Graduate jobs in the civil service (AO)

jayteecork

Anyone hear Anything About Accounting?

(pity there's no alliteration sub campaign)

BarneyJ

jayteecork wrote: »

Anyone hear Anything About Accounting?

(pity there's no alliteration sub campaign)

I phoned the PAS yesterday to enquire about the law sub campaign. I was told that accounting and law are the final two sub campaigns to be dealt with. They are waiting on confirmation from the Dept of Finance in respect of numbers (I'm not sure whether this relates to the accounting or law sub campaigns or both) and they hope to be contacting people in a few weeks time.

Who_8_Paul?

Just got final forms etc for the economist stream; there are positions available in Dept Finance, Dept Public Expenditure/Reform and Dept of An Taoiseach. Apparently they will decide in the coming weeks who is going where. By the looks of it I'd guess there will be between 20 and 30 posts which is a lot more than I thought there would be initially

noodler

Who_8_Paul? wrote: »

Just got final forms etc for the economist stream; there are positions available in Dept Finance, Dept Public Expenditure/Reform and Dept of An Taoiseach. Apparently they will decide in the coming weeks who is going where. By the looks of it I'd guess there will be between 20 and 30 posts which is a lot more than I thought there would be initially

The additional two letters on top of the two references by Friday is really short notice.

obeara

noodler wrote: »

The additional two letters on top of the two references by Friday is really short notice.

What were ye asked for? I'm waiting on the banking/finance stream

Who_8_Paul?

noodler wrote: »

Who_8_Paul? wrote: »

Just got final forms etc for the economist stream; there are positions available in Dept Finance, Dept Public Expenditure/Reform and Dept of An Taoiseach. Apparently they will decide in the coming weeks who is going where. By the looks of it I'd guess there will be between 20 and 30 posts which is a lot more than I thought there would be initially

The additional two letters on top of the two references by Friday is really short notice.

Hold on, my reading of that is you have to send in 2 letters if you were unemployed in the last while? Otherwise it's the health form, the vetting form and your birth cert followed by your current employer reference last

Who_8_Paul?

obeara wrote: »

noodler wrote: »

The additional two letters on top of the two references by Friday is really short notice.

What were ye asked for? I'm waiting on the banking/finance stream

As above, a health form, a Garda vetting form, birth cert and all by Friday!?!

noodler

Who_8_Paul? wrote: »

Hold on, my reading of that is you have to send in 2 letters if you were unemployed in the last while? Otherwise it's the health form, the vetting form and your birth cert followed by your current employer reference last

Oh wait....

Is Part 2

If you were unemployed:

then A) or ?

Rather than:


A)If you were unemployed..

Or
(presumably if you weren't unemployed) provide two letters.



Makes more sense now if it is the first one.



EDIT: Sorry, thats not clear but basically if you provided employment references then you don't have to worry about part 2?

Who_8_Paul?

noodler wrote: »

Who_8_Paul? wrote: »

Hold on, my reading of that is you have to send in 2 letters if you were unemployed in the last while? Otherwise it's the health form, the vetting form and your birth cert followed by your current employer reference last

Oh wait....

Is Part 2

If you were unemployed:

then A) or ?

Rather than:


A)If you were unemployed..

Or
(presumably if you weren't unemployed) provide two letters.



Makes more sense now if it is the first one.



EDIT: Sorry, thats not clear but basically if you provided employment references then you don't have to worry about part 2?

I sincerely hope it's the first one; having two written references back from employers and then back to them by Friday having only been told today would be nuts...

So you have already provided reference contact details? I haven't yet, think a phone call in the morning is required at this stage, all a bit conflustered

noodler

Who_8_Paul? wrote: »

I sincerely hope it's the first one; having two written references back from employers and then back to them by Friday having only been told today would be nuts...

So you have already provided reference contact details? I haven't yet, think a phone call in the morning is required at this stage, all a bit conflustered

I haven't emailed my written references just yet. Hopefully tomorrow.

I assumed it was definitely two written references from employers alright as per Number 1.

I just though it was also an additional two letters (of character presumably) on top of that but thats probably not the case.

bossdrum

Has anyone/everyone got feedback from the first stage yet?

Weren't they meant to be out at the end of April?

(I was in the accounting part)

aidom

Are they looking for references from a current employer? I wouldn't be able to get anything from mine before I handed in my notice.

Is there offer information included in their request? Anything about start dates?

My employer generally expects 2 months and that's in the usual contracts but thankfully for me someone in HR messed up and I never actually got given my permanent contract. So I never signed anything. I'd still like to give as much notice as possible.

Anyone hear anything about Banking and Finance or is it just economics that's out at the moment?

This seems relevant

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0510/finance-department-announces-reorganisation.html

anbodhran

Sorry if there is a very obvious answer to this which I'm not seeing, but are they asking for references after you've sat an interview, but before you've been offered a position?

Would be very difficult to go looking for a reference before you were even offered a job!

Pawwed Rig

bossdrum wrote: »

Has anyone/everyone got feedback from the first stage yet?

Weren't they meant to be out at the end of April?

(I was in the accounting part)

Accounting has not been released yet.

noodler

anbodhran wrote: »

Sorry if there is a very obvious answer to this which I'm not seeing, but are they asking for references after you've sat an interview, but before you've been offered a position?

Would be very difficult to go looking for a reference before you were even offered a job!

Would have said that was standard - sure what if the references all turn out negative?

You are told you are under consideration for appointment when they come asking for references as well as asking for you to sign a medical form and Garda Vetting form.

So at this stage, I would presume you are being appointed unless there is a hitch with the formalities.

laurdamay

noodler wrote: »

Would have said that was standard - sure what if the references all turn out negative?

You are told you are under consideration for appointment when they come asking for references as well as asking for you to sign a medical form and Garda Vetting form.

So at this stage, I would presume you are being appointed unless there is a hitch with the formalities.

When did you recieve the references letter requests??

Im placed on banking and finance and economics panels and I havent heard anything since being told I had been placed?

Also what I got from my interview was that you would be required to carry out econometric analysis as well as interpret academic papers. I was asked a lot about my knowledge of cointegration and how I would test for it in bond markets and what those results would mean for government. So Im guessing thats the type of work we'll be required to do.

noodler

laurdamay wrote: »

When did you recieve the references letter requests??

Im placed on banking and finance and economics panels and I havent heard anything since being told I had been placed?

Also what I got from my interview was that you would be required to carry out econometric analysis as well as interpret academic papers. I was asked a lot about my knowledge of cointegration and how I would test for it in bond markets and what those results would mean for government. So Im guessing thats the type of work we'll be required to do.

Recieved them this week. Maybe they are working their way down the panel.

Wow, quite surprised they quizzed on cointegration. Also surprised I got no technical questions like that to be honest.

EDIT: Scary!

anbodhran

noodler wrote: »

Would have said that was standard - sure what if the references all turn out negative?

You are told you are under consideration for appointment when they come asking for references as well as asking for you to sign a medical form and Garda Vetting form.

So at this stage, I would presume you are being appointed unless there is a hitch with the formalities.

In my experience I've been basically offered jobs and asked for references at the same time.

This is slightly different in that you're being placed on a panel, for jobs that mightn't appear. Or you could be waiting a considerable period of time to be offered a job. Would be awkward to be asking for a reference from your boss and still be looking at him or her a couple of months later!

noodler

anbodhran wrote: »

In my experience I've been basically offered jobs and asked for references at the same time.

This is slightly different in that you're being placed on a panel, for jobs that mightn't appear. Or you could be waiting a considerable period of time to be offered a job. Would be awkward to be asking for a reference from your boss and still be looking at him or her a couple of months later!

The references asked for at this stage were for previous employers.

Christ, I would have been stumped if they had laid a cointegration question on me at the interview.

You sure you weren't being interviewed for the Econometrics position?:P

anbodhran

noodler wrote: »

The references asked for at this stage were for previous employers.

Christ, I would have been stumped if they had laid a cointegration question on me at the interview.

You sure you weren't being interviewed for the Econometrics position?:P

No, haven't been interviewed at all yet. HR stream - totally getting ahead of myself!

noodler

anbodhran wrote: »

No, haven't been interviewed at all yet. HR stream - totally getting ahead of myself!

Sorry I meant to address the other part of my post to Laurdamay.

laurdamay wrote: »

Also what I got from my interview was that you would be required to carry out econometric analysis as well as interpret academic papers. I was asked a lot about my knowledge of cointegration and how I would test for it in bond markets and what those results would mean for government. So Im guessing thats the type of work we'll be required to do.

I kind of wish we knew more about the roles. "Familarity with Econometrics" is a little vague and I am worried they'll be expecting stata/SAS experts now who can do umpteen regressions and tests.

Lockstep

Getting fairly disheartened by the wait for the law results.
I'm gonna be out of the country in a month so I'll be unable to get back for the interviews if I get that far.

laurdamay

noodler wrote: »

The references asked for at this stage were for previous employers.

Christ, I would have been stumped if they had laid a cointegration question on me at the interview.

You sure you weren't being interviewed for the Econometrics position?:P

I had put it in my application that I had completed a lot of projects on cointegration and contagion analysis during my masters so maybe thats why they brought it up? From what I gathered in the interview you will be using some sort of software package, not sure if they use STATA (i've heard it only really used by academics) or some other package. Once you know one though you catch on to the others quick enough so I wouldn't be worried!

Where were you placed on the panel if you don't mind me asking? Just curious as to when I'll get asked for references, as I presume once they're looking for references you'll be starting shortly afterwards. I have a thesis to work on for the summer so I'm hoping I'll have a few weeks before I get called!

noodler

laurdamay wrote: »

I had put it in my application that I had completed a lot of projects on cointegration and contagion analysis during my masters so maybe thats why they brought it up? From what I gathered in the interview you will be using some sort of software package, not sure if they use STATA (i've heard it only really used by academics) or some other package. Once you know one though you catch on to the others quick enough so I wouldn't be worried!

Where were you placed on the panel if you don't mind me asking? Just curious as to when I'll get asked for references, as I presume once they're looking for references you'll be starting shortly afterwards. I have a thesis to work on for the summer so I'm hoping I'll have a few weeks before I get called!

Between 15 and 30 is all I am willing to say!

The letter said they are looking to fill the positions quite quicly and that (after the references and other forms were sent back) you may be called at extremely short notice to provide a reference from your current employer.

I am in the same mindframe as you regarding notice - I worry I the CS won't be giving me the amount of notice I my current job will need.

anbodhran

Three media announcements from Government departments in as many days voicing concerns about staffing levels...must be a few jobs coming on the basis of that.

noodler

anbodhran wrote: »

Three media announcements from Government departments in as many days voicing concerns about staffing levels...must be a few jobs coming on the basis of that.

In fairness, when John Moran was on RTE yesterday clarifying the call for additional staff, he did say he was mentioning it after the Government had already approved the hiring of the additional staff for the DoF.

anbodhran

noodler wrote: »

In fairness, when John Moran was on RTE yesterday clarifying the call for additional staff, he did say he was mentioning it after the Government had already approved the hiring of the additional staff for the DoF.

Yes, but still a fair amount of spin.

The Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants are also meeting today which probably has something to do with it, but more interesting comments from them. Apparently the average age of civil servants is 45, and they are expecting 50% of the workforce to retire within the next 5-10 years.

noodler

anbodhran wrote: »

Yes, but still a fair amount of spin.

The Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants are also meeting today which probably has something to do with it, but more interesting comments from them. Apparently the average age of civil servants is 45, and they are expecting 50% of the workforce to retire within the next 5-10 years.

I saw that alright - thats quite a statistic if true.

evelyn23

Lockstep wrote: »

Getting fairly disheartened by the wait for the law results.
I'm gonna be out of the country in a month so I'll be unable to get back for the interviews if I get that far.

I feel the same! Still waiting for results from HR sub-campaign ugh......

Lockstep

Yeah, I was seriously pleased when I got the results of the civil service exam but it's of no use if they havn't even done stage 3 for the law exams.