temp jobs in the civil service...

tywy

I applied for both the civil service and revenue. when should I expect to hear back?

The_Hustler

I wish I knew, I did the same. Last year the Revenue didn't contact me until I had already started work summer in the city council, otherwise I would have certainly taken it.
Also they have added in the availability periods for the summer, maybe they won't contact people until later if they said they are available later.

tywy

Well I said I was available from June 5th. So I hope they get back to me soon.

pow wow

I'm the same - applied for both and haven't heard from either.

Vince135792003

Is it still possible to apply and if so where do I go about it?

tywy

both closing dates have passed, sorry.

Madge

I applied for a temp job in civil service. I heard back last week, I've got an interview for the 1st May. I've applied for the revenue job aswell, but haven't heard anything

stepbar

What a handy summer job, it doesnt get much better than the good old civil service. I worked 2 years ago in a social welfare office. Handiest number going. Enjoy it while you can!

tywy

Madge wrote:

I applied for a temp job in civil service. I heard back last week, I've got an interview for the 1st May. I've applied for the revenue job aswell, but haven't heard anything

does that mean if you haven't heard back, you haven't got the job, crap

EDIT: Actually where did you hear back from? Was it an office in Dublin? If it wasn't I can keep my hopes up Also if you don't mind me asking, are you a student?

pow wow

I got a letter today with an interview date for the CSO.

cashback

Civil service don't seem to have the same idea of time as everyone else. Did exam on March 15th for CO and they said we'd know either way by the end of the month. 24th April and still no word. Would drive you mental.

Madge

tywy wrote:

does that mean if you haven't heard back, you haven't got the job, crap

EDIT: Actually where did you hear back from? Was it an office in Dublin? If it wasn't I can keep my hopes up Also if you don't mind me asking, are you a student?

Hey
I didn't apply for Dublin, I applied for the West. No I'm not a student anymore sadly! The job I applied for was for a 3 yr temp position as a CO.

tywy

Oh right! The one I applied for is the one for Temp Summer Positions, anyone heard back about that?

J.S. Pill

Got a rejection letter from those b*stards in the CSO this morning.

I have a string of letters after my name and tons of office experience and they tell me that 'your application has not been placed high enough to be called for interview at this stage' - pox!. I just know some incompetent and spotty arts student on his/her summer holiday is going to get this job instead.

Is there any way I can get some feedback as to why I was 'not placed high enough' - just for future reference. I got a feeling that I might have come across as to dynamic and ambitious...

Kimbot

J.S. Pill wrote:

I got a feeling that I might have come across as to dynamic and ambitious...

This is the reason you got a rejection letter!! Civil servants are not suppose to have feelings or be anything like dynamic or ambitious!!

We are all drones in here!!

TerrorFirmer

It seems to be a bit of a lucky dip alright. I got in two years ago with virtually no experience - other people who applied received the same letter you did and I've no problem admitting that they were much better qualified! Funny actually, I am an Arts student...

Madge

They just think you're over-qualified perhaps and may leave the job after a short time? I got this said to me at 2 interviews and they didn't give me the job cos of it :mad:

aphex™

Where was it advertised this year?

I got the job last year but not available right now anyway. Found out from a friend of a friend it was advertised, even though I signed up for alerts for CO positions on publicjobs.ie. Recieved no alerts there.

J.S. Pill

Madge wrote:

They just think you're over-qualified perhaps and may leave the job after a short time? I got this said to me at 2 interviews and they didn't give me the job cos of it

Well the first point shouldn't come into the euqation at all as its only a 3 month contract. Also, the civil service do hire graduates for CO posts. A lot of graduates (me included) would kill to get such a position as it offers great opportunities to climb the ladder as it opens up doors to internal only vacancies.

Was this said to you regarding a CO post?

HavoK wrote:

It seems to be a bit of a lucky dip alright. I got in two years ago with virtually no experience - other people who applied received the same letter you did and I've no problem admitting that they were much better qualified! Funny actually, I am an Arts student...

I got rejected for the same job in Dublin this time last year. My housemate and I both applied for the job. We have very very similar qualifications, the only difference is that I had a lot more office experience*. He got the job, I didn't. He spent the summer sitting on his arse doing nothing, I didn't.

*And he was, I hate to admit, slightly more handsome than me.

universe777

cashback wrote:

Civil service don't seem to have the same idea of time as everyone else. Did exam on March 15th for CO and they said we'd know either way by the end of the month. 24th April and still no word. Would drive you mental.

I did the test the same day too, still haven't heard anything..
thats Civil Service laziness for you!!

tywy

wah! I haven't gotten a letter or an email yet. damn! I wanna know!

nesf

J.S. Pill wrote:

Got a rejection letter from those b*stards in the CSO this morning.

I have a string of letters after my name and tons of office experience and they tell me that 'your application has not been placed high enough to be called for interview at this stage' - pox!. I just know some incompetent and spotty arts student on his/her summer holiday is going to get this job instead.

Is there any way I can get some feedback as to why I was 'not placed high enough' - just for future reference. I got a feeling that I might have come across as to dynamic and ambitious...

What are your qualifications in though, if they got a bunch of CVs from people with strong maths/admin backgrounds they might be picky.

tywy

it wasn't a CV, it was one of these online personality tests, they called it a competition. I wish they'd send out an email and let people know what's going on.

pow wow

J.S. Pill wrote:

Got a rejection letter from those b*stards in the CSO this morning.

I have a string of letters after my name and tons of office experience and they tell me that 'your application has not been placed high enough to be called for interview at this stage' - pox!. I just know some incompetent and spotty arts student on his/her summer holiday is going to get this job instead.

Is there any way I can get some feedback as to why I was 'not placed high enough' - just for future reference. I got a feeling that I might have come across as to dynamic and ambitious...

I dunno how they select the people who get to interview so. I also have years of office experience over an above what's necessary to do basic admin (I was a stats analyst tho so maybe that helped?) and they called me for interview. I am a mature (not spotty) Arts student lol so maybe that was enough to swing it for me!

Did you try for the Revenue too? I saw FAS have some advertised with the same salary - might actually be working for FAS. I interviewed for their Summer roles last year but didn't get it. Will most likely be something similar this year I'd say!

Raskolnikov

My 18 year old kid sister who has no IT/college/work experience got offered an interview :eek:

nesf

tywy wrote:

it wasn't a CV, it was one of these online personality tests, they called it a competition. I wish they'd send out an email and let people know what's going on.

Ah right. I always found those things amusing.

Gauge

Got my interview for the CSO today. After reading this thread I'm kind of surprised because I only have retail experience and not doing anything clerical-related in college. Anyone know what the interviews are like?

Madge

J.S. Pill wrote:

Well the first point shouldn't come into the euqation at all as its only a 3 month contract. Also, the civil service do hire graduates for CO posts. A lot of graduates (me included) would kill to get such a position as it offers great opportunities to climb the ladder as it opens up doors to internal only vacancies.
Was this said to you regarding a CO post?

No it was for a different thing altogether.

J.S. Pill wrote:

I got rejected for the same job in Dublin this time last year. My housemate and I both applied for the job. We have very very similar qualifications, the only difference is that I had a lot more office experience*. He got the job, I didn't. He spent the summer sitting on his arse doing nothing, I didn't.

*And he was, I hate to admit, slightly more handsome than me.

Lol, though are you being sarcastic?

Madge

Gauge wrote:

Anyone know what the interviews are like?

Would like to know myself. It says on my letter to have 2 examples of

1. Work Organisation & Planning
2. Teamwork
3. Customer Focus

It says they will assess communication & information skills at the actual interview

J.S. Pill

Madge wrote:

Lol, though are you being sarcastic?

About my housemate sitting on his arse all day while he was 'working' for the CSO? No.

About him being more handsome than me? Well, its a matter of opinion really.

ellscurr wrote:

Did you try for the Revenue too?

yes indeed - lets hope I fare a bit better

nesf wrote:

What are your qualifications in though, if they got a bunch of CVs from people with strong maths/admin backgrounds they might be picky.

Maths ability shouldn't be in the least bit relevant. They're hiring you to do clerical work, all the technical stuff is left to the professionals.


Having read all the above posts I think its safe to conclude that they don't rank people based on skills/experience. There are 2 possible explanations for this:

1: Whoever was in charge of sorting out the applications is lazy as f**k and just pulled out a random selection af applications

2: Temp civil service positions also function as a kind of public works scheme. Now bare with me on this one. I've noticed from the above posts and from my own experience that a lot of people with no office experience at all manage to land these jobs (I personally know of my housemate and my friends sister). Could it be that the government is using the civil service to give these youngsters some office experience while getting some work out of them at the same time? killing 2 birds with the one stone?.

When i was a lad I worked for 3 summers for Wexford Co. Council in their summer employment scheme. basically undergraduates got to work for a local government department for 6-8 weeks during the summer. It was a bit of a joke really, I worked for the Library one year and we got through a lot of backlogged work but when I was working for the Fire office they had 3 students and not a scrap of work to do! This was nothing more than a public works scheme - I wasn't complaining though, kept me on the beer for 3 summers!

pow wow

My CSO letter has my candidate number in the high 200s so I am guessing competition will be pretty stiff lol.

Also, does anyone know th extent of the 'optional' Irish language test? It says we will talk about every day topics in conversation...I only have junior cert Irish and that was almost 10 years ago! Apparently if you pass it adds 6% on to your interview 'grade'.

universe777

universe777 wrote:

I did the test the same day too, still haven't heard anything..
thats Civil Service laziness for you!!

I received a letter from the today, telling me that I will be called for an interview sometime in the coming months... my number is 404 i think..
the coming months ffs, I'm out of work, well able to work, with a college education, and they take their merry time hiring people.. I've never come across a shower of lazy sh!tes as the CS are, before!

m*pp*t

Interview tomorrow for the CSO temporary job. Getting bit nervous now, cause if thie falls through I've nothing else done for a summer job. D'oh!
How've people been getting on so far?

pow wow

I have mine with the CSO next week. Let me know how you get on!

tywy

Are you guys all in Dublin? Should I assume that I haven't gotten an interview if I haven't gotten a letter at all?

pow wow

My interview is with Cork CSO.

Gauge

m*pp*t wrote:

Interview tomorrow for the CSO temporary job. Getting bit nervous now, cause if thie falls through I've nothing else done for a summer job. D'oh!
How've people been getting on so far?

Best of luck, let us know how it goes!

m*pp*t

It was very HR-y, I thought. Just a normal competency based, exacylt following the application form type thing, but I dunno how I got on really. Didn't really warm to the people interviewing, and that might have been mutual. I dunno.

pow wow

Did they say how soon you'd know?

cashback

universe777 wrote:

I received a letter from the today, telling me that I will be called for an interview sometime in the coming months... my number is 404 i think..
the coming months ffs, I'm out of work, well able to work, with a college education, and they take their merry time hiring people.. I've never come across a shower of lazy sh!tes as the CS are, before!

Sounds like you're in the same boat as me. I'm number five hundred and something and I can't help thinking that's not good.
It's just the delays that piss me off. Exam in mid-March and still don't feel much further along the line.

lady_j

I had no 606 or something last year, and someone rang me for a phone interview end of july . By then I already had a job but I found it (and told them) a bit ridiculous that (a) they were ringing me last week in July for a job which would end start of sept (b) that they were ringing in the hope that somebody hadnt got off their ar-se to get a job elsewhere all summer. Perhaps you do need to be lazy.

Gauge

Had my interview today with the CSO. Quite formal, they asked a lot of questions about 'what would you do if...' and stuff.

pow wow

I had mine yesterday too! Went alright I suppose...

m*pp*t

ellscurr wrote:

I had mine yesterday too! Went alright I suppose...

Sorry ellscurr, I know you asked me this and I forgot to reply, but did they say anything about getting back to people?

pow wow

Yeah they said they'd let me know either way by the end of the month. 3 whole weeks for them to trawl through the bag of applicants I expect. They hadn't even read my application form when I went in.

Gauge

They hadn't? Wow. I couldn't tell if they read mine or not... I was first in that morning I think. I'd been worrying for 2 weeks because I'd forgotten to photocopy my form and couldn't remember what I'd put on it. Then they gave me a photocopy when I went in...

J.S. Pill

ellscurr wrote:

They hadn't even read my application form when I went in.

Top class!

pow wow

I took a copy with me but they gave me one anyway. And then they're all "so you're a student at XXX" and I'm like "erm no I go to YYY". That was just the start. Oh well.

Enda89

Civil Service sent me a rejection letter last week. Was kinda pissed as I'd been hoping for the job for months now and they left it fairly late in getting back to me!

Rang up the revenue this morning, told me all the accepted applicants had already been informed and that if I didn't hear back yet I had gotton rejected. :mad:

tywy

My dad works in Revenue, he said that he was told yesterday that they'd sent out the first batch of acceptance letters and these were to people who'd worked there before and there's another batch going out this week. There were 11,000 applicants for Revenue.

pow wow

I have the Revenue interview next week....I'll keep you posted!