Civil Service interview - Administrative Officer

ParkRunner

Hi all,

Just wondering has anyone done an AO interview recently? I have one next week and would very much appreciate any tips! The interview consists of firstly a 15 minute presentation on some change management issue and then a normal interview based on the ususal competencies.

Cheers

Clairecluck

em.....just be really really clear on your competeny examples, know them inside out. The have 2 more examples of each competency that you can draw on if they ask you for different examples. Sound as enthusiastic as poss without going over board and listen carefully to the questions they ask you outside of the competencies, they are ususally looking for key responses like for example, expressing a passion in some part of your work....be fully prepared and you can't go wrong

ChuckProphet

EF wrote: »

Hi all,

Just wondering has anyone done an AO interview recently? I have one next week and would very much appreciate any tips! The interview consists of firstly a 15 minute presentation on some change management issue and then a normal interview based on the ususal competencies.

Cheers

Is it AO admin or AO IT or what?

ParkRunner

It is an open AO competition, anywhere in the civil service really. It wasnt specified if it would be in IT, accountancy, law etc..

Josey Wales

The presentation portion of the AO interview process for an Internal Competition is slightly different. It is 10 minutes on a prepared subject. The applicant knows the topic before going in. There are no electronic aids allowed, i.e. Powerpoint

You can have cards though to remind yourself of what to say. I was wondering is it best to memorise everything or be reading from a script?

aguaclara

what are the usual civil service competencies? i heard somewhere there were 17 but can't find out what they are!

Aglomerado

You are right, there are 17 competencies.

More about them in this link:

aguaclara

thanks aglomerado.

jeepers, that's a lot of examples to prepare...i'll be mining my mental archives for a while.

deepriver

EF wrote: »

Hi all,

Just wondering has anyone done an AO interview recently? I have one next week and would very much appreciate any tips! The interview consists of firstly a 15 minute presentation on some change management issue and then a normal interview based on the ususal competencies.

Cheers

thats a tough interview process... did they advertise those positions or how do you go about applying?

I though there would be a freeze on recruitment in light of economic conditions

aguaclara

they advertise the jobs on www.publicjobs.ie, under various categories. you can register your details and sign up for alerts when jobs in a certain category are posted. if you apply, you then (usually) have to sit a sort of aptitude test, and depending on how well you score - compared to the trillions of other people taking it - you then get called to interview. it moves slowly; i have an interview in a few weeks and i sat the exam last june.

i don't think there's a job freeze, but there seems to be a huge reduction. i haven't seen any jobs advertised on the website in the last few months, but if you're interested, sign up anyway so you know.

Clare100

Im a little bit late in asking this, as my interview is on Monday - argh, so nervous! but does anyone have any advice on the final stage of the interview - it says on the IPQ that you will be presented with a service-wide strategic/change management issue to discuss. Any ideas what kind of questions these could be? This is the area Im most worried about as it was what really threw me in the Jnr Diplomat interview. (awful exerience!)

aguaclara

i'm not sure what the questions will be like - you probably have a better idea, having done the junior diplomat interview - but i've heard from a couple of sources that the main thing is that you stick to your decision, can back it up with reasoning, and have also considered the other point of view so that you can answer questions as to why you didn't choose that option. i don't think there's one main right answer. also i've heard confidence is very important. dunno if that helps you at all? good luck tomorrow!

katiekins

Anyone been placed from this panel yet?