Considering a career.

Tells

Hi all,

For the past two or three years i have been considering a career with the AGS, but there are a few things niggling at the back of my mind, i.e I didn't do too well in the Leaving cert but have since gone on to complete a two year national diploma in outdoor education and currently work with Catholic Youth Care. So basically i'm bringing challenged youths out to discover new adventure sports like kayaking, rockclimbing, caving and hill walking etc.. This has been very rewarding but at the same time i'd like to push forward and challenge myself further. Does having a national diploma (distinction) make up for not having a great leaving cert? I'm 25 now and don't want to waste much more time going through life with no real direction.
Thank you in advance for any replies or thoughts you may have.

Cheers.

TheNog

As long as you have passed English and one other language and maths you should be okay for the requirement to apply. Bare in mind I have heard that intake sizes have been reduced from 280 to 50 students so it will be harder to be successful.

delly

Back in the day I did really crap in my leaving and failed honours maths. Despite the fact that I could have easily done well in pass level maths the fact that I had failed was set in stone so I couldn't apply that year. I resat maths only the following year and got a B, so I was then able to apply as normal. From what I understood, the leaving requirements are quite low, but if you don't meet these levels then you can't apply regardless of any other qualifications.

Tells

I got a D1 in foundation level maths so that will have to be sorted out! The rest of the grades seem to be sufficient enough. Cheers Delly.

Question for TheNog: Do you reckon they flick through applicants and take the ones who did better than those even with the requirements in the LC?

Cheers.

jt123456

The qualifications are posted on publicjobs.ie and honestly are not that strict as they just require to pass the leaving cert which is essentially pass 5 subjects ot ordinary level or higher including english, irish and maths. This is the basic requirements for any college course in the country.

Col_Loki

Bare in mind I have heard that intake sizes have been reduced from 280 to 50 students so it will be harder to be successful.

Wow that is quite the Reduction in numbers. Do you know if this depends on the Budget? How accurate do you reckon the number 50 is?

It looks like its going to be very tough to get in now......

TheNog

Tells wrote: »

I got a D1 in foundation level maths so that will have to be sorted out! The rest of the grades seem to be sufficient enough. Cheers Delly.

Question for TheNog: Do you reckon they flick through applicants and take the ones who did better than those even with the requirements in the LC?

Cheers.

A D1 in foundation maths might be good enough. You should call Public jobs centre in Dublin and find out before re sitting the exam again or call HRM in the Depot.

I think how well you did in the LC may be considered but tbh if you are a person with some life experience like I did when I joined that will stand to ye more so. Of course the aptitude test, report writing and interview will all play a part in it too.

Col_Loki wrote: »

Wow that is quite the Reduction in numbers. Do you know if this depends on the Budget? How accurate do you reckon the number 50 is?

It looks like its going to be very tough to get in now......

It was reported recently that we were almost to the 15,000 members (and students in the pipeline) so all the AGS will need in future is to replace those retiring. It was good timing too with the way the economy is going cos I'd reckon recruitment would have been one of the first to get the chop or severe reduction anyway.

So it will be back to the way it was in the 1980's with the major recession then and 14-15,000 people applying for the 160 or so positions each year whereas when I applied 2 yrs ago there was just under 10,000 applying for 1,000 annually. 2 yrs ago a job in the guards was considered low pay but now or at least very soon it will be seen as a very secure job.

Col_Loki

It was reported recently that we were almost to the 15,000 members (and students in the pipeline) so all the AGS will need in future is to replace those retiring. It was good timing too with the way the economy is going cos I'd reckon recruitment would have been one of the first to get the chop or severe reduction anyway.

So it will be back to the way it was in the 1980's with the major recession then and 14-15,000 people applying for the 160 or so positions each year whereas when I applied 2 yrs ago there was just under 10,000 applying for 1,000 annually. 2 yrs ago a job in the guards was considered low pay but now or at least very soon it will be seen as a very secure job.

Ahh lovely, so its went from 10% to 1% .... what timing!!

Cheers for the info & all previous posts, been a great help & wealth of info.

DUBLINHITMAN

looking to sign up for the AGS . ive been working in the same company for 9 years my job is safe at the moment but ive decided to take volentary redundancy so i can try and be what i always wanted to be ,
i,m not one for forums so forgive me if ive broken rules .
so far i have my leaving cert a driving licence no criminal record ive signed up on public jobs .ie , so whats next is it a waiting game now or is there anyway to apply to the college directly..
ps im 29 years of age i applied for the AGS about twelve years ago with no info on apptitude tests or knowledge of what the job was about i was just imature at the time ,
but now im leaving my job and im going to get studing for these tests any help would be great iv applied for kilroys home course ,
im 6ft2
and iv,e been going to the gym for the last 6 months thats when i decided i wanted to become gardai. i was 94kilo,s yeah fat and big i was a mess ive got down to 79kilo,s and have 5%body fat . so im very fit for my age just have to get heavier now with muscle lol...
thats my story anyway once again any help would be great just need to know what time of year they recruite. thaks again

metman

so whats next is it a waiting game now or is there anyway to apply to the college directly..

Its a waiting game. You can sign up for job alerts on publicjobs.ie and the site will email you when AGS recruit next.

but now im leaving my job and im going to get studing for these tests any help would be great iv applied for kilroys home course ,
im 6ft2 and iv,e been going to the gym for the last 6 months thats when i decided i wanted to become gardai. i was 94kilo,s yeah fat and big i was a mess ive got down to 79kilo,s and have 5%body fat . so im very fit for my age just have to get heavier now with muscle lol...

Good effort mate, keep up the hard work. The study course will help, and make sure once you get the hang of the aptitude tests you do lots of practice. Keep up the fitness stuff too. You'll find loads of useful info on boards and people in the same boat as yourself. Good luck!

DUBLINHITMAN

metman wrote: »

Its a waiting game. You can sign up for job alerts on publicjobs.ie and the site will email you when AGS recruit next.



Good effort mate, keep up the hard work. The study course will help, and make sure once you get the hang of the aptitude tests you do lots of practice. Keep up the fitness stuff too. You'll find loads of useful info on boards and people in the same boat as yourself. Good luck!

thanks for the support mate
most people think i,m mad leaving my job except family and friends and the only reson iv,e left it un,till now is because they were the same people that told me to hang on for redundancy,SO alls good, the morgage is ok for now lol is kilroys colege the best course or is there other ones . and is it possible that they could be recruiting early 2009 or does it change every year

The Skipper

They have a good deal of numbers to fill up the next couple of intakes. No one knows for sure but the ways things are going, I reckon second part of 2009 around September. Remain in there and great to hear your determination and keep it up.