General Service Opportunities

monosharp

As the title goes. I'm wondering what opportunities exist for general non-commissoned personnel ? I have a degree in IT.

p.s > I'm purposely excluding Cadetships here

Flying

Answer to your question NO.

You are mad wasting a degree in that fashion a cadetship would be more suitable.

General Service has very little oppurtunities outside of the Infantry,Cav and Arty.

monosharp

Ok can anyone tell me the following.

If i go in for general service and decide in 2-3 years time (or immediately decide) that i want to apply for a cadetship, have i got a lower/greater chance of getting it then if i was applying from civie-land ?

Also does the Army have need of Officers with IT skills ?

muletide

Question 1. Yes you can go from general service to officer rank you just apply for the Cadetship same as everyone else. There is no additional marks for using this route but you already have a bonus 10% from your Degree. The army is actively promoting this method of transition between the two rank structures as it was identified in the Doyle report as an area that needed change. Whether you have a greater chance depends on your performance as aprivate.

Question 2. Yes there is a huge demand for I.T. qualified officers in the Army


My advice is do NOT go through the recruit side of things just keep plugging away at the Cadetship or keep an eye out for any Direct Entry competitions that are looking for IT qualified persons

Hope that was some help

Flying

monosharp wrote:

Ok can anyone tell me the following.

If i go in for general service and decide in 2-3 years time (or immediately decide) that i want to apply for a cadetship, have i got a lower/greater chance of getting it then if i was applying from civie-land ?

Also does the Army have need of Officers with IT skills ?

Not in the army but the navy, many NCO's have taken potential officers courses and did not have to go through the whole Cadetship side of things moreso like direct entries my best mate did that.

In the case of the Navy, for a person with such qualifications the NCC (Naval Computer Centre) would be crying out for someone like you.

Only one thing the Navy is in Cork hence a bit of a bummer otherwise it is a good career

monosharp

Thanks muletide, flying.

I just find it extremely difficult to get things straight in my head. From what i've heard, getting a cadetship is like winning the lotto, 1100 applicants for 35 jobs.

I mean, surely theres an Officer/ex-officer or someone with a bit of knowledge of the situation that can clarify/deny this ?

muletide

monosharp wrote:

Thanks muletide, flying.

I just find it extremely difficult to get things straight in my head. From what i've heard, getting a cadetship is like winning the lotto, 1100 applicants for 35 jobs.

I mean, surely theres an Officer/ex-officer or someone with a bit of knowledge of the situation that can clarify/deny this ?

Yes that is correct approximatly 1100 applicants this year for 35 army places. Dont feel too bad though back in the 80's and 90's the number of applicants were much higher and class sizes went as low as 19 but tended to be around the 25 mark.

Nowadays Graduates make up about 40% of Cadets, although the army woul;d like that figure higher. So the ratio of Graduate applicants to places is much better than 1100:35

It is not like winning the lotto it takes alot of preparation and dedication to get through the selection process. Alot of those 1100 are people who are just chancing their arm and do not put in alot of effort. The real figure of likely/dedicated candidates is closer to 500

cushtac

You might as well go for it, what have you got to lose by applying?