Irish Prison Service Jobs - PASO 3

kiersm

Hey all,

Has anyone else appied for the civilian posts in the Prison Service. I applied a few months ago & did the interview on Wednesday & was wondering if anyone else has gone through them or can tell me anything about the job?

padraig_f

Hi

I applied also and had the interview on Thursday. Made a mess of the interview so i don't fancy my chances. All the details of the job are below.



http://www.publicjobs.ie/publicjobs/campaignAdvert/3783/booklet.htm;jsessionid=F11BE1FB544D715DCC8555F741E675B0

kiersm

Did you hear back yet? I got an email yesterday saying I'm through to the medical & the meducal worries me more due to the fitness part of it

shawmor

kiersm wrote: »

Did you hear back yet? I got an email yesterday saying I'm through to the medical & the meducal worries me more due to the fitness part of it

Hi,
I also got an email saying that I passed the interview. Any idea on when medical will be?

kiersm

I got an email today detailing the fitness test etc & bout getting my audiogram done. It didn't give a date but it said the audiogram is to be done in tthe next two weeks

shawmor

kiersm wrote: »

I got an email today detailing the fitness test etc & bout getting my audiogram done. It didn't give a date but it said the audiogram is to be done in tthe next two weeks

Yeah I got mine today also. Not looking forward to any of it!! It did say in the circular that the physical would be at the end of training, I wonder why they changed this?

kiersm

To be honest, I don't know why we have to do such a physical. I'm not looking to be a prison officer. I'm a co & don't see why we have to do this. Im really not looking forward to it

Yourwellcum

kiersm wrote: »

To be honest, I don't know why we have to do such a physical. I'm not looking to be a prison officer. I'm a co & don't see why we have to do this. Im really not looking forward to it

You have to do it because you will be working in a prison and will come in contact with prisoners in the course of your duties, this requires you to have certain training which will require a certain level of fitness.

Delancey

Permission to ask a question ?

What is a grade PASO 3 ? I've not heard of this before

shawmor

Delancey wrote: »

Permission to ask a question ?

What is a grade PASO 3 ? I've not heard of this before

It's a new grade that's been introduced for administration and support.

I'm not looking forward to the medical as I'm sick at the moment! Physical I may get training for!

shawmor

Yourwellcum wrote: »

kiersm wrote: »

To be honest, I don't know why we have to do such a physical. I'm not looking to be a prison officer. I'm a co & don't see why we have to do this. Im really not looking forward to it

You have to do it because you will be working in a prison and will come in contact with prisoners in the course of your duties, this requires you to have certain training which will require a certain level of fitness.

Totally agree that you would need a certain level of fitness regardless of if you work in the office or not.

Yourwellcum

Delancey wrote: »

Permission to ask a question ?

What is a grade PASO 3 ? I've not heard of this before

Its a new grade in the service. It for administration and support staff. The previous clerical positions in the service were filled by serving officers. As a means of cutting salary costs this new grade was created. The plan is to redeploy the current clerks back into the main prisons and replace them with these new support officers.

The positions were advertised a while ago but were only open to existing civil servants.

kiersm

I understand you need a certain level of fitness as you're working in a prison but I'm not too sure bout what they're expecting. In all honesty we're office staff not prison officers!!

Rawhead

kiersm wrote: »

I understand you need a certain level of fitness as you're working in a prison but I'm not too sure bout what they're expecting. In all honesty we're office staff not prison officers!!

And here in lies the problem. It's the same with the nurses, fooking worse than useless, they never have and never will consider themselves PO's.
The medics where always PO's first and medics second, same with the clerks.

A nurse officer walked by a PO rolling in the yard with a dirtbird and just continued up to the hub to another officer and said "your colleague is in trouble below" then walked on to his lunch. This happened in the medical unit and I know the officers involved.

These new grades are yellow packs by another name and they will be in control rooms, key rooms, waiting rooms etc within a year. All the non confrontational posts. No offence to these folks but they are not and never will be PO's but management will treat them as such.

V480

Rawhead wrote: »

And here in lies the problem. It's the same with the nurses, fooking worse than useless, they never have and never will consider themselves PO's.
The medics where always PO's first and medics second, same with the clerks.

A nurse officer walked by a PO rolling in the yard with a dirtbird and just continued up to the hub to another officer and said "your colleague is in trouble below" then walked on to his lunch. This happened in the medical unit and I know the officers involved.

These new grades are yellow packs by another name and they will be in control rooms, key rooms, waiting rooms etc within a year. All the non confrontational posts. No offence to these folks but they are not and never will be PO's but management will treat them as such.

Are you saying that while it might might start out as clerical/administrative work people working in this new grade could end up doing PO work??

Anyone else find the interview toughish? I was a bit surprised to hear that I had passed it.

I booked my hearing test today and was a bit surprised that it's going to cost me 80 euro! Can we claim this back?

Rawhead

V480 wrote: »

Are you saying that while it might might start out as clerical/administrative work people working in this new grade could end up doing PO work??

Anyone else find the interview toughish? I was a bit surprised to hear that I had passed it.

I booked my hearing test today and was a bit surprised that it's going to cost me 80 euro! Can we claim this back?

I would be very surprised if that is not the case. We are following the NIPS model. They recruited auxiliary officers after 1995 on the pretext that they would be in non confrontational posts and admin etc. They then made an agreement with the union and what do you know, they became PO's but on lower pay. Same in the UK.

shawmor

V480 wrote: »

Rawhead wrote: »

And here in lies the problem. It's the same with the nurses, fooking worse than useless, they never have and never will consider themselves PO's.
The medics where always PO's first and medics second, same with the clerks.

A nurse officer walked by a PO rolling in the yard with a dirtbird and just continued up to the hub to another officer and said "your colleague is in trouble below" then walked on to his lunch. This happened in the medical unit and I know the officers involved.

These new grades are yellow packs by another name and they will be in control rooms, key rooms, waiting rooms etc within a year. All the non confrontational posts. No offence to these folks but they are not and never will be PO's but management will treat them as such.

Are you saying that while it might might start out as clerical/administrative work people working in this new grade could end up doing PO work??

Anyone else find the interview toughish? I was a bit surprised to hear that I had passed it.

I booked my hearing test today and was a bit surprised that it's going to cost me 80 euro! Can we claim this back?

I booked mine today also. As far as I know it is at our own expense.

I had a feeling we could be doing more po work by the word support in the job title. I took it as supporting po's which makes sense with the physical etc.

Delancey

Yourwellcum wrote: »

Its a new grade in the service. It for administration and support staff. The previous clerical positions in the service were filled by serving officers. As a means of cutting salary costs this new grade was created. The plan is to redeploy the current clerks back into the main prisons and replace them with these new support officers.

The positions were advertised a while ago but were only open to existing civil servants.

Question is will this re-deployment of PO's back to the landings actually happen ? Lest we forget the infamous Garda recruitment of 900 civilian support staff supposedly to free up Gardai for Police work.
At the end of it all a mere 45 Gardai returned to the beat - is there not a high risk this will happen in the prisons with even more administrative staff the end result ?

Rawhead

Delancey wrote: »

Question is will this re-deployment of PO's back to the landings actually happen ? Lest we forget the infamous Garda recruitment of 900 civilian support staff supposedly to free up Gardai for Police work.
At the end of it all a mere 45 Gardai returned to the beat - is there not a high risk this will happen in the prisons with even more administrative staff the end result ?

The vast majority of clerks went into the position because they felt better suited to "non confrontational duties". It is a promoted grade though, so now they are returning to the landings as ACO's (assistant chiefs, like sergeants) and Chiefs.

Most of them are terrified at the prospects of it and most haven't worked on the landings in donkeys years, some of them have visibly aged in the last few weeks they are so scared.

It's brilliant.

V480

Does anyone know how many positions are available in the individual prisons? For example how many positions will there be in Cork?

shawmor

V480 wrote: »

Does anyone know how many positions are available in the individual prisons? For example how many positions will there be in Cork?

It said in the FAQ there will be 6 places in Cork.

WilcoOut

is this an entry level position?

V480

WilcoOut wrote: »

is this an entry level position?

I think that there is the possibility of gaining promotion to PSAO 2 and PSAO 1 also.

shawmor

V480 wrote: »

WilcoOut wrote: »

is this an entry level position?

I think that there is the possibility of gaining promotion to PSAO 2 and PSAO 1 also.

They are going to be recruiting at PASO 2 grade as well.

480905

shawmor wrote: »

V480 wrote: »

Does anyone know how many positions are available in the individual prisons? For example how many positions will there be in Cork?

It said in the FAQ there will be 6 places in Cork.

And all the transfers to Cork in the meantime, before you get in so that will mean a long stay in Dublin.

tommy101

Was the interview itself tough...I would have thought it would have been a walk in the park considering they extended the closing date for entries and seem to be struggling to get COs to fill these positions...the extra pay is for the extra hours that will be worked and with the loss of flexi plus having to work shift and saturdays...it would seem there is more to be lost by taking up the position.

V480

480905 wrote: »

And all the transfers to Cork in the meantime, before you get in so that will mean a long stay in Dublin.

Sorry don't understand, transfers to Cork? Long wait in Dublin?

Rawhead

480905 wrote: »

And all the transfers to Cork in the meantime, before you get in so that will mean a long stay in Dublin.

Not sure your right on this one. If there are 8 vacancies in Cork for PASO's then warders transfers will not affect that in anyway. I presume though that the seniority will still apply for them as it is standard across the civil service.

It will however affect staff transfers as there will now be 8 extra bodies on Cork's numbers. Cork lads in Dublin will probably get their transfer home around the same time as their pre-retirement course.

480905

Sorry, I'll explain. In the Prison Service there's a thing called "Seniority". If an Officer Joins up and they're from Cork, or Limerick etc, they can expect to do a significant amount of time in Dublin Jails because there is a transfer list to their home Prison. The most junior goes to the bottom of the pile for transfer. And it doesn't matter if you have the most genuine reasons for going ahead of these people , you will be waiting for your transfer until it is your turn. For new PASO people I'm not sure how it will work , you can bet if an officer hears of a PASO getting home ahead of them it will cause uproar. Another headache for the IPS ooooopppps sorry , the POA.

Rawhead

480905 wrote: »

Sorry, I'll explain. In the Prison Service there's a thing called "Seniority". If an Officer Joins up and they're from Cork, or Limerick etc, they can expect to do a significant amount of time in Dublin Jails because there is a transfer list to their home Prison. The most junior goes to the bottom of the pile for transfer. And it doesn't matter if you have the most genuine reasons for going ahead of these people , you will be waiting for your transfer until it is your turn. For new PASO people I'm not sure how it will work , you can bet if an officer hears of a PASO getting home ahead of them it will cause uproar. Another headache for the IPS ooooopppps sorry , the POA.

I still think the PASO's will be completely outside the transfers of officers. They are a separate grade.

480905

Probably are and you're probably dead right, but the Jailer will cause a fuss.

Delancey

Rawhead wrote: »

The vast majority of clerks went into the position because they felt better suited to "non confrontational duties". It is a promoted grade though, so now they are returning to the landings as ACO's (assistant chiefs, like sergeants) and Chiefs.

Most of them are terrified at the prospects of it and most haven't worked on the landings in donkeys years, some of them have visibly aged in the last few weeks they are so scared.

It's brilliant.

Is the IPS not setting itself up for people going long-term sick with stress if these lads will find it that bad going back on the landings ?

tommy101

480905 wrote: »

Sorry, I'll explain. In the Prison Service there's a thing called "Seniority". If an Officer Joins up and they're from Cork, or Limerick etc, they can expect to do a significant amount of time in Dublin Jails because there is a transfer list to their home Prison. The most junior goes to the bottom of the pile for transfer. And it doesn't matter if you have the most genuine reasons for going ahead of these people , you will be waiting for your transfer until it is your turn. For new PASO people I'm not sure how it will work , you can bet if an officer hears of a PASO getting home ahead of them it will cause uproar. Another headache for the IPS ooooopppps sorry , the POA.

Recruitment and transfer panels are completely seperate. If there are 6 new jobs recruited for cork then these are available to the new people applying for these positions. If a person opts to take a position in dublin because they do not get offered one of the six recruitment jobs in cork they must join a transfer panel based on seniority to switch in time to cork.The PASO and PO are two different jobs with there own recruitment and transfer panels which wont interfere with one another similar to that of grades in the civil service.

A PO must wait for a PO position to become vacant in the area they want to transfer in order to avail of the transfer, the PASO will have to wait for a PASO position to become available in order for them to transfer and these grades and panels will not interfere with one another.

casher123

Hi just wondering if anyone has done the hearing test and had a problem with it.My collague done it at a cost of €70 and was told his hearing would not get him into guards or Army does the same criteria apply for this job?

shawmor

casher123 wrote: »

Hi just wondering if anyone has done the hearing test and had a problem with it.My collague done it at a cost of €70 and was told his hearing would not get him into guards or Army does the same criteria apply for this job?

As far as I'm aware you have to be within normal hearing level. I think if you don't pass you can be referred to the chief medical officer for assessment.

casher123

Quick question does it appear that everyone that went for interview got throught to the next stage also has anyone got throught and decided not to continue?

shawmor

casher123 wrote: »

Quick question does it appear that everyone that went for interview got throught to the next stage also has anyone got throught and decided not to continue?

Not sure but I know public jobs are doing interviews today for this campaign. They said it would be the end of July when we would find out our place in order of merit.

factfindr

kiersm wrote: »

To be honest, I don't know why we have to do such a physical. I'm not looking to be a prison officer. I'm a co & don't see why we have to do this. Im really not looking forward to it

In the long term it is possible that these PASO's will be in alot more positions in a prison rather than just a co role hence the physical.Therefore you will be required to carry out many duties of a prison officer you will just be on a different pay scale.

killabban182

In the North they employed civilians to the nights, but after a while they found out most of them were going asleep when they were supposed to be working, will this be the next thing IPS will want to do?

Judymayo

I am interested in paso 3 post and have done interview, medical and audio (which was free by the way at specsavers) feel physical will be the biggest hurdle due to age and gender. I presently work shifts so any job that gets rid of nights would appeal to me. Why are others who worki 9 to 5 flexie applying?

shawmor

Judymayo wrote: »

I am interested in paso 3 post and have done interview, medical and audio (which was free by the way at specsavers) feel physical will be the biggest hurdle due to age and gender. I presently work shifts so any job that gets rid of nights would appeal to me. Why are others who worki 9 to 5 flexie applying?

I have flexi time and have applied for PASO. I've also done interview, medical and audiogram. I applied because I've been interested in the prison service for a while now. Missed my exam in 2008 for PO as was in hospital and there hasn't been any recruitment campaigns since

factfindr

Judymayo wrote: »

I am interested in paso 3 post and have done interview, medical and audio (which was free by the way at specsavers) feel physical will be the biggest hurdle due to age and gender. I presently work shifts so any job that gets rid of nights would appeal to me. Why are others who worki 9 to 5 flexie applying?

A prison is staffed 24 hours a day everyday that means there are night shifts there too

Judymayo

factfindr wrote: »

Judymayo wrote: »

I am interested in paso 3 post and have done interview, medical and audio (which was free by the way at specsavers) feel physical will be the biggest hurdle due to age and gender. I presently work shifts so any job that gets rid of nights would appeal to me. Why are others who worki 9 to 5 flexie applying?

A prison is staffed 24 hours a day everyday that means there are night shifts there too

Not for paso 111 according to job description. 7 or 8 the latest in evening and the odd sat. Beats working all night as I do at present. Shawmors reply puts me to shame as job comes second to shifts for me but it does sound as if it won't be boring which is a plus

factfindr

yes for the moment it is 7 to 8 but shifts can change over time new rosters etc. just something to keep in mind

shawmor

factfindr wrote: »

yes for the moment it is 7 to 8 but shifts can change over time new rosters etc. just something to keep in mind

I agree with you. I think after time the shifts will get later, longer and include nights.

factfindr

I have heard from some sections that these new staff for the general office will be working in other posts in the prison and will quickly replace the position of rpo, with this new grade being the only entry level to the prison service. Basically it's all about paying people alot less to work in this environment which I feel will result in some staff deciding this position is just not worth it.

Judymayo

factfindr wrote: »

I have heard from some sections that these new staff for the general office will be working in other posts in the prison and will quickly replace the position of rpo, with this new grade being the only entry level to the prison service. Basically it's all about paying people alot less to work in this environment which I feel will result in some staff deciding this position is just not worth it.

Please explain 'rpo' don't know the lingo

factfindr

Judymayo wrote: »

Please explain 'rpo' don't know the lingo

recruit prison officer it's the entry level to the prison service involves a 3 year training course divided up between on the job training and diploma studies

shawmor

factfindr wrote: »

Judymayo wrote: »

Please explain 'rpo' don't know the lingo

recruit prison officer it's the entry level to the prison service involves a 3 year training course divided up between on the job training and diploma studies

If a you became a PASO III do you think you would have to do the 3yr Sligo IT course?

factfindr

shawmor wrote: »

If a you became a PASO III do you think you would have to do the 3yr Sligo IT course?

No, that would cost money !

V480

Anyone get called for a fitness test yet? I thought it said in the information booklet that the fitness test would be conducted at the same time as the overall training?