Temp Clerical Officers in Civil Service

oisim

Hi, Can anyone help me please...

I have a interview in Dublin for the Tempory Clerical Officer Position in the General Regions.

Can anyone tell me what they may ask in the interview???

as i am very nervous,

Thank you

donalg1

Do you know what sector the position is in? you will be asked general questions about the organisation as a whole so find out as much info as you can about the Civil Service, the sector the job is in will be key tho!!! Unless of course there are a number of positions available.

oisim

Thank you for the reply, i will get as much information on the civil service.

Not sure what section tho! They never said, do you know how i can find out??

Thanks again

mw3guc

Mimojo wrote: »

Im in Kildare area and got email inviting me for interview in Dublin on Wednesday. I also interviewed last year in Dublin.

I thought that last year there were plenty of local interviews held, and only the surrounding areas of Dublin were called for interview there.

It seems crazy that those from Donegal would have to attend for early interviews in Dublin??

Well, it's a cheap (in every sense of the word) way of shortlisting candidates even further, that's for sure.
I can understand satellite counties of Dublin being interviewed there - transport options and costs would be minimal, as opposed to the almost non-existant public transport system in Donegal. My niece would have to travel 10 miles by taxi or lift (no bus) just to get to the bus stop for the 4 hour trip to Dublin, pay to stay overnight and do the same the following day after the interview. All for the slim possibility of a 13 week relatively low paid job!
That is a cynical abuse of the unemployed in a very disadvantaged county IMO. And to crown it all, it appears that other counties were facilitated with more local interviews. Time for a formal complaint maybe ...

donalg1

oisim wrote: »

Thank you for the reply, i will get as much information on the civil service.

Not sure what section tho! They never said, do you know how i can find out??

Thanks again

No i dont think there is any way of finding that out if its not stated on any correspondence, the building the interview is in should give you a clue, i assume its the Civil Service and not Local Government or do you know. All aspects of the Civil Service will have their own websites where you could pull a lot of info from

oisim

The interview is being held in

The Public Appointments Service
Chapter House
26-30 Abbey Stree Upper
Dublin 1

Still not sure what the position maybe??!!

Thanks for your reply i will start getting all my info together now!!

donalg1

I wouldnt be too worried about having an extensive knowledge of the civil service just a background, if they didnt advertise the position as being in one particular section they wouldnt expect you to know everything about the civil service,

Good Luck anyway, and remember interviewers always want applicants to do well and will try make it as easy as possible for you, so just remember to relax and you should be fine

Orlagh123

oisim wrote: »

Hi, Can anyone help me please...

I have a interview in Dublin for the Tempory Clerical Officer Position in the General Regions.

Do you mind me asking what region you're being interviewed for?!

Sometimes, if you ring them they might be able to give you a later time. But I suppose it depends whether they've a full day of interviews or not. I was interviewed in Dublin last year for the Mayo region, but luckily it was on in the middle of the day so I could get the bus in the morning. And I know there were others there interviewing for the Limerick aswell, because sometimes they out a load of them on together!

reverseswing

Got the job today, start at the end of June!

Cheers everyone for the help and hope you all get sorted!

paraguay99

got the job today also start end of june, dublin region

pow wow

mw3guc wrote: »

No changes will be permitted - despite an explanation of the distance and timing

In some instances they will, I know of two personally where the times were changed to accommodate people traveling from very far away. They can't be flexible in many cases but there's no harm in other people asking as it can sometimes be done. Both were people traveling from the south-west coast if that helps.

pow wow

donalg1 wrote: »

you will be asked general questions about the organisation as a whole so find out as much info as you can about the Civil Service, the sector the job is in will be key tho!!! Unless of course there are a number of positions available.

Really? They didn't ask me or my friends anything about what we knew about the civil service If you look at the back of the application form there are three categories of skills listed with a paragraph listing out the necessaries about each one. The interview is competency based (as opposed to 'talk us through your CV' type interviews) so there are questions relevant to each of the 3 core competencies - along the lines of 'give us an example of when you....'.

Mrs OBumble

mw3guc wrote: »

My niece would have to travel 10 miles by taxi or lift (no bus) just to get to the bus stop .... All for the slim possibility of a 13 week relatively low paid job!

I'm guessing that she'd face at least the first part of that journey to get to any location where she might possibly be offered a job. Are you certain that she didn't tick Dublin on the application by mistake?

And TBH, it's not that low paid. Well above the minimum wage. And usually with fantastic t&c's (flexi-time etc).

Of course if she has a better job offer from a private sector employer in the area, she should feel free to take it. (And that applies once she's started work too, there's no rule that says she has to stay the whole 13 weeks if she gets the job.)

reverseswing

JustMary wrote: »

I'm guessing that she'd face at least the first part of that journey to get to any location where she might possibly be offered a job. Are you certain that she didn't tick Dublin on the application by mistake?

And TBH, it's not that low paid. Well above the minimum wage. And usually with fantastic t&c's (flexi-time etc).

Of course if she has a better job offer from a private sector employer in the area, she should feel free to take it. (And that applies once she's started work too, there's no rule that says she has to stay the whole 13 weeks if she gets the job.)

What is the story with holidays for these jobs? Do you think they would give me a week off around late July? Got a 10 week contract starting 27th june

Mrs OBumble

reverseswing wrote: »

What is the story with holidays for these jobs? Do you think they would give me a week off around late July? Got a 10 week contract starting 27th june

You get an annual leave entitlement. Mine last year was, I think, 9 days for working 13 weeks.

As with all leave, you need your manager's approval to take it. But if you ask early (though not on the first day!!! and ideally not the first wek) you'd probably be ok - it all depends on what plans other employees have.

mw3guc

JustMary wrote: »

Are you certain that she didn't tick Dublin on the application by mistake?

No, Donegal only - they acknowledged this by email when she was told no changes allowed.

JustMary wrote: »

And TBH, it's not that low paid. Well above the minimum wage. And usually with fantastic t&c's (flexi-time etc).

Her problem was not with the job itself, it was the fact that it involved an 8 hour round trip over 2 days and the expense of an overnight stay to get to the interview with, understandably, no guarantees.
You might expect this kind of gamble for a permanent job or a long-term contract maybe, but not for a 13 week post IMO. The outlay in money terms would be more than half a week's dole, with accommodation, eating out and travel expenses!

However, she sent a second email earlier today and has now managed to obtain a rescheduling for an afternoon interview - so persistance paid off in the end , although she will still be in for a long exhausting commute and the not inconsiderable expense of the journey. I hope the odds are good for her - she deserves it.

newballsplease

oisim wrote: »

Hi, Can anyone help me please...

I have a interview in Dublin for the Tempory Clerical Officer Position in the General Regions.

Can anyone tell me what they may ask in the interview???

as i am very nervous,

Thank you

They will ask you for details in how you are organised??
Also repetitive work... Teamwork... Try and have specific examples.

Monife

JustMary wrote: »

You get an annual leave entitlement. Mine last year was, I think, 9 days for working 13 weeks.

As with all leave, you need your manager's approval to take it. But if you ask early (though not on the first day!!! and ideally not the first wek) you'd probably be ok - it all depends on what plans other employees have.

You should (by law) get 1.5 (minimum) days per every month you work.

pow wow

You should get between 4 and 5 days annual leave for a 10 week contract (based on a standard 20 days annually). You should be able to bump this up with flexi days etc. so assuming they can spare you for the week you're entitled to it. The department I interviewed for don't allow any holiday periods over 2 days for the temporary staff, as in you couldn't take more than 2 days together at a time because the whole point of having the temporary staff is to cover a busy period in the office.

She Devil

Hmm, I got called for an interview to, but I am getting married in July and am going on honeymoon afterwards, I doubt, they will favour me for my two weeks off!
Was going to lie and say No I don't have holidays planned, but sure hey, no point in getting called and then getting sacked from it cos of hols

brokenhinge

Just got called and offered a 13 week post in Dublin, was worried about when/if I would!

Delighted-very handy, accepted immediately..

Fince

pow wow wrote: »

You should get between 4 and 5 days annual leave for a 10 week contract (based on a standard 20 days annually). You should be able to bump this up with flexi days etc. so assuming they can spare you for the week you're entitled to it. The department I interviewed for don't allow any holiday periods over 2 days for the temporary staff, as in you couldn't take more than 2 days together at a time because the whole point of having the temporary staff is to cover a busy period in the office.

I was a TCO last year and one of the other TCO's was able to take a week off, using 3 or 4 days of holiday leave and making up the difference with flexi time. He might have had to take an unpaid day as well.

Just depends on the manager in the particular office you're in.

Fince

oisim wrote: »

Hi, Can anyone help me please...

I have a interview in Dublin for the Tempory Clerical Officer Position in the General Regions.

Can anyone tell me what they may ask in the interview???

as i am very nervous,

Thank you

As newballsplease said, they'll focus mainly on the 3 areas outlined on the application form.

They talk through your education and employment details briefly first, picking up on any points they find interesting or want clarification on.

When they're finished with that they will take about the three areas, Personal Organisation, People Skills and Commitment and Flexibility. They'll ask you for very specific examples. What I did was prepared two examples for each of the three points (how I had experience of these things in previous jobs and roles) and made sure I talked about them. This was a huge help as it can be hard to think of examples when your under pressure if you haven't thought about it beforehand.

If you have anything out of the ordinary on your application they're likely to ask about it (probably to break up the monotony for themselves).
For example, I've done some refereeing, and they asked me for a particular example when i had to deal with an irate player/coach.

They have to conduct all the interviews in a similar manner in the name of transparency so I'd be confident this would be the basic outline of everyone's interview.

Best of luck with it.

Fince

donalg1 wrote: »

No i dont think there is any way of finding that out if its not stated on any correspondence, the building the interview is in should give you a clue, i assume its the Civil Service and not Local Government or do you know. All aspects of the Civil Service will have their own websites where you could pull a lot of info from

The building the interview is in isn't an indication of the job. I was interviewed in Revenue office last year, the job was in the Passport office.

Fince

Has anyone been interviewed and not got an email saying they were successful at interview? or not gotten one at all? I had my interview 2 weeks ago today and haven't heard anything back.

for people who got emails saying they were successful, how long after the interview was it?

V480

In case any former TCO's are wondering why they didn't get selected this time around, apparently it was sort of an unofficial policy this year that they would only pick people who have never worked in the Civil Service.

donalg1

Fince wrote: »

The building the interview is in isn't an indication of the job. I was interviewed in Revenue office last year, the job was in the Passport office.

Well maybe its permanent positions that interviews are held in the relevant building once you are there on a temporary position

Fince

V480 wrote: »

In case any former TCO's are wondering why they didn't get selected this time around, apparently it was sort of an unofficial policy this year that they would only pick people who have never worked in the Civil Service.

Is that definite? And in all regions?

Monife

V480 wrote: »

In case any former TCO's are wondering why they didn't get selected this time around, apparently it was sort of an unofficial policy this year that they would only pick people who have never worked in the Civil Service.

Where did you hear that? Don't think it is true, a girl I work with worked as a TCO in social welfare and left there a couple weeks before her contract was to end to take up the job here as a TCO in the CSO in Swords.

sjms

I am feeling a bit weary now! I had my interview two weeks ago now... I was successful at interview but i have heard nothing? I'm presuming that they do it in dribs and drabs?! Would love to hear back soon! anybody else in the same boat?