Administrative Officer 2017 Campaign

Sir Ophiuchus

Once you have an offer, you can ask for your start date to be pushed back a little, if you need it. Entirely up to the discretion of your Department's HR, though.

mockscraic

Is there a way for AOs to switch to Third Sec and vice versa?

belacqua_

mockscraic wrote: »

Is there a way for AOs to switch to Third Sec and vice versa?

3rd secs can be seconded to other depts. where they work in analogous AO roles, primarily Taoiseach’s, Finance, Houses of the Oireactas. AOs, like any other generalist grade can be seconded to D/FAT (and there are a handful of AOs in Foreign Affairs, both IGEES and general service), but they’re not part of the diplomatic corps as such. One of the ‘minor’ differences, for better or worse, is that 3rd secs are contractually obliged to serve abroad.

LegallyAbroad

mockscraic wrote: »

Is there a way for AOs to switch to Third Sec and vice versa?

No, they're different grades (although they are equivalent).

However, experience as an AO would be beneficial at the interview stage of the TS competition.

squelch666

Anyone any news on AOs marking time abolishment by DPER?

Halloween Jack

squelch666 wrote: »

Anyone any news on AOs marking time abolishment by DPER?

I contacted my internal hr recently, they told me they had seen a draft circular outlining the abolishment and expected it to be published soon...

AGC

Halloween Jack wrote: »

squelch666 wrote: »

Anyone any news on AOs marking time abolishment by DPER?

I contacted my internal hr recently, they told me they had seen a draft circular outlining the abolishment and expected it to be published soon...

Hopefully it happens soon. Had never heard of it before reading it on here but such a ridiculous rule.

Hopefully it is all backdated.

squelch666

Halloween Jack wrote: »

I contacted my internal hr recently, they told me they had seen a draft circular outlining the abolishment and expected it to be published soon...

hi Halloween Jack how recent did you contact them?

i heard from my hr in june the same thing

Halloween Jack

squelch666 wrote: »

hi Halloween Jack how recent did you contact them?

i heard from my hr in june the same thing

Maybe August? I have a note of it somewhere

quad_red

squelch666 wrote: »

Anyone any news on AOs marking time abolishment by DPER?

Sorry - what does this mean? 'Marking time'?

edit: never mind. Get it.

Smegging hell

Will another competition be announced this Autumn?

Maggieclerical

Did anybody or does anybody know of anyone who has a level 7 Degree from university apply last year? And if so were the eligible or told no?

Ravelleman

Maggieclerical wrote: »

Did anybody or does anybody know of anyone who has a level 7 Degree from university apply last year? And if so were the eligible or told no?

Level 8 is the minimum and, to be honest, many would also have qualifications above this.

Sir Ophiuchus

Ravelleman wrote: »

Level 8 is the minimum and, to be honest, many would also have qualifications above this.

Though, in addition to that, I'd say don't let it discourage you if you're applying with a Level 8.

A friend of mine got AO this year on the foot of a II.2 degree - she's fantastic, and it wasn't an issue for her.

Experience and being able to demonstrate the skillset is more important than qualifications, so long as you have the minimum. They matter, but they aren't the be all and end all.

Maggieclerical

Cheers,
It's a bit strange that the AP positions didn't require a degree to apply - that it would be beneficial afterwards and that's higher than AO. Thanks for all the info tho it's a shame that specialised level 7 degrees don't count! Thanks anyways

Sir Ophiuchus

Maggieclerical wrote: »

Cheers,
It's a bit strange that the AP positions didn't require a degree to apply - that it would be beneficial afterwards and that's higher than AO.

I suspect it's because they don't want to exclude people with, say, 20 years' experience in business but who don't have a degree. For AO they're looking for people with qualifications they can bring up into those positions sooner. That's my theory anyway.

Maggieclerical

Sir Ophiuchus wrote: »

I suspect it's because they don't want to exclude people with, say, 20 years' experience in business but who don't have a degree. For AO they're looking for people with qualifications they can bring up into those positions sooner. That's my theory anyway.

Thanks - good theory!! Guess it's back to the books for me then or go the EO to heo route eventually!

hardybuck

Sir Ophiuchus wrote: »

I suspect it's because they don't want to exclude people with, say, 20 years' experience in business but who don't have a degree. For AO they're looking for people with qualifications they can bring up into those positions sooner. That's my theory anyway.

Exactly, people may join the organisation at a junior level without qualifications and progress up the ladder without them.

bmcb

Has anyone seen the 2018 competition announced last week? I wonder will there be any positions down the country I.e. Connacht

hardybuck

bmcb wrote: »

Has anyone seen the 2018 competition announced last week? I wonder will there be any positions down the country I.e. Connacht

Unless there is some fairly significant change in policy, I think it would be unlikely that positions would emerge there - but you never know.

There aren't many Government Departments based in the likes of Connacht, what's there will be the more operational and customer facing sides of Revenue, Social Protection, Courts etc. Prisons are based in Longford I think, NSSO have an office in Galway too.

Revenue would have a few AOs in Galway, but they do their own AO recruitment.

bmcb

Thanks for your reply. I’m a little confused as to where there are government departments. I think I need to do more research. I think their is a dept of rural and comm development on Ballina (mayo).
Probably not worth applying! Not moving to Dublin 😀

hardybuck

bmcb wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I’m a little confused as to where there are government departments. I think I need to do more research. I think their is a dept of rural and comm development on Ballina (mayo).
Probably not worth applying! Not moving to Dublin ��

I would agree on doing some more research and you might be in a better position to make a decision afterwards.

All Departments are based within Dublin or its environs, I think it's only Defence that have their HQ in Newbridge. This is due to the fact that Departments have Ministers, and the Ministers need to be close to Leinster House.

In additon to Departments, there are also loads of other different Civil Service organisations who have offices around Dublin and around the country, but most AOs traditionally end up in Dublin.

Sir Ophiuchus

There are exceptions. Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, for example, has offices in Killarney and in Galway, but yes, the vast majority of AO roles are in Dublin.

rostalof

hardybuck wrote: »

Unless there is some fairly significant change in policy, I think it would be unlikely that positions would emerge there - but you never know.

There aren't many Government Departments based in the likes of Connacht, what's there will be the more operational and customer facing sides of Revenue, Social Protection, Courts etc. Prisons are based in Longford I think, NSSO have an office in Galway too.

Revenue would have a few AOs in Galway, but they do their own AO recruitment.

There are AO's in most districts in Revenue. They are however, as you said, generally hired by Revenue directly, however some are hired from open competition too. Another point worth noting is that AO's aren't exclusively based in policy based roles. In a lot of cases they are de facto HEO's.

The map below lists department offices/locations throughout the country. Some of the blue dots represent numerous departments in shared locations.

https://dper.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=83eb12efc9c7478a982d39a89f759663

CMR23

Can anyone tell me the final OOM they interviewed up to for this campaign? Thanks in advance!

Craigdb

Hi guys.
started an AO job from the 2018 campaign 3 weeks ago and so far I absolutely hate the area in which I have been put. It's extremely specialised and being a relatively recent graduate I feel completely overwhelmed by it. Does anyone know if there is any chance of moving to a different area within a department or are you stuck where you're put? Any advice welcome! Thank you.

Nagnad

Was anyone successful in this competition promoted from EO to AO in 2017 and affected by circular 08/2019 - starting pay on promotion?

If so, you were promoted in 2017 and placed on same point of scale.

Anyone promoted in 2018 went to same point on scale + 1 increment.

Anyone affected by this??