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Blog post by: Cheryl King McDowall, 6 December 2019.

Cheryl King-McDowall, Deputy Director, Professional Standards, says the GCS career framework is a roadmap to an exciting and fulfilling career for everyone working in public service communications

We succeed as public service communicators if we succeed in communicating well. When done the right way, communication can enable the effective delivery of important programmes and services and – most importantly – inform and serve the public. 

A huge part of raising the standard of communication comes from supporting and developing our people to be the best they can be. We want everyone working in government communication and beyond to inspire through their work, be confident in their engagement, and empower their colleagues to deliver fantastic public service campaigns. 

We developed the GCS career framework as a roadmap so everyone in government can find exciting and fulfilling careers as brilliant communicators. It is an evolving framework that will change and adapt to the changing nature and variety of our profession, and is part of the ‘Our People’ strand of GCS 2020. 

The framework sets out some of the job roles that exist in today’s Government Communications Service (GCS), from Apprentices and Interns to Directors of Communications and Heads of News. Together with the Functional Standard GovS011: Communications and the Modern Communications Operating Model (MCOM 2.0), colleagues can use the framework to plan their next step on the career ladder, identify how their skills and knowledge can grow, and find new opportunities to contribute diverse insights and expertise.

Our career framework shares the human story of us as communicators. We have passionate and skilled, colleagues who work with honesty and integrity to deliver excellent communication in a rapidly changing environment. We need GCS to be a diverse and inclusive place to work, where colleagues have access to varied careers across the UK and are supported and invested in to reach their full potential. 

That’s why we’ve included incredible case studies, to show how our profession is bursting with skilled people who bring their own perspectives, interesting career stories and a broad range of knowledge, skills and experience to share. 

At its heart, the framework is a roadmap that can help you navigate and plan your career, and it will evolve alongside the work we are doing to make this profession fit for the future 

We hope that people read the career stories alongside the guidance and feel inspired and motivated. We may take different paths towards our version of success, and our priorities and goals may change as life changes around us. But we can all get to where we want to be (and maybe where we didn’t expect) if we are proactive about our own professional development and make the most of the support GCS provides.