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    Government of Canada Reviews

    Updated September 17, 2017
    245 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    3.7
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    Government of Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
    Justin Trudeau
    45 Ratings

    245 Employee Reviews

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    Pros
    Cons

    • Pigeon holed and not able to be innovative due to managerial red tape (in 19 reviews)

    • Decision-making is not as fast paced as in the private sector (in 11 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "Great learning experience"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Negative Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      Pros

      -Everyone at the office were incredibly approachable
      -Great learning experience, dipping your toes into government work

      Cons

      -Tasks were mundane
      -Limited opportunities for future development

      Advice to Management

      -Paying interns in the future
      -Have a more structured internship program

    2. "Meh"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      No opinion of CEO

      Pros

      Situations you come across are interesting; Comfortable salary, benefits

      Cons

      Slow, always understaffed, timed breaks

      3. Join the Government of Canada team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Foreign Service"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at Government of Canada full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Extensive travel, interesting files, good pay and benefits

      Cons

      Lack of promotion opportunities, slow moving.

      Advice to Management

      Make it easier to fire non-performance and enable strong performers to advance faster.

    4. "Senior Financial Analyst"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Negative Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      Pros

      Good teammates, solid learning experience, get to meet people from all over Canada, great work life balance, easy-going culture in most departments

      Cons

      have to learn and use two languages for everything, a ton of red tape to get anything done, limited focus on creativity, very bureaucratic and political, little value-added

      Advice to Management

      lose control, be more open to divesting responsibilities, be more open to hiring the best, relax language requirements, find ways to dismantle the union (really cutting down on motivation)

    5. Helpful (3)

      "Avoid"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Government of Canada full-time

      Pros

      You'll never get fired. Many people work 10-4, so you'll have an excellent work/life balance. But you really should read the cons section...

      Cons

      Terrible starting pay, unintelligent coworkers, IT practices from the last century (waterfall development!), days spent supporting legacy applications (remember X/Motif?), and there's absolutely no institutional will to improve.

    6. Helpful (1)

      "Best employer for work-life balance, opportunities in every major city"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends

      Pros

      good pay, excellent benefits, overall a great place to work if you are good at following orders and don't mind bureacracy

      Cons

      stifled creativity, very difficult to get buy-in from senior staff concerning change management

    7. "A great nine to five job but not a good place to have a career unless you're a diplomat."

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Administrative Assistant in New York, NY
      Current Employee - Administrative Assistant in New York, NY
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Government of Canada full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Great benefits, vacations but not much room for movement.

      Cons

      Bureaucratic with lots of egos.

      Advice to Management

      Assistants are people too.

    8. "Decent, not great"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Administrative Assistant in Washington, DC
      Current Employee - Administrative Assistant in Washington, DC

      Pros

      Very secure job, clear compensation package, great PTO

      Cons

      Little room for advancement, complicated rules about special leave provisions, beurocratic, slow responses to inqueries

      Advice to Management

      Communicate better, make clear decisions before releasing a policy, ensure you consider all possible scenarios.

    9. "Great but slow"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at Government of Canada full-time

      Pros

      -good pay
      -worklife balance
      -career opps are ok

      Cons

      -very slow at times
      -dont think im developing new skills
      -very different age range

    10. Helpful (2)

      "Federal government"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Director of Procurement in Ottawa, ON (Canada)
      Current Employee - Director of Procurement in Ottawa, ON (Canada)
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Government of Canada full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Great defined pEnsion plan;
      job security;
      job mobility - lots of employment opportunities across several departments
      work life balance - allows for variable work hours and telework on occasion

      Cons

      Bureaucratic environment and slow to invoke change
      Baseline salaries do not permit to attract and retain top talent
      Lack of senior management procurement and supply chain positions

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