Admin Officer/Junior Diplomat tests

teckno

I sat the tests yesterday for the above position. Anybody else ever do these. Is it common to find yourself out of time before finishing the numerical section?? How many admins are taken on and in what departments per year?

copacetic

teckno wrote:

I sat the tests yesterday for the above position. Anybody else ever do these. Is it common to find yourself out of time before finishing the numerical section?? How many admins are taken on and in what departments per year?

pretty much everyone runs out of time in the numerical tests, they are designed that way. you only need to meet a certain standard in them though. ranking is done on the other tests. there is a thread on here somewhere about it a while back.

dunno about the numbers..

embraer170

Did anyone get when the interviews are?

Aglomerado

I sat the exam in Cork last Thursday, according to the invigilator there the results will be out early June and interviews in late July.

Raskolnikov

copacetic wrote:

pretty much everyone runs out of time in the numerical tests, they are designed that way.

I didn't and I know plenty others who didn't.

copacetic

Raskolnikov wrote:

I didn't and I know plenty others who didn't.

ok apologies, I did the one for AP a year or so ago and no-one got anywhere near the end of the test, I assumed this was the same one..

charba

embraer170 wrote:

Did anyone get when the interviews are?

I'm sitting my exam Friday morning . There are exams on Thursday and Friday evening too. I'm in Dublin.

amen

I didn't and I know plenty others who didn't.

I know I did when I did back in 1994 I was ranked in the 300 hundreds

also when I did the AIB graduate I did't finish and I know a lot of ppl who did but never made it to interview

copacetic

amen wrote:

I know I did when I did back in 1994 I was ranked in the 300 hundreds

also when I did the AIB graduate I did't finish and I know a lot of ppl who did but never made it to interview

maybe it does depend on the position? The AP one was much harder than I expected (I'm from an engineering background with a degree and masters which was mostly maths, A1 honours maths all that marlarky) there simply wasn't time to do all the calculations required. I got about 2/3rds through and most people got only half done. As I said though for the AP at least the maths was purely a cutoff. I still got 67% in it and passed the cut off. Came 105th overall I think in the actual ranking based on the 2 other tests..

penexpers

I did the EO one a couple of years ago and got to the end and had a chance to check all my answers. I placed 55th. This was for the CSO. So it is possible to get to the end, you just need to be really quick.

J.S. Pill

copacetic wrote:

pretty much everyone runs out of time in the numerical tests, they are designed that way. you only need to meet a certain standard in them though. ranking is done on the other tests. there is a thread on here somewhere about it a while back.

dunno about the numbers..

Chill out about the maths people!

It states clearly in the familiarisation booklet that you only have to meet a minimum standard for the maths and that your overall score is based on the verbal and job simulation.

So how did everyone find the verbal and job simulation then??

I found the verbal reasonably straightforward but, with these tests, you always feel you did well till you see the answers and realise the stupid mistakes you made!

We shall see...

copacetic

penexpers wrote:

I did the EO one a couple of years ago and got to the end and had a chance to check all my answers. I placed 55th. This was for the CSO. So it is possible to get to the end, you just need to be really quick.

but this is what I am saying, the Assistant principal and HEO maths test sounds like it is a bit different that this one.

Raskolnikov

Just to give people some perspective on the process, publicjobs.ie received over 5,000 applications for this Administrative Officer/Junior Diplomat competition. Now bear in mind that they're only looking to recruit 50 people from that 5,000 and you get an idea of what you're up against.

As the mammy says though, you gotta be in it to win it

J.S. Pill

Raskolnikov wrote:

Just to give people some perspective on the process, publicjobs.ie received over 5,000 applications for this Administrative Officer/Junior Diplomat competition. Now bear in mind that they're only looking to recruit 50 people from that 5,000 and you get an idea of what you're up against.

As the mammy says though, you gotta be in it to win it

Mmmm, I like those odds!

Where did you find this out?

embraer170

I didn't even think they were recruiting 50?!
My hopes just shot up.

charba

Is the 50 just general AO staff or does that include the revenue?

Thanks

Raskolnikov

J.S. Pill wrote:

Mmmm, I like those odds!

Where did you find this out?

Was sick of hearing rumours about civil service hiring so I got in touch with someone within the civil service to find out for me.

Raskolnikov

charba wrote:

Is the 50 just general AO staff or does that include the revenue?

Thanks

It includes AO Revenue/AO IT/AO General/Third Secretary.

Raskolnikov

embraer170 wrote:

I didn't even think they were recruiting 50?!
My hopes just shot up.

Even if you applied for everything, there are certain positions that are closed off to non-existing civil servants! If you're not doing an IT or Finance/Accounting related degree, then there's a couple more positions that you won't be able to get into.

Come to think about it, I don't know why I'm so confident of making the interviews

J.S. Pill

Raskolnikov wrote:

Come to think about it, I don't know why I'm so confident of making the interviews

Do you have any idea how many people they expect to call to interview?

Raskolnikov

J.S. Pill wrote:

Do you have any idea how many people they expect to call to interview?

Not sure, about 200-400 of the top scoring applicants will be called for interviews. Pure guesstimate figure though.

Woody Creek

Did anyone else run out of time on the job simulation exercises? I think I got about 20 of the 25 finished.

J.S. Pill

Woody Creek wrote:

Did anyone else run out of time on the job simulation exercises? I think I got about 20 of the 25 finished.

About half way through the job simulation test the questions alternate between AO scenarions and 3rd sec scenarios. As I've little interest in the 3rd sec job I just did all the AO questions first. I did all the 3rd sec ones when I had the AO ones finished, I got them all done but I had to really rush the last few.

charba

I thought the job sim was okay. I had time to do them all and even reread ones where I was usure. though I didnt change the answers I felt that the first answer that I gave was probably what I would have done based on gut instict.

The maths part was the only one where I was short on time and I still got a high percentage of them done.

Sunflower_

Im on public jobs.ie but I didn't get notified about the test, how did ye guys find out about it?

charba

Well I applied for the AO position so I presume thats what you have to do to get notified of the exams?

Cause

J.S. Pill wrote:

Chill out about the maths people!

It states clearly in the familiarisation booklet that you only have to meet a minimum standard for the maths and that your overall score is based on the verbal and job simulation.

So how did everyone find the verbal and job simulation then??

I found the verbal reasonably straightforward but, with these tests, you always feel you did well till you see the answers and realise the stupid mistakes you made!

We shall see...

Howdy, thats interesting, I actually missed that. How sure are you on that

J.S. Pill

Cause wrote:

Howdy, thats interesting, I actually missed that. How sure are you on that

100% - However I don't seem to have the job simulation booklet on my computer anymore and those bastards at work have blocked off publicjobs.ie from the internet (try as you may, you can't keep me here forever!) so i can't back that up right now.

copacetic

J.S. Pill wrote:

100% - However I don't seem to have the job simulation booklet on my computer anymore and those bastards at work have blocked off publicjobs.ie from the internet (try as you may, you can't keep me here forever!) so i can't back that up right now.

i'll back Pill up on this, although I did point it out in the first reply to the thread so not sure why it wasn't noticed..

Cause

AO info booklet attached....

So does anyone know the grade that you have to get in the numerical...

J.S. Pill

Cause wrote:

AO info booklet attached....

So does anyone know the grade that you have to get in the numerical...

The doc I was refering to is the actual test handbook (the one with all the sample questions etc.) thats where its written down - but thanks for that one

BobbyD10

Was wondering is it too late to apply now.

Presume I am too late to throw my hat in.

J.S. Pill

BobbyD10 wrote:

Was wondering is it too late to apply now.

Presume I am too late to throw my hat in.

'fraid so

Cause

Hey, does anyone knowm when the results are out....

charba

The results are out at the start of June.

fits

I was expecting them this week.... I really hope I get to the next stage although I feel I could have prepared a bit more.

Cause

I was speaking to the Publicjobs the other day about results and whatnot, and they were saying that about 4000 sat the exam this year. They estimate that there will be only 50 places to be filled, inclusive of both AO and Third Sec. That’s a 1.25% success rate!!! It’s easier to get into Oxford.

Freakin’ hell, you’ve got to ask yourself, are you really that keen/desperate to get into the Irish civil service. Surely my degree could be put to better use…

penexpers

It's a job for life with good perks such as flexi time and career breaks. There's a decent pension at the end too. Yeah sure youre degree could be put to better use but I think someone in the civil service put it best when they said a job in the civil service is great if you have interests outside of work.

fits

I would like to get into the civil service, mainly because it offers the chance of a decent job down the country with good benefits, but the odds you quoted are not good.

Anyway all we can do is wait and see. I'm not too confident of my chances myself...

Cause

penexpers wrote:

It's a job for life.... great if you have interests outside of work.

Yeah actually I agree with that, it is a great option if your job isn't the only thing in your life. But as far as the 'job for life' goes, for me, that's more of a turn off than anything else. It's not the 80's....;)

charba

the civil service isnt for everyone. I want to do Tax exams and the best possible experience would be through the revenue would it not.
I'm sure everyone has their own reasons, like the fact that its a guaranteed job regardless of the economy.
Now i'd love to et the chance but on seeing the odds i'm nt so sure whether i'll make it.

Raskolnikov

Hopefully we should hear something this week.

fits

are they *ever* going to release the results?

charba

Unfortunately i think not

Garavogue

I sat the tests for the 3rd sec/ JD. I wonder how many were going for this department? I was talking to a guy going for his third attempt at entering the AO dept, and he was a qualified accountant, so the competition is pretty stiff.I am puzzled at why it takes so long for the results to be processed. Its statistical/ quantitative data that should be scanned and churned out rapidly??

fits

4500 sat the exams. I'd say a good chunk of that applied for both jobs, and very few JD vacancies ... <10 I'd guess.
The odds aint good

J.S. Pill

fits wrote:

are they *ever* going to release the results?

I just rang public jobs there. Should be out either this evening or tomorrow.

I won't be holding my breath though

fits

thanks for the info

Raskolnikov

J.S. Pill wrote:

I just rang public jobs there. Should be out either this evening or tomorrow.

I won't be holding my breath though

Ooo.

I just looked, still not there. Bah.

fits

Just got it there... It says I'm about No. 200 in the order of merit... just above it. Hope they dont just call the first 200!
Is that a good thing?

penexpers

Yep 200 isn't too bad. Good chance of being called for an interview. got mine there too. Safe to say I won't be called for an interview.