The first 6 months

On this page

• Finish your probation
• Sign up for optional training
• Grow your community
• Using ideas at work

Finish your probation

Your supervisor will review your progress with you at the end of 6 months. You'll also receive a letter to let you know that your probation is complete and you're officially a BC Public Service employee.

Take some time at this stage to consider career development opportunities.

Sign up for optional training

Take advantage of corporate learning and development opportunities or training offered by your ministry.

You can also learn how the government operates by taking a course or checking out some resources:

• Introduction to Gender Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) (IDIR restricted)
• Ethics for Everyone (IDIR restricted)
• Addressing Bullying in the Workplace (IDIR restricted)
• Parliamentary Procedures
• Policy Essentials in the BC Public Service (IDIR restricted)
• Building Capacity in Indigenous Relations (IDIR restricted)
• Indigenous Relations Behavioural Competencies
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) | The 10 Principles
• Information Management Training (IDIR restricted)

Grow your community

Building relationships at work is key to feeling like you belong and can help you achieve results in your work.

Explore these channels for creating connections with colleagues both inside and outside of the BC Public Service:

• Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC): Meet other public sector professionals from all levels of government and join a cross-Canada organization promoting excellence in public service administration. The New Professionals group is a great way to connect with other new public servants with less than 5 years experience in the public sector
• Join the Innovation in the BC Public Service team on MS Teams to connect with change makers from across the BC Public Service and access innovation resources

Using ideas at work

See how we use the Where Ideas Work 2023 Corporate Plan for the BC Public Service (PDF, 1.3MB) to solve problems and design services:

• Behavioural Insights: A team that applies behavioural science knowledge and methods to address public policy problems
• DevHub: A place that brings together resources to help build digital products for the B.C. government
• govTogetherBC: Look up all public engagement activities
• Health Innovation Hub: A creative space at the Ministry of Health where project teams develop evidence-informed policy and other innovative solutions
• Social media guidelines for personal use: Information about how to use social media properly for personal or official government purposes
• Policy Approaches Playbook (PDF, 923KB): A comprehensive guide to help understand common approaches to achieving policy objectives
• Accessibility and Inclusion Toolkit: Guides to support you with step-by-step instructions on how to do your work in a more inclusive way