Clerical Officer Interview

Mimojo

I have a Grade III / Grade IV Clerical Officer interview coming up soon, can anyone shed some light as to what I can expect from this interview? What kind of questions should I expect to be asked? Anyone with any experience I would greatly appreciated your advice!

Not even sure what the post will entail, and if it is a contract position or if they are only forming a panel for the moment, but going to go for it anyhow, see how it goes!

Thanks

moonshinerocks

Hi. I went for a grade 3 clerical officer interview and got to the top of the panel.
They will probably start by asking you to talk about your previous roles. You need to talk about when you have used Word and Excel. They want to know if you can work well on a team but also that you are able to use your own initiative so you need to give examples of both. They will probably ask about difficult situations that you have been in, times when you thought you could have done things better, etc. The key is being able to talk about your own experience and link it to the job requirements. There were three people on the interview panel in my case. The length depends on whether it is for a permanent or temporary role, my guess is temp due to the public sector moratorium. Oh, and if you have been to college they might want to talk to you about that. They asked me about my MA thesis which I hadn't really thought about in 5 years
Hope that helps a little!

Mimojo

moonshinerocks wrote: »

Hi. I went for a grade 3 clerical officer interview and got to the top of the panel.
They will probably start by asking you to talk about your previous roles. You need to talk about when you have used Word and Excel. They want to know if you can work well on a team but also that you are able to use your own initiative so you need to give examples of both. They will probably ask about difficult situations that you have been in, times when you thought you could have done things better, etc. The key is being able to talk about your own experience and link it to the job requirements. There were three people on the interview panel in my case. The length depends on whether it is for a permanent or temporary role, my guess is temp due to the public sector moratorium. Oh, and if you have been to college they might want to talk to you about that. They asked me about my MA thesis which I hadn't really thought about in 5 years
Hope that helps a little!

Thanks a mill for the advice - def a big help! I have my application form which I wrote a lot on, so going to go over it and refer everything back to why it is relevant to the job. Better brush up on my MSc Thesis too, haven't though about it in about 4 years!

Ya it contract positions grade III and IV I am going for.

Out of interest did you take up that clerical position? How did/are you finding it?

Ronald Sherrif

I was a clerical officer years ago. Greatest load of nonsense ever. Keep telling you they want you to have initiative and as soon as you do anything they jump up and down telling you that you have no permission to do it. Idiot bosses whose idea of management is counting flexi time infringements. If you can survive it and are lucky the pension is the best there is at the moment. I know people who left years ago who now find after nearly 40 years in a profession that they have less of a pension than they would had they stayed in the civil service!

Mimojo

Ronald Sherrif wrote: »

I was a clerical officer years ago. Greatest load of nonsense ever. Keep telling you they want you to have initiative and as soon as you do anything they jump up and down telling you that you have no permission to do it. Idiot bosses whose idea of management is counting flexi time infringements. If you can survive it and are lucky the pension is the best there is at the moment. I know people who left years ago who now find after nearly 40 years in a profession that they have less of a pension than they would had they stayed in the civil service!

I’ve worked in clerical positions myself previously, they were all short contracts while I was in school/college. Always found it a strange environment alright, it was too easy to tread on others toes, and those who had been there for years were set in their ways and didn’t want any suggestions as to how something could be done better. Also people who stuck it out were in higher positions, sometimes I felt unjustifiably and some were not what I would call efficient at their jobs.

However at the moment it is a good place to work, with good perks (flexi time etc) and a great pension scheme. For me beggars can’t be choosers so going to give it my best shot.

Thanks for the advice, it is appreciated.