Clerical Officer 2020

Icbaby

Gumbi wrote: »

Would it put me "higher up the list" in any way, given that those with this skill are likely less common, right? Or is it irrelevant for the selection process?

Not sure gumbo as I didn’t have Irish 😀 I’m sure it can’t hurt because they don’t have loads of Irish speakers where I work and there’s 600 of us there. Make sure you point it out at your interview make a big deal of it.

GarIT

Gumbi wrote: »

Would it put me "higher up the list" in any way, given that those with this skill are likely less common, right? Or is it irrelevant for the selection process?

There are two lists/pannels, people who ticked that they are fluent in Irish will be on both of them. But rejecting a job in one might disqualify you from the other.


The Irish jobs can be disproportionately easier. There are call centres where there are 50+ COs answering queries in English and one CO answering them in Irish. Theres a queue of people on hold waiting for someone that speaks English so when one call ends your phone is ringing with the next one literally a second later, while the Irish speaking CO might take anwhere from 1-10 5 minute calls a day. We are legally required to have an Irish speaking option for every service no matter how quiet. In some cases Irish speakers can be asked to work in both languages.


The Irish speakers can also have it worse, an English speaker might be trained in one very specific query for example jobseekers payments while the Irish speaker has to answer questions on anything the Dept of social welfare do.


The Irish speakers will recieve their training in English and then be expected to answer a phone and explain in Irish without a single mistake why someone's medical card wasn't approved or why their jobseekers payment was rejeced all while the caller is angry. Not all callers are angry, it's a worst case scenario.

Gumbi

GarIT wrote: »

There are two lists/pannels, people who ticked that they are fluent in Irish will be on both of them. But rejecting a job in one might disqualify you from the other.


The Irish jobs can be disproportionately easier. There are call centres where there are 50+ COs answering queries in English and one CO answering them in Irish. Theres a queue of people on hold waiting for someone that speaks English so when one call ends your phone is ringing with the next one literally a second later, while the Irish speaking CO might take anwhere from 1-10 5 minute calls a day. We are legally required to have an Irish speaking option for every service no matter how quiet. In some cases Irish speakers can be asked to work in both languages.


The Irish speakers can also have it worse, an English speaker might be trained in one very specific query for example jobseekers payments while the Irish speaker has to answer questions on anything the Dept of social welfare do.


The Irish speakers will recieve their training in English and then be expected to answer a phone and explain in Irish without a single mistake why someone's medical card wasn't approved or why their jobseekers payment was rejeced all while the caller is angry. Not all callers are angry, it's a worst case scenario.

That's a comprehensive and illuminating answer, thank you.

Gumbi

Icbaby wrote: »

Not sure gumbo as I didn’t have Irish 😀 I’m sure it can’t hurt because they don’t have loads of Irish speakers where I work and there’s 600 of us there. Make sure you point it out at your interview make a big deal of it.

Thank you, will do!

L390

Can I ask .. does anyone think they won't be kept on after the year as this pandemic hopefully will be over by then and maybe we will be surplus to requirements ??? ..

Nigel Fairservice

L390 wrote: »

Can I ask .. does anyone think they won't be kept on after the year as this pandemic hopefully will be over by then and maybe we will be surplus to requirements ??? ..

I imagine anyone in before a moratorium (if there is to be one) will be fine. There will still be retirements etc. in the civil service.

tritriagain

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

I imagine anyone in before a moratorium (if there is to be one) will be fine. There will still be retirements etc. in the civil service.

Any update on when people will be let know and will unsuccessful candidates get word as well.

Augme

L390 wrote: »

Can I ask .. does anyone think they won't be kept on after the year as this pandemic hopefully will be over by then and maybe we will be surplus to requirements ??? ..

Departments won't take people on just to cover the current situation. There is a temporary clerical officer panel available for departments who need people short term.

I would be surprised if people are hired from the permenant panel before this situation is over unless it is extremely urgent.

tringle

Yep, TCOs been pulled in to cover extra pandemic work. The CO panel will be used for positions that would have been available anyway. Though i cant see many been offered soon. Large amount of COs now working from home so no one in offices to train them and even those in offices are sitting apart.
Our department asked us to contact anyone we knew on the current TCO panel that had worked with us before and see if they wanted to come back. They could slot back in and no training required.

macmad10

According to the comms on the application page I think we should be finding out this week re panel interviews via skype or similar? They may also offer training online depending on how much a particular position is needed.

Do any of you know how long the training usually lasts for?

L390

macmad10 wrote: »

According to the comms on the application page I think we should be finding out this week re panel interviews via skype or similar? They may also offer training online depending on how much a particular position is needed.

Do any of you know how long the training usually lasts for?

Are interviews by Skype or video 😢😢😢

macmad10

L390 wrote: »

Are interviews by Skype or video ������

Well we dont know yet - they did say in an updated post that they had already been trialling other ways of doing online interviews and that the would use this process to do the interviews. no word on whether thats skype or zoom but probably safe to say most interviews will be done via some video chat or phone

tinofapples

macmad10 wrote: »

According to the comms on the application page I think we should be finding out this week re panel interviews via skype or similar? They may also offer training online depending on how much a particular position is needed.

Do any of you know how long the training usually lasts for?

Training ?? On job training for vast majority of these positions, revenue been the exception I believe but as already mentioned recently Covid-19 has surely impacted any start dates.

ge_ch

tringle wrote: »

Yep, TCOs been pulled in to cover extra pandemic work. The CO panel will be used for positions that would have been available anyway. Though i cant see many been offered soon. Large amount of COs now working from home so no one in offices to train them and even those in offices are sitting apart.
Our department asked us to contact anyone we knew on the current TCO panel that had worked with us before and see if they wanted to come back. They could slot back in and no training required.

What county is that? I worked in the Intreo before and they were trying to get me back but PAS keep telling me there’s two people ahead of me. Few TCOs were assigned to Intreo but they have no experience and couldn’t start. Seems to me that they’re still assigning by OOM, not previous experience

November Golf

!! Top Tips to help you prepare for a Video Interview !!

https://publicjobs.ie/en/information-hub/latest-news-and-events/582-top-tips-to-help-you-prepare-for-a-video-interview

tringle

Mike Foxtrot wrote: »

!! Top Tips to help you prepare for a Video Interview !!

https://publicjobs.ie/en/information-hub/latest-news-and-events/582-top-tips-to-help-you-prepare-for-a-video-interview

Yep, just saw it on Instagram, they must be getting ready to contact us

Ace of Hearts

tringle wrote: »

Yep, just saw it on Instagram, they must be getting ready to contact us

I was informed yesterday that the results for stage 1 will be released "in the coming weeks". That could mean just about anything I guess but I'm not expecting contact this week anyway.

ShellBell89

Ace of Hearts wrote: »

I was informed yesterday that the results for stage 1 will be released "in the coming weeks". That could mean just about anything I guess but I'm not expecting contact this week anyway.

Thanks for the update

November Golf

Public jobs update on the COVID page under Clerical Officer 2020:

"We still expect interviews to take place in May. Full details will issue in advance."

tiny14

Hopefully we might get word this week onour results

lauramarie13

Is anyone else not able to log into their publicjobs.ie account right now? It says “server unavailable” when I click on the button to log in.

Green farmer

lauramarie13 wrote: »

Is anyone else not able to log into their publicjobs.ie account right now? It says “server unavailable” when I click on the button to log in.

They had a message up for the last few days letting us know site would be carrying out maintenance today. Will be back later.

foreverme

The results are a long time coming!!! Hopefully we hear soon. It'd be good to know how we all did.

job seeker

foreverme wrote: »

The results are a long time coming!!! Hopefully we hear soon. It'd be good to know how we all did.

The suspense is killing me..

ShellBell89

job seeker wrote: »

The suspense is killing me..

Yeah it would be great to know either way 😬

jaffa20

Is there are score or is it just a pass/fail to interview stage? I am dreading online interviews. I would nearly prefer a phone call with a follow up face to face interview.

Irish_peppa

jaffa20 wrote: »

Is there are score or is it just a pass/fail to interview stage? I am dreading online interviews. I would nearly prefer a phone call with a follow up face to face interview.

I applied last year for temporary CO and got an email saying I was invited to next stage for interview in January (i never showed up as was ill hope thats not held against me in this competition:o)
"peppa we see you didnt bother attending last interview:cool: ! me

Irish_peppa

If you get called for the next stage web interview do you have to send them over your cv in advance? Even in normal circumstances I assume you need to give the a CV like you would any job interview or is it different for clerical officer jobs?

Nigel Fairservice

Irish_peppa wrote: »

If you get called for the next stage web interview do you have to send them over your cv in advance? Even in normal circumstances I assume you need to give the a CV like you would any job interview or is it different for clerical officer jobs?

You'll fill out an application form. It'll more or be your CV you're putting on the application form.

ge_ch

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

You'll fill out an application form. It'll more or be your CV you're putting on the application form.

This years application form didn’t ask for employment history. Looks like they don’t care, solely based on questionnaire and interviews