The private sector’s view that public sector workers are not equipped to work in the commercial sector are “stereotypical and old-fashioned” and not based on reality, according to the head of Hays Careers Transition Service.

Mark Staniland, a divisional director of Hays, told Recruiter: “Private sector employers’ initial response is that public sector workers are not equipped or able to make the move to the private sector, but our experience is they are able to make that transfer.

“The professionals that we meet from the public sector are extremely capable and able people, and the majority are capable of making that transfer.”

Staniland’s comments are at variance with the results of a survey of 500 UK companies published in February.

The survey by the Financial Times and Barclays Corporate revealed that 52% of private sector companies in the UK said they were are not interested in hiring people, who have lost their jobs in the public sector http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4aca3598-33da-11e0-b1ed-00144feabdc0.html - axzz1EVxO7PRk, because they are not equipped to join their businesses.

Staniland said that 72% of ex-public sector employees that had been through Hays’ Career Transition Service in the last six months had found employment, either with the help of Hays consultants or off their own bat.

There had been strong demand for Hays’ transition service since it entered the market at the beginning of 2010, but particularly from the NHS and local government, said Staniland.