• 2) List the requirements for Fast Stream candidates and the job responsibilities of Fast Streamers.

• 3) Shorten the text omitting unessential details.

• 4) Read the next text “Fast Streamers’ Profiles” and indicate the differences between this text and the next one.

5.27 FAST STREAMERS’ PROFILES

• 1) Answer the questions:

a) If you could, would you join Fast Stream in the UK?

b) Are there programs in Russia similar to Fast Stream?

c) How do Russian civil servants get professional training?

d) What do Polly, Laura, and Fazilat have in common?

e) What are Polly, Laura, and Fazilat’s impressions of being on Fast Stream?

Polly Le Grand at the Treasury. I joined The Treasury in October 2009. On a typical day I’ll be doing a huge range of things - I may be attending meetings, responding to emails, reading reports, looking at relevant research. I’ll also be writing briefings for senior officials or Ministers if they’re attending meetings.

When I first started, I remember thinking, “How can I write a briefing for this person, because I’m so new to the area? How can I be the expert?” But you quite quickly develop the expertise in your own small area and realize that you can add some value.

It’s certainly a challenge to be told as you walk in on your first day, “Right now you’re Treasury’s lead on EU fiscal policy.” You think, “But I don’t know anything about it.” But actually that’s how you get to learn things. By being given that responsibility it really makes a difference that you know that from the first day people are listening to your opinion.

I’ve had so much training since I’ve been here. I’ve had proper formal training, and courses in Econometrics, and Economic Growth, also courses in other skills, like communications or managing diversity. There’s also a huge number of seminars and talks that are always going on. We’ll also have academics coming in to visit and other people in the organization presenting their own work, so there are really loads of opportunities to learn about a huge range of topics.

I think the challenges that I face have mostly been about learning very quickly about different subject areas. For instance three weeks into the job and I was told that I was going out to Brussels to support a senior official. He was going to be talking about a very technical issue that he didn’t know anything about, but I was supposed to be the expert on. So I found myself sitting in this room in Brussels with all my little diagrams, preparing to feed him some lines. That was quite daunting but it all went really well.

Laura Jayawardane at Home Office. I think the best part of my job is definitely when you know that you’ve made an important difference to something.

I am currently working at Home Office. I’ve worked there for the past two years now, since I joined Fast Stream, and I’ve spent all that time in Immigration, although I’ve had a few short secondments out of Immigration to do stuff within the core Home Office.

I dealt with an Immigration Bill and worked on some provisions within that, which I know will make a difference to asylum support. In general, there hasn’t been one particular job where I’ve just been doing one thing for a year. I’ve really felt pushed and challenged all the time, which has been excellent, because I feel like there hasn’t been any time that’s been wasted with this two years.

But I also never expected to have this degree of responsibility as well. I never expected that within the first few months of my being on the Fast Stream I’d be briefing an Immigration Minister before he went into Parliament on the Bill, and the provisions within the Bill. I think it’s a real buzz to be able to be involved in something so important at such a young age and so early on in your career. I think that everyone who joined the Fast Stream shares that view. I look forward to having a long career where I can make an even bigger difference as I go on and build my own experience and skills.

Fazilat Dar at Government Olympic Executive. Fazilat Dar had pursued almost 10 years of academic study before he joined the Fast Stream as Assistant Statistician in 2005. After graduating with a BSc in Physics from the University of Dundee, he went to the University of Aberdeen where he gained an MSc in Medical Physics and a PhD in Bio-Medical Physics and Engineering.

During his time on the Fast Stream, Fazilat has been able to get involved in three very different areas of government work. “I started off at the Department for Transport where I was responsible for road accident statistics. I produced statistics on drink driving and took the lead on complex analysis of road accident injury by the model of a car. It was great to be working on an area of policy that affects millions of people and genuinely saves lives.

For my second post, I led on the homelessness statistics, which involved working with a wide range of stakeholders and included paying visits to homeless shelters. In fact, being able to see the “data” in real life was a real highlight for me.

I am currently embedded as a statistician in the Government Olympic Executive. My responsibility is to coordinate the evaluation of the 2012 Olympics, which, for now, involves getting buy-in from senior people across various government departments.

The fact that you can change roles fairly regularly on the Fast Stream is extremely beneficial, as it allows you to pick up an enormous amount of experience very quickly. It also means that with each new placement you think to yourself, “Right, I’ve got 12 months here to really make a difference.”