. They also love 'fuddles' (aka Potlucks) in here. I 100% agree with the poster below... Its all a slap in the face. Plenty of your colleagues (even if they wont say a thing about it) would have been of sick at some point because the job has burnt them out and simply destroyed their mental health. The pressure is that bad. You also have the competitive work culture, the cliques, bullying... The Home Office (especially Asylum) can be summed up as having a culture which forces you to always be in crisis mode. The only thing that matters here are numbers. There is never a day where you feel we are doing something for the long term. Its all about survival in here. Its mentally draining. The attitude of management can be summed up by "if you cant take the heat then get out of the kitchen". Dont dare ask a question when they open the floor either because they'll only beat down your ideas. Completely out of touch. The Home Office toughens you up. You can do anything if you survive being an EO Decision Maker.