SEO positions local authority

KCC

This is turning out to be a long wait.

Tivoli1300

KCC wrote: »

This is turning out to be a long wait.

Indeed.... I just hope the time was spent assessing merits of experience on offer as I don't want to be invited to an interview unless they have assessed my experience as 'worthy' as complete waste of time and costly otherwise.

KCC

Agreed. Also given how militant the union seem to be I can imagine the shortlisting process will be questioned so it must be a difficult job for PAS.

I predict there will either be a preliminary interview or that they will interview a huge number.

Heard from a contact in my local authority that the SEO vacancy there will be filled in October which would indicate they are still on track for July interviews. We really should hear back sometime this week if so.

Tivoli1300

I am probably out at this stage - holidays in July and a minimum of a three day trip for a preliminary interview does not appeal... so unless they accommodate Skype....

My experience is heavily on the policy side so probably not for me/I would not be for them anyway, the appeal was largely about eliminating commuting.

Larry Bee

For info, my wife rang PAS today re this - the may not have a board together until the end of July and have said they may not inform people of shortlisting before then.

Furthermore, it depends on the volume of those shortlisted as to whether it will be preliminary interview or just one. They are not sure yet which way it will go.

Tivoli1300

Thanks for sharing this information - end of July heading into August is a tricky time for organising interviews.

KCC

Thanks; that is useful info. It's a pity they don't send us updates on our public jobs message boards as it would save all the phone calls.

Indeed end of July/August would be an unusual time to hold interviews, but at this stage, I'd like to get it over with sooner rather than later.

PAS will likely be holding Assistant Principal tests and interviews around September so I'd imagine they would like to have the SEO campaign finished with before then.

RainyDay

Larry Bee wrote: »

For info, my wife rang PAS today re this - the may not have a board together until the end of July and have said they may not inform people of shortlisting before then.

This is terrible, if they've done the short-listing, they should tell people as soon as it's done. Terrible to be leaving people on the hook.

Decinho

Apparently the LG people who failed the tests are only eligible for the confined posts. I didn't even realize there was a confined posts element to this competition. Therefore it looks like we are actually competing for less positions than I would have originally thought.

Tivoli1300

Would they not have been in the confined competition from the outset?

Be good to know how many posts are envisaged for the open part if any - the way the PO one seemed to work was a ranking based on order or merit.

Those exercises are more difficult if from outside as that assumed knowledge about the political/organisational environment is not there for externals and the reference points/norms for the competencies is naturally enough civil service informed. Being strategic in say a private sector situation can be quite different and not necessarily recogonised as such.

All by way of saying that those in the open part of the competition are still probably competing with those in the confined part.

KCC

Tivoli1300 wrote: »

Would they not have been in the confined competition from the outset?

Be good to know how many posts are envisaged for the open part if any - the way the PO one seemed to work was a ranking based on order or merit.

Those exercises are more difficult if from outside as that assumed knowledge about the political/organisational environment is not there for externals and the reference points/norms for the competencies is naturally enough civil service informed. Being strategic in say a private sector situation can be quite different and not necessarily recogonised as such.

All by way of saying that those in the open part of the competition are still probably competing with those in the confined part.

You're right, of course they would have been in the confined competition from the outset.

Re: the number of vacancies: I understand that about 1,500 applied for the PO competition, 333 were called to interview and although people were placed on order of merit, there will likely be 66 appointments. As such, they seemed to cull by a fifth each time. All of this is just word of mouth information though.

Also may not be true, but I heard to the grapevine that about 1,200 internal applicants applied for the SEO competition and that about half of them had failed the tests.

If the 1200 number is true, I would say there are very few external applicants as I can't imagine that many more than that would have applied.

Decinho

I'm guessing that they were knocked out of the confined competition originally for failing the tests but now they are in reinstated.

As we have no numbers envisaged on positions on confined and open competitions ,we have no idea if this change in rule will actually cut down the number of positions available for the open competition ie. if 500 got through originally in the confined competition and they were going to cull and pick 1/5th of them, will they now pick 1/5th of 800 that are now through therefore leaving very few positions for the open panel. Unfortunately there's no transparency and it appears rules can be changed whenever it suits.

Every applicant should have been contacted and informed of the change to the selection process.

Are we to assume now that we won't hear anything until the end of July?

KCC

Decinho wrote: »

I'm guessing that they were knocked out of the confined competition originally for failing the tests but now they are in reinstated.

As we have no numbers envisaged on positions on confined and open competitions ,we have no idea if this change in rule will actually cut down the number of positions available for the open competition ie. if 500 got through originally in the confined competition and they were going to cull and pick 1/5th of them, will they now pick 1/5th of 800 that are now through therefore leaving very few positions for the open panel. Unfortunately there's no transparency and it appears rules can be changed whenever it suits.

Every applicant should have been contacted and informed of the change to the selection process.

Are we to assume now that we won't hear anything until the end of July?

That would be a good question for PAS: what is the agreed internal:external ratio for filling vacancies?

Decinho

It's not something I'd see PAS answering unfortunately. I'd love to know how many they are planning on interviewing and how many they plan to have on the panel. It would give us some idea whether we have a chance or not. I saw someone saying they may have to rule themselves out if there are preliminary interviews, if they were given more information by PAS then they could make an informed decision on this but the silence is deafening.

Tivoli1300

Decinho wrote: »

It's not something I'd see PAS answering unfortunately. I'd love to know how many they are planning on interviewing and how many they plan to have on the panel. It would give us some idea whether we have a chance or not. I saw someone saying they may have to rule themselves out if there are preliminary interviews, if they were given more information by PAS then they could make an informed decision on this but the silence is deafening.

Indeed, I think PAS has failed the communication competency here ☺️

Decinho

Is it even worth contacting PAS or do we just sit back and play the waiting game until the end of July?

KCC

Decinho wrote: »

Is it even worth contacting PAS or do we just sit back and play the waiting game until the end of July?

Worth contacting I'd say.

Decinho

I contacted PAS and asked a number of questions such as numbers being interviewed, potential panel sizes for confined and open etc. but they didn't have answers for me. The only answer I received was that we won't be contacted until the end of July.

Tivoli1300

I don't think there will be different panels for open and confined - it is one competition once it gets as far as the final/interview stage if the PO one is anything to go by.

Decinho

I'm not sure in this instance as they have applied different rules to internal and external applicants, and have stipulated that those who failed the exam are only still eligible in the confined competition. It's all very confusing at this stage.

scurnane

Any more information oh got mail to ask if she had holidays planned for August but nothing since. Did everyone get one of these?

She is an external candidate btw.

KCC

scurnane wrote: »

Any more information oh got mail to ask if she had holidays planned for August but nothing since. Did everyone get one of these?

She is an external candidate btw.

That's the last I heard too. We will surely hear from them next week.

scurnane

KCC wrote: »

That's the last I heard too. We will surely hear from them next week.

Thanks for getting back to me. It's just all new to her as she has been private sector for so long ....

Best of luck with it.

KCC

scurnane wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me. It's just all new to her as she has been private sector for so long ....

Best of luck with it.

Thanks. I am an external candidate too so am only just guessing as they said we would hear at end of July and they'll have to give us reasonable notice.

scurnane

KCC wrote: »

Thanks. I am an external candidate too so am only just guessing as they said we would hear at end of July and they'll have to give us reasonable notice.

You would imagine so alright. She is ultra eager and it does seem to be taking an age. There may not be any positions where she wants it after all of this.

You seem to have a good bit of info on it. I know it's local gov but do you know if it's just the main councils and corporations or are there positions in smaller towns too? She probably told me but I can't remember 🙊

KCC

scurnane wrote: »

You would imagine so alright. She is ultra eager and it does seem to be taking an age. There may not be any positions where she wants it after all of this.

You seem to have a good bit of info on it. I know it's local gov but do you know if it's just the main councils and corporations or are there positions in smaller towns too? She probably told me but I can't remember 🙊

I don't know re the towns but I will try to find out as it would be good to know and will post here.

Decinho

Yeah we all got the e-mails about the holidays and so we should hear this week or next week. The major problem now is there is a confined competition and an open competition. We have no idea how many positions will be filled by each competition. Even if we get an interview and do well, the job in the area we would like may just have been given to someone from the confined competition. Everything about this competition appears to be designed to get internal candidates the positions. Rant over ha.

Whenever wherever

What people also need to be aware of is total vacancies will also depend on how successful existing SEO's have been in Director of Services competition that has recently been completed. Also don't forget that competition is being ran on a regional basis.

Decinho

Oh really? How many Director of Services positions are up for grabs do you know?

Whenever wherever

Probably about 15 - 20 nationwide being filled at the moment but again this figure may increase if current Directors are successful in a no of chief executive of local authority competitions that are ongoing also currently. Dos vacancies will then either be filled by external candidates, senior engineers or senior executive officers.