Civil Service - is leaving cert essential?

pow wow

Once I finish my BA I am looking at a couple of roles in the Civil Service that state you need a degree and leaving cert Maths & Irish. I left secondary school without my Leaving Cert and went to uni as a mature student.

Does anyone know if the Leaving Cert is absolutely essential or if they'd consider 'non traditional' candidates like myself? The role I am interested in doesn't have any immediately obvious requirement for Irish and my maths is better than most but I have no exams to prove that!

Kimbot

Sometimes they do competitions based on Junior Cert, Thats how I got into the civil service.

Check ouy www.publicjobs.ie and maybe give them a ring and ask them about it.

druss

ellscurr wrote:

Once I finish my BA I am looking at a couple of roles in the Civil Service that state you need a degree and leaving cert Maths & Irish. I left secondary school without my Leaving Cert and went to uni as a mature student.

Are you sure about that? What type of grade are you talking about?
I'm an EO at the moment and, at that grade, the degree will cancel out the leaving cert. At HEO level, Junior Diplomat and AO level, only degrees are mentioned.


This is the EO example.
====================================================

"Candidates must on or before

---

(A) (i) have obtained a recognised degree or hold a qualification which would be acceptable to the Public Appointments Service as being of at least an equivalent standard;

OR
(ii) have obtained a pass or a minimum of Grade D in Mathematics and Irish or English in the Leaving Certificate Examination of the Department of Education and Science, having obtained at least an honour or Grade C in Higher, Common or Honours Level papers in at least five subjects in the examination, or have passed in an examination (or examinations) which would be acceptable to the Public Appointments Service as being of at least an equivalent standard;

OR
(iii) have obtained at least a Grade D in Mathematics and either Irish or English in the Leaving Certificate Examination of the Department of Education and Science or in an examination acceptable to the Public Appointments Service as being of at least an equivalent standard;
and
have passed the first year examination of a course leading to a recognised degree; "

==========================

pow wow

The Third Secretary role (though I don't think these come up all that often). They don't seem to be related to the CO/EO/HEO scale and I was unsure about the Leaving Cert. requirement.

Thanks a mill for clearing that up!

druss

ellscurr wrote:

The Third Secretary role (though I don't think these come up all that often). They don't seem to be related to the CO/EO/HEO scale and I was unsure about the Leaving Cert. requirement.

Thanks a mill for clearing that up!

First the bad news...That competition probably won't be round again until mid-2009.

Third secretary is actually the same scale as AO/HEO. It's identical to AO salary, but with a living abroad allowance.:D

In terms of qualifications, you need to be an Irish citizen "with a recognised first or second class honours degree, or hold a qualification which would be acceptable to the Public Appointments Service as being of at least an equivalent standard or have qualified as a Solicitor or as a Barrister. (A qualification as a Solicitor or Barrister will be accepted under this paragraph provided the standard reached in the final examination is sufficiently high)."

No Leaving cert! The general info and requirements are here.

I recently applied for this one and the AO one. BTW from a previous thread, i think you're currently in the same office as me.:eek:

pow wow

lol say no more!!

vector

a friend has a BA in economics and sociology, applied for a "clerical officer" in teagasc, but was rejected because the tickbox job specifications stated a c or higher in maths in any level (she got a D in higher level, lol she should have done ordinar and gotten a c)