Staff Officer - competency interview

princess007

Hi,
I have been shortlisted for the Staff Officer competition with South Dublin County Council. The interview is in less than 2 weeks time.

I work for another Local Authority outside of Dublin and was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to expect with the interview panel which consists of 3 people from within the Local Authority structure?

I am asking as I have been unsuccessful in the last few competency based interviews I have done for similar roles, and this has really shattered my confidence. I am a hard worker and feel I can be a good Staff Officer but I can't seem to perform well at interviews.

I have read and re-read the job description and would welcome any advice you may have.


Thanks

Zipppy

Has this interview taken place yet?

princess007

No. It is next week.

princess007

Zipppy wrote: »

Has this interview taken place yet?

Any advice for Staff Officer interviews?

jimmycrackcorm

princess007 wrote:

Any advice for Staff Officer interviews?

You should research and study up on competency based interviews. Pretty much they're a standard set of questions, describe a time you had to freak with xxx etc

You shouldn't let your confidence be dented; it's a generalisation but from what I have heard, some public jobs are based on who you know rather than e what you know, that they have been earmarked for people but they still have to do the external process.

gerogerigegege

Interview in Cork for Staff Officer next week.
any advice on how to prepare?
would it be usual for someone at CO level to get a role as SO?
thanks.

Reputable Rog

Is it a competency based interview? If so stick to the examples in the boxes and prepare for a few legislation based questions. Decide which side of the Merger debate your on and be prepared to justify your position, also research the Local Authority.

gerogerigegege

tbh I'd forgotten about my application, made about 6 months ago.
it's a shortlisting interview. I'm only guessing but I would say a broad overview of what the county council does would be a good place to start?

Reputable Rog

And make sure your up to date on the boundary situation and why a merger is the best option.

Zipppy

Quite a few COs got Staff Officer recently in my LA.
Lots of emphasis on staff control / Supervision and PMDS..

Zipppy

all LA interviews are competency based...have examples of all competencies...and back up ones..use every question as a vehicle to talk about one of your relevant examples...
eg...are you a good team player? Yes I am...give example ....
What's your thoughts on team working? I think blah blah blah...give example of how you're great at teamwork....
All questions can be turned to allow you to give your example..
You only get marked for your examples....everything else is waffle....
did I mention examples? 😀

Mimojo

Just wondered how you got on in the interview OP?

Have a Staff Officer Shortlisted Interview coming up myself, competency based, so any advice is much appreciated. How did the interview do? What kind of questions were asked? And was there a large focus on the workings of the County Council etc?

Mimojo

Any advise for upcoming Staff Officer interview please?

Zipppy

Mimojo wrote: »

Any advise for upcoming Staff Officer interview please?

Along with my comments above in other posts...

Know your Local Authority..how is it funded? Main services..new services...services lost..reserved functions (role of elected councillors) role of executive (chief exec and his/her staff) .. issues facing your LA (eg traffic housing, homelessness, etc ) and know measures being taken to remedy them either at local and national level.
Staff control / supervision...example of your experience of staff control..
PMDS (if you don't know what it is look it up..)
Difficult team member .. how you handled (example)
How you plan and organise your day

More when I get around to it....

Mimojo

Zipppy wrote: »

Along with my comments above in other posts...

Know your Local Authority..how is it funded? Main services..new services...services lost..reserved functions (role of elected councillors) role of executive (chief exec and his/her staff) .. issues facing your LA (eg traffic housing, homelessness, etc ) and know measures being taken to remedy them either at local and national level.
Staff control / supervision...example of your experience of staff control..
PMDS (if you don't know what it is look it up..)
Difficult team member .. how you handled (example)
How you plan and organise your day

More when I get around to it....

Thanks a mill, think Im on the right track but feel like I have a lot to cover!

daithi84

Do a bit on the changes to the local government structure under the Local Government Reform Act. I got that one in my last interview. Little blurb on health and safety and also got one on the customer charter and how it affects your current role.

Elephant2016

Mimojo wrote: »

Any advise for upcoming Staff Officer interview please?

Hi. Just wondering did you have your interview yet. If so what kind of questions were you asked. I've an interview coming up too. I've never been so nervous its years since I've done an interview. I'd appreciate and welcome any advice. Thank you

Elephant2016

Hi zippy. You've been really informative on the role. Is there anything else in your opinion that might get brought up. Thank you

Elephant2016

daithi84 wrote: »

Do a bit on the changes to the local government structure under the Local Government Reform Act. I got that one in my last interview. Little blurb on health and safety and also got one on the customer charter and how it affects your current role.[/quot

What was your answer for customer charter

Zipppy

Elephant2016 wrote:

Hi zippy. You've been really informative on the role. Is there anything else in your opinion that might get brought up. Thank you

When's your interview?
I'll try put more info together later...

Elephant2016

Zipppy wrote: »

When's your interview?
I'll try put more info together later...

In the morning!!!
I've covered most things referred to in previous comments.

I never heard of the customer charter and how it affects your current role. I looked it up that's fine. But don't know how to word how it relates to my own role I manage an office.

daithi84

Elephant2016 wrote: »

daithi84 wrote: »

Do a bit on the changes to the local government structure under the Local Government Reform Act. I got that one in my last interview. Little blurb on health and safety and also got one on the customer charter and how it affects your current role.[/quot

What was your answer for customer charter

Whichever organisation you are going for has their own specific customer charter. it should be on their website. i just listed off a few points and how the applied to my current job when dealing with customers.

daithi84

Elephant2016 wrote: »

In the morning!!!
I've covered most things referred to in previous comments.

I never heard of the customer charter and how it affects your current role. I looked it up that's fine. But don't know how to word how it relates to my own role I manage an office.

Its just along the lines of being nice and professional, confidentiality etc. It might not come up.

Mimojo

Elephant2016 wrote: »

In the morning!!!
I've covered most things referred to in previous comments.

I never heard of the customer charter and how it affects your current role. I looked it up that's fine. But don't know how to word how it relates to my own role I manage an office.

Hey! Sorry I missed your comments earlier this week, how did the interview go? I am on on this coming Monday, it is a shortlisting interview so there will be another one if I get through that one. This council have not done any shortlisting so interviewing each and every person who has applied for the role, madness if you ask me!

Cathyban

Hi all. I wonder how long you were waiting to get to the interview shortlist stage? I take it this is an older competition? I applied for the staff officer role which had a closing date end of sept 2017. Thanks a lot for any information.

Mimojo

Cathyban wrote: »

Hi all. I wonder how long you were waiting to get to the interview shortlist stage? I take it this is an older competition? I applied for the staff officer role which had a closing date end of sept 2017. Thanks a lot for any information.

Hi, I think I applied in about April/May for Staff Officer Competition, and I got a letter in July to say they were interviewing in early September. Once I did the interview I had a letter within about 2 weeks so that stage was very quick, but I would expect to wait a few months to be honest.

The Council I interviewed with interviewed each and every candidate at the first stage, and then shortlisted after this time. I think other councils do a desk based shortlisting process and don’t call everyone, seems to depend on the particular Council. For this one there was approx. 500 applicants. In order to qualify for the next round of interview you had to get 520 out of 600 marks, so achieve almost 87%.

I was 25 marks off (82.5%), so it was really really disappointing if I am honest. The interview was a 20 minute slot, so after formalities etc had about 15 minutes of questions, where you got cut off after a sentence or two, which I know they have to go to get in a large number of questions, but I found it very off putting.

I put in about 40 hours of study before the interview and I can honestly say I don’t think I could have done any more preparation wise, I spoke to people working in the civil service, I spoke to a contact who sits on interview panels for these interviews, and I paid for a private interview course aimed specifically at these type of interviews. I work in the private sector, have 5 years management experience and an additional 10 years admin experience, hold a degree and a masters, but unfortunately I didn’t get through.

I am not trying to put you off in any way, just to be aware it is a very very competitive process, and as there hasn’t been many jobs in the sector for years, expect a very high number of applicants. For me coming from the private sector I found the interview format very very different to what I was used to too.

Cathyban

Hi there

Thanks so much for the detailed response, this is so helpful. I’m in a very similar situation to you so it’s great to get an honest rundown of the process. You did so well in the test that’s frustrating that you were those few marks off.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer.

Mimojo wrote: »

Hi, I think I applied in about April/May for Staff Officer Competition, and I got a letter in July to say they were interviewing in early September. Once I did the interview I had a letter within about 2 weeks so that stage was very quick, but I would expect to wait a few months to be honest.

The Council I interviewed with interviewed each and every candidate at the first stage, and then shortlisted after this time. I think other councils do a desk based shortlisting process and don’t call everyone, seems to depend on the particular Council. For this one there was approx. 500 applicants. In order to qualify for the next round of interview you had to get 520 out of 600 marks, so achieve almost 87%.

I was 25 marks off (82.5%), so it was really really disappointing if I am honest. The interview was a 20 minute slot, so after formalities etc had about 15 minutes of questions, where you got cut off after a sentence or two, which I know they have to go to get in a large number of questions, but I found it very off putting.

I put in about 40 hours of study before the interview and I can honestly say I don’t think I could have done any more preparation wise, I spoke to people working in the civil service, I spoke to a contact who sits on interview panels for these interviews, and I paid for a private interview course aimed specifically at these type of interviews. I work in the private sector, have 5 years management experience and an additional 10 years admin experience, hold a degree and a masters, but unfortunately I didn’t get through.

I am not trying to put you off in any way, just to be aware it is a very very competitive process, and as there hasn’t been many jobs in the sector for years, expect a very high number of applicants. For me coming from the private sector I found the interview format very very different to what I was used to too.

Mimojo

Cathyban wrote: »

Hi there

Thanks so much for the detailed response, this is so helpful. I’m in a very similar situation to you so it’s great to get an honest rundown of the process. You did so well in the test that’s frustrating that you were those few marks off.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer.

No problem at all, I have learnt a lot during the process to be fair, and I think it will stand to me if I was to do another interview, but I find that unfortunately no matter how much you prepare you cant cover everything for this style of interview process. If you do get an interview and want further guidance or information let me know by PM, I have notes I’m happy to send on if they are of any help

Cathyban

Thanks again. That’s so good of you. I will certainly be in touch should I get an interview and I’d be really grateful for any guidance you could offer.

Mimojo wrote: »

No problem at all, I have learnt a lot during the process to be fair, and I think it will stand to me if I was to do another interview, but I find that unfortunately no matter how much you prepare you cant cover everything for this style of interview process. If you do get an interview and want further guidance or information let me know by PM, I have notes I’m happy to send on if they are of any help