cadetships 2012....info??

jimmy11 wrote: »

Well lads Applying for army cadetship for 2012 when I finish my degree. just wondering is their any officers on or army lads in general that can give me sum advice? Im fluent in irish and going in with a degree so I know that counts for extra.

I have a military background my father was in the ranger wing and I feel this is the way I want to go.

any advice or tips would be appreciated

cheers

If your Father is an Exer, I would suggest asking him, especially with him being based in the curragh, I think he would be the one to ask.

Can I ask what's your degree in?

Ok my advice is; take each of the stages one at a time don't get ahead of yourself.

First stage is the aptitude tests. You can go away and do prep courses if you want but at the end of the day if you have the aptitude you have the aptitude if not all you're doing is learning the test.

Second stage is the fitness. So obvious thing there is get running it's pass or fail so you don't get any extra points for being fitter than someone else so long as you just pass you're sound.

After the fitness tests but on the same day you get introduced to current Cadets they tell ya all about life as a cadet. Then ya meet a recently commissioned officer they tell ya all about life as a new officer. Then you do your group assessment. It's in groups of 4 your given a scenario and ye have to come up with a solution. It's all very handy just don't come across too bosy and try to make logical coherent sentences. Then its off to the cadets mess for tea and sandwiches. then bed.

After that it's the interview stage. Again no suprises here they ask you questions you answer to the best of your ability. Theyre not gonna try and catch ya out just as you're not gonna bullsh*t them.

Then it's the medical stage.

I myself went through all that last year made it down to the last 30 or so, however many were called for medicals made it no further though.

My advice go for it so long as you're sure it's the career you want. But with a degree in Construction Management I'd advise against it head to London you'll get work there no problem that's what I did and I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. But that's just my opinion.

What is it that interests you in a career as an officer?

Nope I passed the medical but you're graded on your interview and I just didn't make the cut. I'm in noway sour about though in case anybody thinks that's the reason I'm advising against it.

From my experience I can tell you that with your degree you would spend little to no time in an office most of your time you'd be on site directing the works. But out of interest if you have no interest in this type of work why spend 4 years studying it?

Not too bad lad best of luck with it. Keep the head up because the application process can be a bitch at times lots of waiting to hear back in between stages.

jimmy11 wrote: »

If i go to the cadets the plan is to try get my arw training done and hopefully get selected . My father havin being involved in the army gives me a bit more push also I suppose.

Not prying here as its private obviously. But I wouldn't bring any negativity into the interview. If you use this as a point in the interview you have to be prepared for the follow up questions? If you guys don't get a long it mightn't be the best idea to drop the name as if one of the board knows him he could ask him his opinion and you could get black balled.

I meant to say on the you being fluent in Irish thing. At the interview stage your given the option to do a leaving cert Irish oral type job and successful completion of this entitles you to an extra few percent. Also holding a degree entitles you to an extra few percent. not sure on the figures for both but I know the degree is worth more and your're only awarded percentage for one or the other.

I wonder if there will be a cadet intake in 2012 given the budget cutbacks etc & that the rate of officers to other ranks is in the region of 1:4 at the moment in the Irish DF compared to 1:16 in the BA

goldie fish wrote: »

During the PS recruitment embargo, when general service recruitment ground to a halt, and even templemore closed for new gardai, the Jam factory kept taking officer cadets.

Do you know the reasoning behind this?

I will be going for cadetship 2012 if its on offer.It's something I have been interested in since secondary school but I have other options I would tackle if it's not on the table.I'm training for it in preparation that it is taking place.

Having said that just from the bits and bobs I have picked up off this forum what the DF seems to be crying out for is fresh recruits. Would they not get more 'bang for their buck' by intaking a small amount of general enlistment as opposed to the rigmorale in training in batch a young officers?

Or is it just better PR to have fresh officers qualifying every year even if it isn't in the best interests of the PDF?

delta720 wrote: »

Did you just pull those numbers from the top of your head?

As of Feb 2011 there are 1329 officers in the Defence Forces and 8253 other ranks. Ratio of 1:6.2 link

In the BA 2008 figures were 14,370 officers to 83,920 other ranks, a ratio of 1:5.8 link

Apologies, I should have qualified what I said, the quoted ratio's were from an article in a Sunday newspaper couple of weeks back, they were off the mark judging by your figures.

Tybalt wrote: »

I have been reading through this thread and also the thread "Cadetships 2011" on the forum as I am hoping to apply for the next competition, whenever it will be, and I have a few questions about the whole process.
Does the aptitude/psychometric text just comprise of Verbal reasoning, Numerical reasoning and Job simulation? Or does it include anything else? Such as non-verbal reasoning or mechanical comprehension. Also roughly how many questions are there for each and what time is given to complete the entire exam?
I have also seen that it is possible to get a bonus of 6% of the total marks at the interview stage(not that I'm saying I'll get that far) for showing proficiency in both English and Irish. Does this mean that you can do your main interview in English and a separate one in Irish? And if so, would the Irish interview be similar to that of the Leaving certificate oral exam?

Everything about the aptitude/psychometric testing is in the cadetship booklet. there is a saville holdsworth type questionnaire as well - nothing to fear from this. There is a bonus mark for sitting an Irish test. I gather it is leaving cert level Irish. You cannot combine the Irish bonus with any other bonus eg - being in the RDF, you will just take the higher of the two if you qualify for both.