Administrative Officer (Specialist Positions) 2013

Vologda69

New 2013 AO recruitment campaign on Public jobs website (HR, economics, tax policy, law etc.):

http://www.publicjobs.ie/publicjobs/campaignAdvert/9004.htm

Phoenix Run

Has anybody heard anything further about this? I thought we were supposed to have heard something by now after finishing the online test.

tomred1

No, the next test/exercise is starting next week from the 7th Oct.

mydiscworld

Results from Round 1 have been coming out today. Check your publicjobs account, under my messages

guice_t

Yeh if you go into My Messages in your PublicJobs account there should be a message.

Has anybody ever applied for a position like this in the public sector? Not really sure what experience they expect us to have. I only recently graduated.

The_Conductor

AO is graduate recruitment.
You are not necessarily expected to have experience in the area- but when it comes to interview it will be a structured competency based interview. You would be wise to check out what this entails- and how to satisfy the interviewers that you meet their requirements.

Shout Dust

Any idea on the number of people that applied or have been asked to do the numeracy and verbal reasoning tests in stage 2?

freeze4real

I have been asked to do the test myself. Not really pushed as I have a job ATM/ But might give it a go.

They've been spamming me for the past 2 days now with emails and texts.

The_Conductor

Shout Dust wrote: »

Any idea on the number of people that applied or have been asked to do the numeracy and verbal reasoning tests in stage 2?

Not a vague notion- you'd have to ask someone who works in Publicjobs that one. From what I gather- its been remarkably popular- what this means- I don't know.

mydiscworld

Stage 2 is available now to sit now. Just got email

ccee

I got through to stage two and just did the test last night. Did anyone else find it near impossible? I did'nt even get through all the maths questions. I did the test years ago for the clerical officer role and it was poles apart from this one! I think I can kiss stage three goodbye now at this stage.....

The_Conductor

ccee wrote: »

I got through to stage two and just did the test last night. Did anyone else find it near impossible? I did'nt even get through all the maths questions. I did the test years ago for the clerical officer role and it was poles apart from this one! I think I can kiss stage three goodbye now at this stage.....

Don't rule yourself out- I think we're all in the same boat. It is damn hard. I've just ran through the practice test- and am about to hit the real one now.

ccee

I just realised I mispelled didn't! Good luck in the test!

The_Conductor

ccee wrote: »

I just realised I mispelled didn't! Good luck in the test!

Thanks (as I desperately try to find that damn e-mail with the details on it)......... Doh!

The_Conductor

Arrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

carleigh

I completed these yesterday, and I thought they were fairly tough. But fingers crossed. I'm not overly optimistic!

james987

Did mine yesterday too. Found the numerical reasoning very difficult and didn't complete all questions like others.

I applied for the HR one and my degrees wouldn't be directly related to the role so I honestly didn't think I'd get through to Stage 2 anyway. Certainly won't be going any further!

whampiri

Did the exam last night and to be honest, i guessed at most of the math. I tried working things out but found that my answers didn't appear as any of the answers. I would seriously question anyone who manages to get 100% in it. Like previous ppl, my degree is in HR and math is not my strongest aspect. Like previous people i don't think ive a hope of getting any further.

ccee

Thank God some of you also found it hard, I am not alone!

dearg lady

I didn't find the numerical one too bad, but ran out of time for last 2 questions, so annoying!! the verbal ones I always find tough, but coming from an accounting background, I guess it makes sense which I'd prefer!!
Really couldn't tell if I did well enough though, I would imagine they are looking for a very high standard

sophya

The short notice given is annoying cause you don't get time to prepare. I've been doing the practice questions but my average right answers is not great. Feeling tired today so gonna try do some more samples tomorrow morning and then just do it. I hope that since I've applied for law they won't judge me too harshly on the numerical results.

sjpm1989

I wouldn't be too worried about not finishing in time. If you look at the assessment home it says time required 30 minutes, time limit 19 minutes (for the verbal) and time needed 30 minutes, time limit 25 minutes. So they are intentionally not long enough

dearg lady

oh I thought the 30 mins meant prep time and practice questions plus actual test time, but yeah, the fact that they are different for the two tests doesn't seem to match with that

Yenwod

ccee wrote: »

I got through to stage two and just did the test last night. Did anyone else find it near impossible? I did'nt even get through all the maths questions. I did the test years ago for the clerical officer role and it was poles apart from this one! I think I can kiss stage three goodbye now at this stage.....

As far as I remember with the clerical exams, you have to only pass the numerical section but the result isn't taken into account when you're getting your overall place. Not 100% about the AO exams though

The_Conductor

Yenwod wrote: »

As far as I remember with the clerical exams, you have to only pass the numerical section but the result isn't taken into account when you're getting your overall place. Not 100% about the AO exams though

That was seen as positive discrimination for women- as women were perceived as less likely to have done honours maths than their male counterparts. These days the opposite is probably true.

Yenwod

The_Conductor wrote: »

That was seen as positive discrimination for women- as women were perceived as less likely to have done honours maths than their male counterparts. These days the opposite is probably true.

Really?? Did not know that was the reason! Wow

cee_jay

That was very tough - just completed it there. Did not have time to answer all the numerical, had around 4 questions left at 2 mins remaining. I placed 50 after the aptitude test for AO 2 years ago, and that online assessment is more difficult than the physical paper at that time.

WrongWay

Numerical exam was a lot more difficult than I expected. How many questions were people confident answering?

carleigh

I managed to answer all the numerical q's, I started to run out of time so I probably didnt do as well as I could have towards the end. I was confident with some answers, but I did find them difficult overall. I thought it was alot harder than the practice exams on the public jobs website.

The_Conductor

WrongWay wrote: »

Numerical exam was a lot more difficult than I expected. How many questions were people confident answering?

Happy enough working my way through the numerical- until 2 minutes from the end I still had 3 questions to go. I rushed them- the last 2 were educated guesses with no actual calculations carried out. I did consider the numeracy very fair and balanced though- I've seen far worse.

delricyo

sophya wrote: »

The short notice given is annoying cause you don't get time to prepare. I've been doing the practice questions but my average right answers is not great. Feeling tired today so gonna try do some more samples tomorrow morning and then just do it. I hope that since I've applied for law they won't judge me too harshly on the numerical results.

Unfortunately, it doesnt matter which area you applied for - the maths still counts. However, if most who are applying for law are coming from a legal background, you are all in the same boat ...

delricyo

Did the maths last night. Time consuming - but not overly difficult to be honest. But I did do maths for 4 years at college.

What was interesting was the interpretation required for some of the questioning. It was really testing your logic at the same time. Of course, in real life, you would have much longer to process the graphs/figures.

Unfortunately, these tests are here to stay in the civil service for the moment. The fairer options of preliminary interviews/presentations/app forms are more expensive to run. DSP&Revenue used a different online testing company to do the first round of internal promotions 2 weeks ago. Those tests were bloody nasty ...

Good luck to all - im hoping they dont cut the numbers by too much at this stage. Me too, I would be interested in knowing the stats for applied - stage 1 - stage 2 etc

kksaints

Numerical test was tough and ran out of time a little. Other test was fairly easy I thought .

Cliona2012

Amy likely date for wwritten tests in dublin?

delricyo

Cliona2012 wrote: »

Amy likely date for wwritten tests in dublin?

Booklet said mid to end Oct, so we dont have a date yet
Hopefully they will issue the results soon - so that we know where we stand

dearg lady

Just realised I didn't get any confirmation e-mail/message on completing the tests...did other people?

The_Conductor

dearg lady wrote: »

Just realised I didn't get any confirmation e-mail/message on completing the tests...did other people?

No- none of us did. Don't worry.

The_Conductor

delricyo wrote: »

Booklet said mid to end Oct, so we dont have a date yet
Hopefully they will issue the results soon - so that we know where we stand

At least the end of the week apparently for results- they're trying to sort out the HEO mess first.
Presumably they'll be scheduling a Croke Park or RDS sit down for everyone- time will tell I guess.

TheCruiser

I've applied for the 3rd secretary exams and I expect the tests will be fairly similar to the AO competition.

Were the numerical reasoning tests all data interpretation or more broad than that?

Any advice much appreciated!

The_Conductor

TheCruiser wrote: »

I've applied for the 3rd secretary exams and I expect the tests will be fairly similar to the AO competition.

Were the numerical reasoning tests all data interpretation or more broad than that?

Any advice much appreciated!

You had to be very careful about reading the question- and checking exactly how the data was presented- it wasn't all immediately straight forward. The manner in which some of the questions were phrased was a bit sneaky. Then again- it means you had to be very careful ensuring you answered the question that was asked, and not what your initial glance of the question (and data) may be. Reading the question twice or three times- is very necessary. Also- don't dump your notes- the same data sets may pop up again later in the exam, with different questions. It would also appear the tests were randomised- aka if a few people were sitting together doing them- they were unlikely to have the same exam.

Nidot

Anyone have any update on when responses can be expected?

amimarissa

Hi Guys,

I have recently completed a second aptitude test for an AO position. I am wondering what the next step is, or if anyone has heard since the second test.

From reading the previous posts here, it seems that there are two selection processes for AO positions. I am referring to the positions most recently advertised.

jen160677

Nidot wrote: »

Anyone have any update on when responses can be expected?

I haven't heard anything yet either.

delricyo

On their twitter account, they said the results will be out this week.

Neither me nor anybody else I know has received their results yet

Lollypops400

We regret to inform you........ (FML!!)

13 years experience working local and national projects in the HSE and DoHC -

I'm never going to get out or go on up the career ladder! I'm doomed to be stuck forever in a thankless job in poverty!

amimarissa

oh no, chin up, that role obviously wasn't meant for you. Don't let it weigh you down.

Did you receive a message via publicjobs.ie?

The_Conductor

No message at all, here yet.

Shout Dust

How many positions are going does anyone know?

amimarissa

maybe we will know tomorrow if Cork got word today..

The_Conductor

Shout Dust wrote: »

How many positions are going does anyone know?

They were specialised positions- so I can't imagine there are all that many of them.

dearg lady

Got through, next round next week. Not sure about the job simulation exercise, will possibly mess that up