Schuster entered the Civil Service in 1899 and as a qualified lawyer was exempt from the required examinations, something that marked him as "different" from other civil service employees with whom he worked. His first post was as secretary to the Chief Commissioner of the Local Government Act Commission, which produced a report leading to the creation of the London County Council. After this he worked as a secretary to the Great Northern Railway and then for the workers' union at London & Smith's Bank Ltd. After his job at the union he was noticed by Robert Morant who employed him as a temporary legal assistant to the Board of Education on the understanding that the job would become permanent, which it did in 1907. In 1911 he was promoted to Principal Assistant Secretary, and after Morant was appointed to the English Commission under the National Insurance Act 1911 Schuster followed him by being appointed Chief Registrar of the Friendly Societies, which granted him a place on the Societies' committee.