Interdepartmental HEO Competition 2019

tricky@

cosmic wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how long the interview lasts? And are they likely to start on time?


I'm just putting in for my leave so need to know :rolleyes:
Cheers!

Interview lasts approx 40 mins. Should start on time. Think the PAS rep called me a few mins early even. In total I was there for a bit shy of four hours between presentation and interview. Had a 40 minute break between the end of presentation and start of interview and was free to leave/come back if necessary.

cosmic

tricky@ wrote: »

Interview lasts approx 40 mins. Should start on time. Think the PAS rep called me a few mins early even. In total I was there for a bit shy of four hours between presentation and interview. Had a 40 minute break between the end of presentation and start of interview and was free to leave/come back if necessary.

Perfect, that's exactly the info I was looking for. Cheers! I hope yours went well, by the way.

Jsherlock1

Connected99 wrote: »

Is it still only Dublin Region candidates that are being shortlisted, attending Supervised tests and attending interviews?
Is this the 1st of 2nd round/batch for Dublin region - Would anyone know please?

Also has any regional Candidates been shortlisted yet?

Thank you.

PAS said that regional shortlisting will start in the next few weeks so I'd imagine it wont be until after the Dublin interviews are over. Im not holding out too much hope anyway!

snoopy12

Best of luck to all being interviewed. Has anyone heard of Regional movement?

Forthebuzz

snoopy12 wrote: »

Best of luck to all being interviewed. Has anyone heard of Regional movement?

"We have no definite date set, but shortlisting for the Regional HEO will probably take place towards the end of June."

That was the most recent update I have gotten from pas in relation to regional shortlisting

Connected99

Jsherlock1 wrote: »

PAS said that regional shortlisting will start in the next few weeks so I'd imagine it wont be until after the Dublin interviews are over. Im not holding out too much hope anyway!

Thank you!!
The last I heard too was that it would be end of June.
Doesnt look like thats happening though

ilovethistles

Hi guys,

I rang yesterday and was told the shortlisting for the regional panels is currently ongoing. Also that it would be a couple of weeks before anyone hears anything.

Jsherlock1

ilovethistles wrote: »

Hi guys,

I rang yesterday and was told the shortlisting for the regional panels is currently ongoing. Also that it would be a couple of weeks before anyone hears anything.

Good to know we will know one way or another soon. Thanks for the update!

jayk99

Anyone get any weird qs in the HEO interview?

Rosie_ob

jayk99 wrote: »

Anyone get any weird qs in the HEO interview?

Quiet a few!! I found my interview didn’t follow competencies as much as previous ones.

Sinus pain

Rosie_ob wrote: »

Quiet a few!! I found my interview didn’t follow competencies as much as previous ones.

What would you class as weird questions?

Forthebuzz

ilovethistles wrote: »

Hi guys,

I rang yesterday and was told the shortlisting for the regional panels is currently ongoing. Also that it would be a couple of weeks before anyone hears anything.

Thats great news!

Aisling(",)

Rosie_ob wrote: »

Quiet a few!! I found my interview didn’t follow competencies as much as previous ones.

Hi do you have any tips or advice from the presentation/report aspect?

channelsurfer2

the questions i was asked were bizzare. very little from one particular interviewer on structure basis. all i was short of being asked was what made me come here in the first place....not in anyway linked to each comp. i plan to write a formal complaint to pas over it.

Augme

Lagunasecastig wrote: »

20 years in the civil service mate, AO applies no more to policy than HEO. Both are middle management level and equivalent grades, it just so happens that AOs are less often asked to manage staff as most HR units across the civil service will try to assign AOs to an area where their qualification is relevant. I've worked to an AO as my line manager before and another person in my unit has an AO as his line manager at the moment. One is the entry level for outside at middle management, the other is a promotion to middle management for internal staff - hope this helps!

So as I said and you agree, AOs are less often asked to manage staff. Hence the reason they want to open up the HEO competition, so they can get more people in who are capable of managing people.

bookergirl

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

the questions i was asked were bizzare. very little from one particular interviewer on structure basis. all i was short of being asked was what made me come here in the first place....not in anyway linked to each comp. i plan to write a formal complaint to pas over it.

That's disappointing to hear, I presumed they would follow normal practice of interviewing on competencies.
Did you have to do a presentation?

Addle

They’re going to ask obvious interview questions as well as competency questions.
It’s the interviewee’s responsibility to be prepared.

channelsurfer2

Addle wrote: »

They’re going to ask obvious interview questions as well as competency questions.
It’s the interviewee’s responsibility to be prepared.

we will have to disagree on that.. i know what a competency based interview is and i know what interview questions are as well. most of my question without going into detail as interviews are ongoing were in neither category..

Addle

They’re trained and, other than trying to get the best out of the candidate, stick to the script.
I find it odd that a PAS interview with 5 people present could be considered so obtuse.

eimaj18

I'm on tomorrow. I've an hour and a half between my interview and presentation exercise. Not sure if that's good or bad! Ha ha. I wish it was the other way around.

madnolla

eimaj18 wrote: »

I'm on tomorrow. I've an hour and a half between my interview and presentation exercise. Not sure if that's good or bad! Ha ha. I wish it was the other way around.

How many people were shortlisted to the first batch of supervised tests, and how many will be shortlisted in the next batch

eimaj18

madnolla wrote: »

How many people were shortlisted to the first batch of supervised tests, and how many will be shortlisted in the next batch

I don't know to be honest! After Stage 1, I was mid 200s. They shortlisted 1-647 I think. I would imagine it would be similar. I'm in batch 1.1, who are interviewing at the moment - 1-147 in order of merit after Stage 3 supervised testing. I would imagine they will interview 1.2 and then 1.3, and then move on to shortlisting the next batch (2).

Grainne Dee

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

we will have to disagree on that.. i know what a competency based interview is and i know what interview questions are as well. most of my question without going into detail as interviews are ongoing were in neither category..

I had a similar experience in interview today it was very disconcerting- I was asked in detail about a six month internship I did 12 years ago, I mean in detail- this had not formed part of any of my competency answers in my application but was a brief, compared to others descriptions, reference in my work experience. I hope I’m not judged on that - it was way left of field. This is my third PAS interview and I’ve not experienced anything like this. I’m not sure how to deal with this - I’m considering complaining as I don’t think an internship while doing a masters should be given more weight than work roles or recent civil service examples - I’m at a loss to be honest.....

Addle

Maybe they looked on the internship positively?
Feeling interrogated after a civil service interview is a good thing.

love_love

I agree that the interview was different than what I have previously experienced in the civil service but, then again, the role is higher than one I've ever gone for before so there has to be some kind of evolution from grade to grade. I would be wary of labelling any questions "irrelevant" to the competencies, while also encouraging people to not put too much weight on what the panel choose to focus on. They choose their line of questioning for a number of reasons - it could be of interest to them because of their own career, they may be asking you something left of field to see how you deal with thinking on your feet, they may be testing the veracity of something you've put on your form that they surmise you don't expect to be asked about, they may be putting you in a situation where it's up to you to pivot to what you actually want to talk about, or it could be something that's completely in line with competencies and for whatever reason that connection isn't evident to you.

jayk99

I had my interview this week and just a few tips. They asked about competencies but also applied it to what if scenerios. What would you do in this scenario, how would you motivate your staff. They did ask for actual examples but less emphasis on that than previous interviews. I actually didn't mind it, it seemed like they just wanted to get to know your personality and not just the form. Presentation isn't that bad. They give a lot of solutions in the document, just keep an eye on time.

eimaj18

Had my interview today. I’d agree with the above. They were very interested in very specific examples of what you did - mine were possibly too general.

Presentation exercise went well. I think the best thing to do is make decisions and stick to them. Be able to show how you came to the decisions.

Good luck!

eimaj18

Are the interviews for this batch finished now, does anyone know?

Sinus pain

No I’ve an interview next week

tricky@

eimaj18 wrote: »

Are the interviews for this batch finished now, does anyone know?

Interviews until next Friday 5th July, guessing that might mean results issue towards the end of the following week.