Public Service Exam

Today I received a phone call. One of my clients wants to stick me on contract, but, I have to prove that I did the public service exam. One problem, I did the public service exam in 1992. Plus, I did it in SYDNEY. This leaves me with a bit of a stupid problem. Would the public service still have records of my exam? If so, would they release them? I've sent an e-mail off to them, but whether or not they'll send anything back, I'm not sure. I'll tell you a little bit about the results though. The exam was designed so that it was impossible to finish any section of it. [Yes, Impossible]. It was out of five hundred in those days, with five sections each worth one hundred. I received my results, which put my score at 356. I spoke to one of my public service friends about it (as I thought it was a low score). He told me, no, as it's designed to be impossible to finihs, a 356 was quite a high score, and most people he knew in the public service had marks in the two hundred. I knew it was high, when I was offered a position at the Sydney Law Courts. Only one problem, and one non-problem stopped me accepting the position. Problem - when the offer arrived, it arrived AFTER the last date I could accept the position by. That is, it arrived a week AFTER I could accept the position. So, the possibility of saying 'Yes' to the position had been removed from me. The Non Problem - I probably could have phoned and complained like crazy about the incompetence of sending me an offer for a position AFTER the date I could accept it had expired, BUT I didn't. This was because the same day it arrived I had accepted a position as a graphic designer. Along with the fact that I REALLY wanted to do Graphic Design, it was also for $3000 more than the law courts offer. Of course, a year later I would kick myself for that decision. This was for two reasons:

• First, the company I worked for ended up outsourcing the Graphic Design position (I had basically replaced four graphic designers. All of them resigned as the companies plan was to eventually do away with the graphic design department, and gthey left for other positions).
• Second, in three years I didn't get a pay rise. The company I was working for was basically struggling financially, and as such had no money for the workers.

So, if I had of phoned the public service, abused them and fought for the Law Court position, I could have had a nice career path, along with pay rises, and with in a few years probably would have been earning more than I knew what to do with. I've had numerous friends who have worked in the public service. The thing I've learnt about it is, it is very hard to get fired from the public service. So, yes, all those stories you hear about lazy people who never do their job and sit around talking all the time ... well, they do exist in the service. The other thing I learned, was if you are a good worker and you do put in the time and effort, you do in fact go up in the public service. That's right, there are some peopel who do really work in public service departments. As my friends kept assuring me, lazy non-workers stay in the low paid, little responsibilty jobs. Good hard workers rise through the ranks and get to high levels and make big cash. Now, I could cry over spilt milk, but at the time I made the decision it was a no brainer. I didn't know the companies financial problems (and as such zero pay rise prospects), I also didn't know the graphic design position would be only for a year. So, i did make the best choice at the time based on the facts I had at my disposal, and you never know, even if I complained to the public service about the Law Courts job, it's still possible they wouldn't have given it to me. So, lets hope I can get a copy of my public service exam results. I'd like to have this nice contract.