NEW 2018 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

prettyboy81 · 06-09-2018 10:32am

IT issues sorted & all submitted. Roll on the intelligence tests later in the month ha.

gerrybbadd · 06-09-2018 10:57am

Form gone in now. Lot of work put into it the last couple of days.

I've never done those e-tray tests before. Psychometrics are fine for the most part - i've done so many of them the last 5 years or so, I feel grand doing them

Sir Ophiuchus · 06-09-2018 11:53am

I've never done e-tray before either. My friend called it 'Civil Service: the computer game'.

TaurenDruid · 06-09-2018 12:32pm

Well that's signed, sealed, GDPR box ticked (even though it's a really confusing 'Tick box to exclude this section', whut?), and delivered. See ye over the course of the next 200+ pages on this thread! ;-)

Sir Ophiuchus · 06-09-2018 12:37pm

You know what they say: If you're not in, you can't win!

djPSB · 06-09-2018 1:02pm

How many pages are your applications reaching?

Hard to know how much detailed should be included in the questions.

gerrybbadd · 06-09-2018 1:08pm

djPSB wrote: »

How many pages are your applications reaching?

Hard to know how much detailed should be included in the questions.

Mine got up to 13 pages

Caranica · 06-09-2018 1:18pm

Decided not to send it in after all. Losing the will to live when you're applying doesn't bode well for the process and the job

SFC1895 · 06-09-2018 1:27pm

Submitted the form yesterday, happy enough with it. A little bit of repetition and duplication but that seems common enough going by the responses of others on here. Think my form came in around 16/17 pages, which is probably on the slightly too long side.

All the best to eveyone on here

Aglomerado · 06-09-2018 1:30pm

Sir Ophiuchus wrote: »

I've never done e-tray before either. My friend called it 'Civil Service: the computer game'.

There's an idea for a sim game!

Anyway, window shuts in 90 minutes. Good luck to all!

:Keith: · 06-09-2018 1:33pm

SFC1895 wrote: »

Submitted the form yesterday, happy enough with it. A little bit of repetition and duplication but that seems common enough going by the responses of others on here. Think my form came in around 16/17 pages, which is probably on the slightly too long side.

All the best to eveyone on here

In terms of length, that probably depends along on the Employment History section. I was on page 9 by the time I got to writing about Leadership.

ParkRunner · 06-09-2018 1:38pm

As an aspiring AP, I wish you could record your educational and work details once with PAS, which would be saved onto your “account” and filled in automatically (editable of course) when you apply for a new position!

The amount of man hours wasted filling in the same info in every application must be huge!

P.s. best of luck to everyone

duffman13 · 06-09-2018 1:38pm

Mine was fairly short and to the point. Only toplined the answers and thought that might be the best thing to expand into if I get to interview stage. Found the application repetitive and relatively vague. The competencies framework helps answering the questions though. Reading here it seems I may not have got as much detail in as needed.

This is all new to me (Public sector) so looking forward to going through the process. Good experience in either way, been with the same company for 6 years so good to broaden the horizons somewhat

Aglomerado · 06-09-2018 1:41pm

ParkRunner wrote: »

As an aspiring AP, I wish you could record your educational and work details once with PAS, which would be saved onto your “account” and filled in automatically (editable of course) when you apply for a new position!

The amount of man hours wasted filling in the same info in every application must be huge!

P.s. best of luck to everyone

I totally agree. I must have filled in about 8 of these forms by now...
There's an idea for the civil service innovation scheme for any PAS insiders reading this.

Addle · 06-09-2018 1:44pm

ParkRunner wrote: »

The amount of man hours wasted filling in the same info in every application must be huge!

Of course everyone completes their applications on their own time...

djPSB · 06-09-2018 2:06pm

Caranica wrote: »

Decided not to send it in after all. Losing the will to live when you're applying doesn't bode well for the process and the job

Application process would turn alot away.

Copy of CV and cover letter should be enough initially.

gerrybbadd · 06-09-2018 2:08pm

djPSB wrote: »

Application process would turn alot away.

Copy of CV and cover letter should be enough initially.

Well, the form kinda encompasses all of that. Your CV, the personal statement for cover letter etc. Plus it forms the basis of the interview questions.

i've no problem with the form

R777B · 06-09-2018 2:10pm

djPSB wrote: »

Application process would turn alot away.

Copy of CV and cover letter should be enough initially.

Considering how many could potentially apply, that may be the tactic - so they only get applicants who are serious about going for it.

TaurenDruid · 06-09-2018 2:12pm

ParkRunner wrote: »

As an aspiring AP, I wish you could record your educational and work details once with PAS, which would be saved onto your “account” and filled in automatically (editable of course) when you apply for a new position!

What, like, for example, every professional recruitment agency's website?

But yes, absolutely. It beggars belief that they've been using the same antiquated system with un-copy-and-pastable PDF forms (defaulted, still, to American English!) for the past ten years, even if they have changed the skin of the website recently.

rcard · 06-09-2018 2:33pm

practice tests for the cut-e seem to be here:

http://getstarted.cut-e.com/home/?modul=4CZCtzLof2NCWeToXq8L0g%3d%3d&theme=16peDn%2bPxEIKyLUqZjlX4Q%3d%3d

quad_red · 06-09-2018 2:37pm

ParkRunner wrote: »

As an aspiring AP, I wish you could record your educational and work details once with PAS, which would be saved onto your “account” and filled in automatically (editable of course) when you apply for a new position!

The amount of man hours wasted filling in the same info in every application must be huge!

P.s. best of luck to everyone

Well maybe that's a boards.ie oath to be made. If anyone here makes AP and gets assigned to PAS that'll be their secret mission to deliver.

marmieB · 06-09-2018 2:38pm

How do you know it will be cut -e?
Recent exam for another comp it was shl

djPSB · 06-09-2018 2:40pm

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Well, the form kinda encompasses all of that. Your CV, the personal statement for cover letter etc. Plus it forms the basis of the interview questions.

i've no problem with the form

The form takes too long to complete, and therefore turns away a large percentage of talent.

The process should be similar to private sector application processes.

tigger123 · 06-09-2018 2:52pm

djPSB wrote: »

The form takes too long to complete, and therefore turns away a large percentage of talent.

The process should be similar to private sector application processes.

If people can't be bothered going through the application form, they're probably not suited for the job.

AP (and the civil sercice in general) can be extremely testing on your patience, and is generally very paper heavy. You also need to be able to put together strong, convincing arguments on paper.

duffman13 · 06-09-2018 2:53pm

djPSB wrote: »

The form takes too long to complete, and therefore turns away a large percentage of talent.

The process should be similar to private sector application processes.

Its a relatively good salaried position. People coming from the private sector for it are going to be on similar money to what is offered so I think the effort involved is fair. Id prefer this than a CV dump which means 6000 candidates as opposed to maybe 2500. I say this now full of hope but I might think differently if I dont get past the E-Tray or something :pac:

It eliminates people who cant be bothered tbh

Crunchymomma · 06-09-2018 2:56pm

Any idea who did the 2016 comp aptitude tests, was it shl?

gerrybbadd · 06-09-2018 2:57pm

rcard wrote: »

practice tests for the cut-e seem to be here:

http://getstarted.cut-e.com/home/?modul=4CZCtzLof2NCWeToXq8L0g%3d%3d&theme=16peDn%2bPxEIKyLUqZjlX4Q%3d%3d

That discover rules test is mental. I got 4 out of 6 in it, but don't ask me how!!!

marmieB · 06-09-2018 3:01pm

I remember AO comp had cut e a few years ago...

djPSB · 06-09-2018 3:05pm

tigger123 wrote: »

If people can't be bothered going through the application form, they're probably not suited for the job.

AP (and the civil sercice in general) can be extremely testing on your patience, and is generally very paper heavy. You also need to be able to put together strong, convincing arguments on paper.

Disagree with that logic.

The civil service should be trying to be competitive with the private sector employers. Not everyone is willing to put 9/10 hours into an application form for a role regardless of what the role is.

Just because someone is willing is to commit such time to an initial application does not make them a better candidate. Just because someone wants the job more than someone else does not make them a better candidate. It should be based on your experience and what one can bring to a role, which is very evident from a CV.

All that said I did apply myself.

duffman13 · 06-09-2018 3:11pm

djPSB wrote: »

Disagree with that logic.

The civil service should be trying to be competitive with the private sector employers. Not everyone is willing to put 9/10 hours into an application form for a role regardless of what the role is.

Just because someone is willing is to commit such time to an initial application does not make them a better candidate. Just because someone wants the job more than someone else does not make them a better candidate. It should be based on your experience and what one can bring to a role, which is very evident from a CV.

All that said I did apply myself.

Did you actually put that much time into it? Fair play if you did!

NEW 2018 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

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