Administrative Officer 2017 Campaign

pixieprincess

Having completed my verification, presentation and interview, I am probably getting well ahead of myself here by asking: if we are successful how will PAS place us in order of merit considering that the application form did not list any county options and this is not Dublin based. Normally you get to list two counties of preference. Seems odd they did not do this at the start as is the normal practice.

AGC

Chocolate Teapot wrote: »

Are the supervised tests always a similar level of difficulty to the online ones? Has anybody found the supervised tests significantly more difficult than the online ones? When I went for EO the tests were practically identical but I've heard this is not always the case.

Very similar if not identical. They are designed to prove you completed the original tests at home yourself.

The_Conductor

AGC wrote: »

Very similar if not identical. They are designed to prove you completed the original tests at home yourself.

PAS commonly use exams from two different suppliers- in theory they are similar in difficulty level- indeed, its not unheard of people to resit the exact same exam- sometimes with the questions in different order- however, its also not unheard of people to do an entirely different exam either........

The argument for using the same exam- is if a person's score on the supervised resit differs by >12.5% (or whatever percentage they're currently using)- it can be assumed that assistance or intervention was obtained during the initial unsupervised phase (then again you could be just having a bad day- happens to all of us from time to time- c'est la vie).

SFC1895

pixieprincess wrote: »

Having completed my verification, presentation and interview, I am probably getting well ahead of myself here by asking: if we are successful how will PAS place us in order of merit considering that the application form did not list any county options and this is not Dublin based. Normally you get to list two counties of preference. Seems odd they did not do this at the start as is the normal practice.

It’s just one list, with the vast majority of the jobs in Dublin.

pixieprincess

SFC1895 wrote: »

It’s just one list, with the vast majority of the jobs in Dublin.

Thanks- Nearly all the jobs are in Dublin, aren't they especially for AO. I do know of one regional department that takes lots of AOs. ( as I have been lucky enough to transfer out of the big smoke I don't want to go back ).

I am concerned about this process. If they offer me Dublin and I say no, am I then off the panel? I am use to open and inter-d civil service competitions, with a county choice, and with one list being operated I do think this is inefficient and impractical on PAS side.

I am on the Inter-D Heo list and my two county choices are based in the midlands, so I therefore know that I will be in a regional panel when they start the presentation and interview stage in early 2018.

Perhaps they will ask everyone who is successful in the AO their county preferences at a later date.
But that seems like more time wasting.

Oh well.

Chocolate Teapot

Thanks for the replies! I don't mind if it's the same test or not once the difficulty level was similar enough. the numerical was so hard the first time that if it got any harder it would be a complete nightmare!

SFC1895

pixieprincess wrote: »

Thanks- Nearly all the jobs are in Dublin, aren't they especially for AO. I do know of one regional department that takes lots of AOs. ( as I have been lucky enough to transfer out of the big smoke I don't want to go back ).

I am concerned about this process. If they offer me Dublin and I say no, am I then off the panel? I am use to open and inter-d civil service competitions, with a county choice, and with one list being operated I do think this is inefficient and impractical on PAS side.

I am on the Inter-D Heo list and my two county choices are based in the midlands, so I therefore know that I will be in a regional panel when they start the presentation and interview stage in early 2018.

Perhaps they will ask everyone who is successful in the AO their county preferences at a later date.
But that seems like more time wasting.

Oh well.

I know Revenue in Limerick take a sizable bunch- a couple of my cohort for the graduate training programme are based there, so they were off batch 1 of the 2016 campaign. One of my project group is there, so I’ll ask her later today what the process was for her to give you an idea of the regional placing process.

I think when your number comes up, PAS will contact you regarding the options and then the opportunity would be there to advise them that you’re looking for a place in X or Y, so that they can come back to you at a later date if/when a position comes up in that region.

The_Conductor

SFC1895 wrote: »

I know Revenue in Limerick take a sizable bunch- a couple of my cohort for the graduate training programme are based there, so they were off batch 1 of the 2016 campaign. One of my project group is there, so I’ll ask her later today what the process was for her to give you an idea of the regional placing process.

I think when your number comes up, PAS will contact you regarding the options and then the opportunity would be there to advise them that you’re looking for a place in X or Y, so that they can come back to you at a later date if/when a position comes up in that region.

Revenue in Limerick really are an outlier- and their complement of staff @ AO has been heavily over subscribed in both of the last 2 years.
DFA also have taken on posts in Limerick- and DAFM have taken a few in Portlaoise. Even DSP took a few in Letterkenny and Dundalk- so its not impossible- but improbable.

What most people- is take the Dublin post- and commute for the duration until they can get an internal transfer (I can think of a list of people who get the train from Limerick to Dublin in Revenue and Agriculture- on a daily basis- all of whom have it in mind to take the first posts in Limerick that come up).

Current staff will get first dibs on regional posts that open up- only after the current staff are satisfied will they be opened up to new starts. Most Departments have regional transfer panels for this specific purpose- the facilitate movements of current staff from Dublin to their preferred locations.

Also- keep in mind- the CAF system was reactivated only in the last week- i.e. there is a push on to try and get pre-existing civil servants who got stuck in Dublin- out of Dublin, in as expeditious a manner as possible.

Public Appointments run the CAF system too by the way- you could always drop them a line and see what they say.

HairyCabbage

Can anyone who has had their interview gives me an example of the questions they were asked outside of the competencies? And generally how the presentation went? What was the material given? etc. you can pm me

pixieprincess

SFC1895 wrote: »

I know Revenue in Limerick take a sizable bunch- a couple of my cohort for the graduate training programme are based there, so they were off batch 1 of the 2016 campaign. One of my project group is there, so I’ll ask her later today what the process was for her to give you an idea of the regional placing process.

I think when your number comes up, PAS will contact you regarding the options and then the opportunity would be there to advise them that you’re looking for a place in X or Y, so that they can come back to you at a later date if/when a position comes up in that region.

Thanks for that. If I am lucky to pass everything I will definitely get on to them and plead for a post in the midlands. I have done the 5hpur commute and I don't want to go back to that.

pixieprincess

The_Conductor wrote: »

Revenue in Limerick really are an outlier- and their complement of staff @ AO has been heavily over subscribed in both of the last 2 years.
DFA also have taken on posts in Limerick- and DAFM have taken a few in Portlaoise. Even DSP took a few in Letterkenny and Dundalk- so its not impossible- but improbable.

What most people- is take the Dublin post- and commute for the duration until they can get an internal transfer (I can think of a list of people who get the train from Limerick to Dublin in Revenue and Agriculture- on a daily basis- all of whom have it in mind to take the first posts in Limerick that come up).

Current staff will get first dibs on regional posts that open up- only after the current staff are satisfied will they be opened up to new starts. Most Departments have regional transfer panels for this specific purpose- the facilitate movements of current staff from Dublin to their preferred locations.

Also- keep in mind- the CAF system was reactivated only in the last week- i.e. there is a push on to try and get pre-existing civil servants who got stuck in Dublin- out of Dublin, in as expeditious a manner as possible.

Public Appointments run the CAF system too by the way- you could always drop them a line and see what they say.

Thanks for that. Yes I was thinking of DAFM myself in portlaoise. I have done the 5 hour daily commute and just got down to a department that is only 10 miles from my house now, so maybe PAS will still be looking for regional staff. I will keep my fingers crossed.

hardybuck

pixieprincess wrote: »

Thanks for that. Yes I was thinking of DAFM myself in portlaoise. I have done the 5 hour daily commute and just got down to a department that is only 10 miles from my house now, so maybe PAS will still be looking for regional staff. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Would you not be better with the HEO?

The_Conductor

hardybuck wrote: »

Would you not be better with the HEO?

100% definitely HEO vacancies for Portlaoise, Newbridge, Mullingar, Backweston etc. Can't say the same about AO posts. Big difference is you'll be expected to have experience (to at least a basic level) of managing staff to get HEO- whereas there is no such presumption @ AO level.

pixieprincess

hardybuck wrote: »

Would you not be better with the HEO?

Definitely!,but seeing as the AO interview and presentation came up before my Heo interview and presentation, I am using it as a practice run for experience. Sure I am half hoping I might be pleasantly surprised and get offered both. I may be living in dreamland at the moment though

RaoisleMcK

Hi guys, I am scheduled to do the tests/interview/presentation on Thursday. I graduated this year and have v little work experience. Does anybody know what level of experience is required to be successful in these campaigns? tia

Hovelette

I'm concerned about the reference we need for the past 3 years. I work in politics and my previous employer is a colleague of my current employer so I'm nervous about asking for a reference.

Does anyone know what kind of reference they are looking for?

I'm not sure if I want the AO job so mentioning it to employers might be a stupid move.

Jimbob1977

RaoisleMcK wrote: »

Hi guys, I am scheduled to do the tests/interview/presentation on Thursday. I graduated this year and have v little work experience. Does anybody know what level of experience is required to be successful in these campaigns? tia

I guess you'd have to use examples from university or your personal life, e.g. captain of football club..... auditor of the debating society..... leader of scout pack, etc. You might have already used some examples in Section C of the application form that they would have read.

As it's a graduate programme, they must surely be expecting some people straight out of college or recently in the workplace.

They can't expect a vast array of work experience if you're straight out of college. But maybe your summer jobs were Shift Leader or Store Manager.... which showed leadership, decision making and delivering results

Jimbob1977

Good luck to everyone at the Assessment Centre!

The weather on Thursday 7th and Friday 8th has a risk of snow.

Our Civil Service careers might start early if they break out the shovels on Abbey Street

piobhan

Best of luck to all.

I’m in Dublin Saturday to do the supervised aptitude tests for the local government jobs. Stage 2.

My question, they have called 380 people approx, if I’m number 300 on the order of merit for example, is this stage 2 an opportunity for me to move up the order of merit if I improve on my original result? Surely if I do better than 12.5% of my original test this could only be a good thing?
So basically could I move from number 300 on order of merit to say 100 for example if I improve my aptitude tests results at the weekend?
Thanks

Bella1978

Hi all, I did the interview day last week. Everything was going relatively well, until the maths test which was one of the last things I did on the day. It's a long day and I just kiddof lost it by the time the maths test came. I feel like I did really badly on it - at least considerably worse than at home.

If you do really well in everything else and then do badly in one part are you automatically out or do they take everything into consideration. I think I know the answer already, but would welcome people's thoughts...

SFC1895

piobhan wrote: »

Best of luck to all.

I’m in Dublin Saturday to do the supervised aptitude tests for the local government jobs. Stage 2.

My question, they have called 380 people approx, if I’m number 300 on the order of merit for example, is this stage 2 an opportunity for me to move up the order of merit if I improve on my original result? Surely if I do better than 12.5% of my original test this could only be a good thing?
So basically could I move from number 300 on order of merit to say 100 for example if I improve my aptitude tests results at the weekend?
Thanks

Yes. I moved from 299 to 126 during this process, batch 1 of 2016 competition. May have been down to doing better in the interview and presentation as I think the re-sit exams are for verification?

Some Random Username

Cousin informed he got to the interview stage of the IGEES campaign even though he thinks he did awful in the case study. Apparently he got exactly the qualifying score (which is exactly half of the total possible) which seems a bit fishy. Kinda reminds me of when teachers mark someone up so they don't fail.

I'm guessing he must not have a great chance unless there's a lot of places going seeing as he's probably bottom of the list as it stands. Anyone know if IGEES is just a few Dublin-based jobs or do they actually hire a lot of people?

punkerrandboy

Howdy all - for those of you who have attended the assessment centre can you give us some idea of what kind of scenario you got for the
Analysis Presentation Exercise? What kind of questions did you get?

evancunny95

F

Some Random Username wrote: »

Cousin informed he got to the interview stage of the IGEES campaign even though he thinks he did awful in the case study. Apparently he got exactly the qualifying score (which is exactly half of the total possible) which seems a bit fishy. Kinda reminds me of when teachers mark someone up so they don't fail.

I'm guessing he must not have a great chance unless there's a lot of places going seeing as he's probably bottom of the list as it stands. Anyone know if IGEES is just a few Dublin-based jobs or do they actually hire a lot of people?

For the last campaign they only hired 15 people I believe.

baba87

evancunny95 wrote: »

F

For the last campaign they only hired 15 people I believe.

Any idea how many people were called for interview in the last campaign?

evancunny95

baba87 wrote: »

evancunny95 wrote: »

F

For the last campaign they only hired 15 people I believe.

Any idea how many people were called for interview in the last campaign?

I'm not sure on that, anecdotally from talking to different people I haven't talked to someone who didn't pass the presentation. Take that how you will, I'm really not sure though if it 100 have been called or 50.

baba87

Yea the presentation went better than I thought to be honest...Not sure if that means numbers were low or they are just going to interview everyone...

marmieB

I failed the presentation last year and did brilliantly in interview +40/50 for all competencies.
Am comfortable with public speaking but I didnt know i would get only so little time to prepare and panicked during the prep time.It was the first time i did one as part of civil service recruitment...so i will know for again... This was last year

Chocolate Teapot

punkerrandboy wrote: »

Howdy all - for those of you who have attended the assessment centre can you give us some idea of what kind of scenario you got for the
Analysis Presentation Exercise? What kind of questions did you get?

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to go into detail here but I found the presentation very straightforward, as did other people I spoke to. You are given a situation where there are two possible courses of action. You have to recommend one and back up your reason for choosing your selected one. Once you've put a bit of thought into it and can stand over your decision you should be grand. Numerical and verbal were very similar to the original test. Found the interview the hardest, mine was 52 mins long, dont know if I did well enough tbh. Just a word of warning, it's a gruelling day from 9-5, so be very well rested and take breaks/fresh air between the various assessments. The mental fatigue by the end of the day might have a negative impact on the reasoning tests if you're doing them last. Good luck everyone.

piobhan

Has any found a good free website to practice similar verbal and numerical reasoning tests? I’ve seen Jobtest prep but has only 1 free test.
Anyone found a good site?
Thanks