Administrative Officers 2018 in the Civil Service

The_Conductor

ScreenTest310 wrote: »

Does anyone know exactly what the presentation entails?

Typically- its your first day as an AO in a section.
You're given a number of background documents on the section- alongside details of the work it does and the reporting structure.
You are given a set task to do (generate a document of some time or the other).
While working on this task- you have people- both internal and external- approach you with requests- some of which you have to do yourself- some of which you can decide to nominate a subordinate to undertake- but you are responsible for them nonetheless.
You have tasks flung at you with increased intensity.
Your clock is working against you.
You have to prioritise and focus on what your core duties are.
You have to make deliverables (send e-mails or responses to queries)- according to how you see fit- and its your deliverables, the time it takes to do them- and the manner in which you do them (and of course whether or not you manage to finish them)- that counts.........

I.e. high pressure tasks flung at you- commensurate to what you might expect to encounter in the job- but at such an intensity that you are put under incredible pressure- to see how you succeed or fail............

The deliverable might be a document to management recommending a particular course of action- or a press release- or a budget- or something similar.

Its actually not a million miles away from the e-tray itself- *but* you have a defined deliverable you have to have at the end of it all...........

belgowho

Thanks, Conductor. Just so I'm clear, there will certainly (or most likely unless something has changed) be a repeat of competency tests ie numerical, verbal, etc, at the next stage?

Pai Mei

Sorry but what is an e-tray? Never heard of it before

MFPM

Pai Mei wrote: »

Sorry but what is an e-tray? Never heard of it before

It's quite similar to what 'Theconductor' has outlined in post #152. This link will give you an idea. It's basically a simulated section of time in a job. You're given a scenario - your position, staff you're responsible for etc., and a list of tasks that you've to complete but they are thrown at you with increased frequency in the time allowed. I've never found them terribly realistic but it's what they use.

https://www.assessmentday.co.uk/e-tray-exercise.htm

Ravelleman

The_Conductor wrote: »

Typically- its your first day as an AO in a section.
You're given a number of background documents on the section- alongside details of the work it does and the reporting structure.
You are given a set task to do (generate a document of some time or the other).
While working on this task- you have people- both internal and external- approach you with requests- some of which you have to do yourself- some of which you can decide to nominate a subordinate to undertake- but you are responsible for them nonetheless.
You have tasks flung at you with increased intensity.
Your clock is working against you.
You have to prioritise and focus on what your core duties are.
You have to make deliverables (send e-mails or responses to queries)- according to how you see fit- and its your deliverables, the time it takes to do them- and the manner in which you do them (and of course whether or not you manage to finish them)- that counts.........

I.e. high pressure tasks flung at you- commensurate to what you might expect to encounter in the job- but at such an intensity that you are put under incredible pressure- to see how you succeed or fail............

The deliverable might be a document to management recommending a particular course of action- or a press release- or a budget- or something similar.

Its actually not a million miles away from the e-tray itself- *but* you have a defined deliverable you have to have at the end of it all...........

This is the etray, not the presentation.

In the presentation you are taken to a private office with a computer and writing materials and given a short brief which tasks you with recommending a course of action in a government department. You are given a stack of documents, containing a range of materials, like emails, case studies, budgets, and must evaluate these in the time allowed and prepare a recommendation based on the information provided. You are then conveyed to a room where you present to an evaluator and a note-taker under a time limit. Upon completion of your presentation, you respond to questions by the evaluator.

tgdaly

Sounds intense enough? Already stressing about this and not even sure if I'll even get that far haha. Hopefully results come out soon, I thought possibly the end of this week could be a shout, but probably next week I wreckon, I'd be disappointed and a bit surprised if it ran into the last week of November, even though they said it could

Theyank1

What is taking the results so long? Usually when u do an aptitude test u get results within 2 weeks.

The_Conductor

Theyank1 wrote: »

What is taking the results so long? Usually when u do an aptitude test u get results within 2 weeks.

Maybe they're waiting for a bank holiday, lol......

engiweirdo

Theyank1 wrote: »

What is taking the results so long? Usually when u do an aptitude test u get results within 2 weeks.

It's certainly very slooooow. They must be confident enough/not to pushed about losing applicants to industry in the meantime.

LordBasil

Hopefully we hear soon. It wouldn't surprise me if the results are issued this afternoon.

HydroTendonMan

LordBasil wrote: »

Hopefully we hear soon. It wouldn't surprise me if the results are issued this afternoon.

They do love Friday afternoons, but there are two of those left in November!

LordBasil

HydroTendonMan wrote: »

They do love Friday afternoons, but there are two of those left in November!

There are, but if they are having Stage 2 in early December like last year they will need to give sufficent notice so people can book leave and so on, so I'd say it'll be either today or sometime next week

HydroTendonMan

LordBasil wrote: »

There are, but if they are having Stage 2 in early December like last year they will need to give sufficent notice so people can book leave and so on, so I'd say it'll be either today or sometime next week

We can only hope. These competitions are incredibly long winded, it would be great if this one moved a little faster.

tgdaly

Results are in! Check your message board!

Placed 285 on the oom. Better than last year when I was in the 400s but won't imaging it'll be good enough to progress. No indication of numbers they are calling forward to stage 2, but according to my message from last years comp they only called forward up to 123 on the order of merit (which amounted to 260 candidates apparently, must be joint positions)

LordBasil

Results Out!!! - Passed I am just over 400 in General Stream OOM. It doesn't state what number will be called.

John Hutton

Yay I passed.

Got placed 138, reckon they will call down that far?

dulachodladh

Placed just over 2000, I probably won’t be called up but I’m chuffed to have passed this stage.

tgdaly

John Hutton wrote: »

Yay I passed.

Got placed 138, reckon they will call down that far?

You've got a chance, as i say above they went down to 123 last year, so if they have the positions available you might be in with a shot

engiweirdo

111 in order of merit for general stream. Would ye say it'll go that far down?

LordBasil

tgdaly wrote: »

You've got a chance, as i say above they went down to 123 last year, so if they have the positions available you might be in with a shot

Was that not the final Order of Merit after Interviews etc were done and not from Stage 1? I thought they called upto 500 and something in 2 batches from Stage 1 to Stage 2.

Sad Professor

Nothing in my messages. Should it show up later?

wispa9

I'm 111 - delighted because I thought the numerical analysis was a disaster but I guess verbal saved me. Hopefully it's high enough for the next stage

Aisling(",)

I got 1051 so probably won't be called but I'm delighted I passed the tests.

tgdaly

LordBasil wrote: »

Was that not the final Order of Merit after Interviews etc were done and not from Stage 1? I thought they called upto 500 and something in 2 batches from Stage 1 to Stage 2.

I don't think so, I think it was just after stage one. Thats what it says in my message from then anyways, it said it us intended to call up to 123 on the order of merit (which amounts to 260 candidates)

Although I might send them an email after lunch and see if they can indicate a number, surely if they knew last year they'd have a rough idea

John Hutton

Industrial and employee relations one is in now, placed 20 on that

Evilgirl190

Got placed 137 in general, no idea if that's good or bad or what haha. I'm a bit lost with this whole process- it's not as clearly laid out as most other jobs I've applied for.

daithi84

911 in general
253 in Business

Doogie34

Sad Professor wrote: »

Nothing in my messages. Should it show up later?

Nothing in mine either maybe that means we failed ... oh well

Theyank1

Well done to every1 who scored high. I got 2000s disappointed but happy I passed the tests

LordBasil

Doogie34 wrote: »

Nothing in mine either maybe that means we failed ... oh well

You should get a message even if you've failed as you're still entitled to results. If you don't get any message soon, contact PAS.