What do young professionals think of the Public Service?

At the recent IPANZ Conference we got to hear inspiring kōrero from young professionals working in the Public Sector. The panel and Q&A was centred around the "Building a path toward the young professionals’ vision."

Young professionals Clyde Smith (Ministry of Health), Lucy McSweeney (Social Wellbeing Agency), Asena Tolungamaka (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade), Peter Cockrem (Waka Kotahi) and Sophie Handford (Paekākāriki - Raumati Ward Councillor) were asked about their experiences of the Public Sector and what we can do better. These views are important to hear as we build a united and more diverse Public Service, one in which young people are attracted to work in and reflects them and their perspectives.?

You can read some of their responses to questions posed to them during this session below.

What drew you to the Public Service??

Asena: "I thought I’d use the opportunity that I’d been fortunate and blessed with to try and impact the communities that I grew up in and impact the people who I know need it the most. Especially now with what’s going on, I see the Public Sector as an avenue to impact this however I can."

Lucy: "Whilst it’s politicians who we see on TV and politicians who we see in those environments, its actually the public servants who do the detailed design work and can often be the difference between things happening and things not happening."

Sophie: "We have everything in our own hands to solve many of the problems, if not all of the problems, that Aotearoa and the globe are currently facing, and what a better tool to do that than the Public Sector."

What is wrong with the Public Service for young people?

Clyde: "One of the biggest problems in our Public Sector is that we are letting, or we are not actively trying, to bring people from diverse lived experiences into our Public Service, into career pathways, and I believe that has some pretty stark consequences."

Peter: "One of the biggest strengths and challenges of the Public Sector is that it runs on networks […] There are a lot of people who’ve come in with aspirations and passion and purpose and drive and they want to solve problems, but they just don’t see “how” and that can lead to disillusionment and frustration."

Lucy: "I think opening up the Public Sector outside of just Wellington, having more of the Public Sector located across the country so people can be in the communities that they’re trying to help rather than having to leave the communities to help the communities."

How should the Public Service change – and what actions can people take now?

Clyde: "I think if we were to go out to communities, maybe young public servants themselves, maybe public servants who are from the communities they are visiting, and say “hey this is what I do” I can assure you you will pick up many rangatahi who are out there wanting to create change and have a passion for creating change and doing something better for their communities but just not knowing how to do it."

Lucy: "I think the Family Violence Joint Venture is doing a really good job of pooling together different parts of government to say none of the problems we are dealing with anymore are going to be fixed by one agency […] it’s around forgetting the idea of single agencies doing single things and thinking more broadly and more interconnectedly."

Asena:?"Looking at what experiences, skill sets and valuable insights people bring with their roles that are not being valued in HR recruitment processes, I think would get, not only in terms of ethnic minority diversity, but diversity across the board and help to be more representative and reflective of our current society."??

IPANZ conference attendees can view the whole kōrero here .

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