Crime and Policing Analyst

BillyoftheBeast

Its a civilian role so not sure if its emergency services...

Anybody every apply for this before or perhaps work as an analyst with the Gardai.
What would be adequate experience?
Any ideas on how many positions are goiing or how competitive its going to be.

sunnyjim

PhD in what?

BillyoftheBeast

,

charlies^angel

Haven't read through the docs about the job but I know someone who's going for this and has a communications degree and several years experience analyising data, although not in this capacity. From what I can gather, it's the experience analysing data that counts, apart from the aptitude tests etc. Whats ur phd in?

bo-sco

Hi
I've applied for this job too. I did fairly well in the aptitude tests so expect to be interviewed next month. Any insights that anyone could provide in to what they're looking for would be appreciated

Garda_boss

Did you finish in the top 30 as they're the only ones who will get an interview initially. Its a crazy system as there are 28 places. They don't even know what qualificaions or experience people have at this stage.

Its a terrible way to run a recruitment competition and it reflects badly on the public service.

bo-sco

Thnaks for your reply. Yeah, I did. Do you know if they are looking for experience of statistical analysis or more on the data mining side of things? How important is experience etc?

deise2dbone

Does anyone know how many people went for this?

I thought I did really well in the aptitude test and was really disappointed with my merit placement.

Garda_boss

Do you know if they are looking for experience of statistical analysis or more on the data mining side of things? How important is experience etc?

I would say they are open enough to a wide range of experience going by the information booklet. Its a brand new division so its hard to know what they are looking for exactly.

Does anyone know how many people went for this?

I rang up and was told there was a lot of interest. I would guess 200-400 people went for it but I could be wrong.

I placed 30-40 in the aptitude tests so I'm a bit pissed off. Aptitude tests are important but I'll be seriously pissed off if I never get a chance to show my experience and skills at an interview.

deise2dbone

I would say you will definitely get called, I went for a Statistician role 2 years ago, I was placed 100 on the merit list after the aptitude test and they were only calling 60 candidates initially, however a couple of months later I got called....that was gap a of 40 you will definitely get a call, 30 people for 28 jobs, the likelihood of all of those being acceptable is low.....

Garda_boss

deise2dbone wrote: »

I would say you will definitely get called, I went for a Statistician role 2 years ago, I was placed 100 on the merit list after the aptitude test and they were only calling 60 candidates initially, however a couple of months later I got called....that was gap a of 40 you will definitely get a call, 30 people for 28 jobs, the likelihood of all of those being acceptable is low.....

Thats true. I just don't like people ahead getting a first shot at a job when in reality they might have only got 1 or 2 questions more than me in the verbal reasoning test.

I will keep you updated as things progress.

Analyst_Alert

Hi All,

I came in the top 30 and expect to be called for interview next month. I can see your point of view on the aptitude test results. I have worked in the Civil Service for a few years and I am used to these tests. It is Civil Service Policy to use impartial tests to avoid possible prejudice, eg towards existing members of An Garda Siochana. I have been pretty peeved off in the past myself when I didn't get an interview for promotion posts as with most Civil Service promotions you have to be an internal candidate (only 1 in 5 comes from an external panel). So to be honest I am glad this was an open competition. As has been mentioned though I doubt they will get all the 28 from the first 30, I would expect a good few more to be called. The interview will probably be competency based, as in marks out of 50 for 5 different competencies, so although you can bring in your experience, success really depends on your answers to specific questions. This is the format of all Civil Service interviews I have done anyway.

bo-sco

Analyst_Alert, is there anywhere I can get more information on the interview format that you've outlined? I'm very keen to be selected for this role and I want to do as much preparation as I can in advance of the interview.

Analyst_Alert

bo_sco,

The application form that will be sent to us soon will probably outline a number of specific competencies that we will be marked on. The idea is to give detailed instances where you displayed these particular competencies. You are only marked on the one you are being asked about at that particular time, so if you are describing say, quantitative analysis skills, you will not gain marks in that section by including a description of your planning/organising skills or your interpersonal effectiveness. Be as detailed as possible and be ready to answer any possible questions that the interviewer is likely to throw in during your spiel. Try to bring in all your relevant experience into your various answers, including College work. A lot of HR Consultants websites will quote the STAR system for answering questions in a competency based interview ie Situation, Task, Action, Result in order to describe your skills. Some of my colleagues here in the Civil Service that are trained to sit on interview boards keep reminding me that the most important thing is to be chatty and don't give short blunt answers, elaborate on everything within reason. Give them as much reason as possible to give you marks, they can't deduct marks for saying too much...

Can I ask you which location you are interested in? They are looking for analysts for Dublin, Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, Mullingar and Sligo/Cavan. I don't know how many for each though, I assume a lot more for Dublin than other locations and I'd say there will be a training period in Dublin first too.
Is your Degree in a technical subject, like Computers or something? Anyways good luck in the interview, I might meet you on the first day of training!

bo-sco

Thank you very much AA, that's a great help. I appreciate it. I'm from Dublin so would be hoping to be based here. I have a background in IT, have a postgrad in it and have worked in that area for the past eight years or so.

Best of luck to you too and like you say, you never know!

Garda_boss

.

Aglomerado

Made it to the top 250. Maybe for general civil service grades this type of selection process works, however for such a specialised role, I think people should have been assessed on the basis of what's on their CV/ application form. I have relevant experience and I thought the exam went OK, but you never know!

DisandDat

I have made it through to interview, only one of two non Garda to progress.

From what I have heard an appointment of 14 positions will be made in May. The other 14 later in the year.

blaugranabhoy

Anybody know how much this pays...just curious...sounds interesting...might apply next time around

dubdub123

Hi - it's my first post here to boards.ie !

Does anyone have any idea how many people completed the test?

Will those that do not have relevant degress be eliminated ?

There was a comment about being the only 1 of 2 non-garda to get through to interview. What's that in relation to ?

any info on this would be appreciated !!!

bo-sco

Disanddat
Where are you getting your info from? What do you mean by 'only one of two non Garda to progress'?

dubdub123

have the interviews already started for these posts? Any idea if there's going to be many outside of Dublin (Sligo or Galway). I was thinking that maybe a lot of people would want to stick with Dublin so that maybe some of the regional roles may be easier to get . Anyone have any ideas on numbers for those? Also - I presume they'll check that candidates have an appropriate degree for this type of work. Would that occur after the interview? Seems odd if the interviews go ahead without confirming that type of info first i.e. could be a waste of time getting peole in if they don't match the qualifications.

cargrouch

Will they be holding another competition for this?

stridnaz

Hi all,

First time poster here..........

Anyone get information on their start date/location for these positions??

Phaetonman

Did you get an interview Stridnaz?

I'm still waiting to see if I will get one. This panel thing is ridiculous.

stridnaz

Hi Phaetonman,

I presume you did the psychometric tests, where did you place?

Only top 30 were initially called for interview, if they got the required numbers from this panel that will probably be it for now.

dubdub123

Has anyone been called for interview in relation to this? Any job offers made as yet - for Sligo or Galway?? Also - just wondering what sortof results people got in the numerical score for this. Not sure how this whole panel thing works really regarding locations!! Do you have to go where you're offered or can you refuse and hold out for where you want?

Esel

If it follows the normal Civil Service standard:

If you refuse a particular location, you won't be offered there again. You will still be on the list for the other locations though.

dubdub123

Grand thank - have applied for EO/ICT EO as well so wondering about that as had to specify a location for EO but not yet for ICT EO.

Has anyone had an interview for the crime analyst role? or any job offers been made yet? Anyone heard if there'll be many slots outside of Dublin?

shakin

i remeber seeing a programme about this an bbc2 a few months ago, i thought it was quite interesting. i didnt know the gardai had these i assumed it was a section of the cso.

stridnaz

dubdub123 wrote: »

Has anyone been called for interview in relation to this? Any job offers made as yet - for Sligo or Galway?? Also - just wondering what sortof results people got in the numerical score for this. Not sure how this whole panel thing works really regarding locations!! Do you have to go where you're offered or can you refuse and hold out for where you want?

dubdub123,

AFAIK all candidates were placed in their preferred locations......

el_tiddlero

i did an interview for this..
didn't get the job though, i reckon they've made all their appointments at this stage. the interview was weird. a senior garda and a woman from the PSNI interviewed me along with a public appointments official.

not sure about that only 1 or 2 non-Garda comment by disanddat earlier, i'm not a garda and i had an interview.

dubdub123 - in the numerical test i got 7 or 8 questions wrong.. i can't remember how many there was in total. Only 2 wrong in the other test. Placed 34th overall.

Phaetonman

i reckon they've made all their appointments at this stage.

They've only made half the appointments. 28 in total.

dubdub123

Thanks for the info on that - sounds like the interview is v. hard going. Did they grill people regarding different areas of data analysis, knowledge of crime or what was covered? Did people have to prepare presentations and all for this in advance? I didn't think that PSNI would be involved in i/views to be honest.
I fluffed the maths exam part of this (through nerves) - any one know any relevant books or online material that would assist in that area ? I think that there was a lot of bar charts and related questions in that test - can anyone recall if that was so?

el_tiddlero

Before the interview they send you a form that has 5 key achievement areas on it, things like research experience, planning and organising, and some other stuff. You write out examples of how you have shown you have those abilities. Then they ask you questions about it. Where i fell down was in applying my abilities to the crime/policing analyst role. They don't give you an awful lot of information on what the job entails, so i found it odd that they'd want me to speculate on how i could apply things to the job when they hadn't told me an awful lot about it. Anywho...
You also have to prepare a special topic, they supply you with this in advance, you must talk about it for 5 minutes and then you must answer questions about it..
In addition there's a presentation activity where they give you a load of information and you must analyze it and present recommendations to a board. Based on their feedback i did quite well in that part.
I also did the optional Irish test, and according to the people conducting that part i was the only one doing it that day... just shows that it doesn't count for as much as they might lead you to believe if they were willing to reject the only candidate (that day, or possibly in that round) that had proficiency in Irish.

I noticed somewhere earlier in this thread that someone suggested the training would be in Dublin, on the day i was told that training would be for 2 or 3 weeks in Templemore.

Phaetonman: How do you know that? are you involved in the recruiting process or do you know someone who is?

dubdub123

Has anyone heard about another round of interviews in relation to this ? From above, sounds like half the people have been recruited.. anyone heard of any additional rounds of interview or are these on hold? I'm wondering if they may hold on til the first group are nearly trained and might tweak that somewhat before getting another batch of people in.

dubdub123

How does the shortlisting work in relation to this ? There was minimal info in the application form - how do PAS shortlist candidates or would that be based on background checks more so?
also, did anyonw have two interviews - in the docs it indicates that there may be one round of interviews so as to decrease the total number for the interview board. In practise was this done?
Any info would be appreciated !

ammg

I got the Form for shortlisting yesterday. It has to be returned by the 30th May. Can anyone remeber the salary scale for this?

druss

ammg wrote: »

I got the Form for shortlisting yesterday. It has to be returned by the 30th May. Can anyone remeber the salary scale for this?

Same as HEO, so (assuming you're not a civil servant from pre-1995!)

€ 47,812
€ 49,263
€ 50,712
€ 52,160
€ 53,612
€ 55,061
€ 56,510
€ 58,604 (after 3 years)
€ 60,693 (after 6 years)

Actually I'm not 100% on this, but you might actually start on € 45,422 in your initial contract year...sometimes this happens. Still not bad though.

dubdub123

I got the form as well - did they email it across to you or send you a hard copy? I got it via email.
Anyone know how the job location thing works - if you select a location and are offered that but end up refusing do you get a second chance at another location selected ? Or is there just one offer made across the board?
Has the regional headquarters already moved from Sligo to Cavan? I think when it was advertised it had mentioned Sligo (though I'm not sure off hand) but Cavan is now indicated.
Will any of these positions move outside these 6 areas does anyone know?

ammg

I'm almost certain that the posts are staying in the locations mentioned. I already work in the organisation - at a lower level and have only 1 location in mind! Not sure what happens if you choose more than 1 location and get offered it.

druss

ammg wrote: »

I'm almost certain that the posts are staying in the locations mentioned. I already work in the organisation - at a lower level and have only 1 location in mind! Not sure what happens if you choose more than 1 location and get offered it.

Are there already a few Analysts working at your location? The job sounds excellent on paper...but because it's such a new role, it'd be interesting to hear any perspectives from analysts (or indeed co-workers) on how this is working out.

dubdub123

I've heard that civil servants can work up flexi-time etc so as to increase vacation leave and call also take parental leave per day (instead of 2 weeks at a time). Any idea if these type of positions will include those type of thing? I've heard some dept don't have flexi though.
Does anyone have thoughts on whether it would be difficult to transfer after the year? Say you did a year in a location but travel was too much, may it be possible to transfer to some other place, say a garda station or something like that ? Kindof putting all the carts before the horse, but just wondering what the possibilities are !
Anyone heard how the training is going for the first batch?

ammg

You normally have to wait at least 2 years and then you would probably have to get someone to swap with you. That might not be easy in some cases due to location and also its a very unusual grade within the service. I'm not sure if they will have flexi time but parental leave is always an option. You have to apply 6 weeks in advance.

dubdub123

Does anyone know if it's necessary to include inter cert results on this form under second level education? I don't have mine at hand and believe that they are in parents house from (quite a ) few years back, but won't have them by end of this week.
What would be the best thing to do - highlight that I can make them available or just leave out and provide leaving cert results?
I've phoned exmainations board but will take couple of weeks as that year has not been computerised yet..
any suggestions? short of driving for hours and ripping a house apart between now and friday

druss

dubdub123 wrote: »

Does anyone know if it's necessary to include inter cert results on this form under second level education? I don't have mine at hand and believe that they are in parents house from (quite a ) few years back, but won't have them by end of this week.
What would be the best thing to do - highlight that I can make them available or just leave out and provide leaving cert results?
I've phoned exmainations board but will take couple of weeks as that year has not been computerised yet..
any suggestions? short of driving for hours and ripping a house apart between now and friday

On previous applications, i've only put Leaving Cert and third level on the form.

dubdub123

thanks! I actually just happened to find them as I checked something else on job moves so might just stick them in though I'm sure no one will care.

dubdub123

I was wondering what people had to bring to the interview in relation to this ? I'm in the shortlisting but no idea whether I'll get to the next phase. Reason i'm asking is that there's another thread about EO/ICT EO competition and it mentioned that 2 written references from previous/current employers is required (obviously this could prove extremey difficult). Is this required for this post also?

Euro_Kraut

Just wondering if anyone knows what the regional breakdown of these jobs is? i.e. How many in Galway, Dublin, Cavan etc?

Boston99

Don't even know if they know themselves about breakdown but I did hear that Cork has just one vacancy left at the moment. However they did a round of interviews a few weeks ago so would say they have their final slot for Cork filled. Know they were asking if candidates for interview were willing to consider areas not originally selected by them at application phase.

Euro_Kraut

I see. I do believe that candidates were given the opportunity to change thier location preference at interview stage alright.

I wonder would candidate who places high but had chosen a place where there was no vacancy be passed over for a lower candidate who 'guessed right'?