Third Secretary & Development Specialist Campaign 2020

pluggedout

chrishic wrote: »

Just completed the precis exercise and it did not go well at all. Anyone have any inkling if we still get the interview to pull it back as per the booklet or will they assess the precis to filter applicants first?

Glad to hear someone else struggled with it!

FenFlynn

I thought it was really tough as well, the amount of information and data was overwhelming. I struggled with picking the main themes as well, on hind sight I don't think I presented the strongest points. Anyway, glad it's finished though, the relief is immense.

blithe

I wonder if everyone is getting the same document or if they have a few different ones in circulation? Guess we won't know.

FenFlynn

blithe wrote: »

I wonder if everyone is getting the same document or if they have a few different ones in circulation? Guess we won't know.

No, we won't know. It's quite clear the documents could not be shared or circulated around. Possible the same for everyone just to be fair and equal

Alrite_

That didn't go well for me either. I would be surprised to have passed the precis. Found the second stage of the competition grand but didn't perform well on this stage.

HartsHat

blithe wrote: »

I wonder if everyone is getting the same document or if they have a few different ones in circulation? Guess we won't know.

In previous competitions it has been different documents on different days, for obvious reasons.

PurpleRainx

Just finished and wow was that pressurised.

I spotted a small typo after I clicked send-the joys!

Also went 20 words over the max word count of 400. I checked and my word count is within 1/3 of the original. Just hope they have some percentage leniancy each way.

Best of luck to those yet to do theirs!

sheepsheep

Is going over the word count heavily penalised I wonder (if anyone has insider info)? I think I wrote 543 words in the end.

PeachL00pies

The 1/3 worked out at about 398 for me and I wrote 404...

Was an incredibly tough exercise - felt as though it was a brief that someone had written and then they had just re-ordered the paragraphs.

FenFlynn

Candidates are advised that there are penalties for:

 Not adhering to the limitations on length set out
 Introducing ideas and opinions not contained in the text
 Omitting important points or failing to see the key themes
 Presenting a disjointed number of points rather than a continuous narrative
 Failure to observe the instruction that the summary is to be presented in your own words

Not sure how heavily penalised it would be to go over the word count. I had around 400 words, basically had to pick which ideas not to cover in order to stick to the word limit. Really concerned about item 3, omitting important points or failing to see the key themes, I think that would be me.

FenFlynn

HartsHat wrote: »

In previous competitions it has been different documents on different days, for obvious reasons.

I think you are absolutely right there. I notice it's exercise 1 on the document.

Treetirty

Anyone just get this from PublicJobs?

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the precis exercise you completed this morning will not be assessed. We have to request that you complete another precis exercise.

Because I'd love to know why they're asking me to do it again when they sent me an e-mail confirming that they had received my earlier one.

FenFlynn

Treetirty wrote: »

Anyone just get this from PublicJobs?

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the precis exercise you completed this morning will not be assessed. We have to request that you complete another precis exercise.

Because I'd love to know why they're asking me to do it again when they sent me an e-mail confirming that they had received my earlier one.

Oh no, what does that mean?
I did it in the afternoon, so haven't heard anything yet.

FenFlynn

I just got a message saying the same thing

Treetirty

FenFlynn wrote: »

Oh no, what does that mean?
I did it in the afternoon, so haven't heard anything yet.

Genuinely no clue, not sure what the unforseen circumstances are as it doesn't say. I can't understand what happened as I received an email after submitting my exercise earlier confirming that they had received it.
I'm pretty feckin' furious I'm not going to lie. We got about 36 hours notice that we had to do it the first time, and now I'm getting that amount of notice again to do it a second time

Because I'm not sure how I did, but at least it was done.

pluggedout

Same message. Really didn't want to have to do that again.

FenFlynn

Treetirty wrote: »

Genuinely no clue, not sure what the unforseen circumstances are as it doesn't say. I can't understand what happened as I received an email after submitting my exercise earlier confirming that they had received it.
I'm pretty feckin' furious I'm not going to lie. We got about 36 hours notice that we had to do it the first time, and now I'm getting that amount of notice again to do it a second time

Because I'm not sure how I did, but at least it was done.

Yeah, not pleased here either. No explanation, no reasons given, just a time to do it again on Friday... It's totally unfair.

spritefeedback

I got the same. Pain in the arse.

Maybe they sent out the wrong text or they have some evidence that it was 'leaked'. Or I suppose if this was the first day of it they could have had some kind of system failure.

Treetirty

spritefeedback wrote: »

I got the same. Pain in the arse.

Maybe they sent out the wrong text or they have some evidence that it was 'leaked'. Or I suppose if this was the first day of it they could have had some kind of system failure.

All definitely possible.

As I get why we might have to repeat it due any number of technical issues, but giving us about a day and half notification the first time and an unmovable slot to compete it in was a bit of a problem. Having to do it again during work hours with the same amount of notification is a serious problem.

blithe

Oh guys I'm so sorry, that's such a pain!

Wonder what happened.

Maedbh3232

Is anyone having difficulty logging in to the candidate portal? I did my Precis this morning and received an email notification at 16:00 (from the sounds of things probably telling me I need to retake it) but each time I try to log in on PublicJobs I receive the following message:

Server Unavailable!
Server unavailable.Please visit again later

sheepsheep

Portal currently down for maintenance, wondering if all of us have to retake and it's just the case that those of us who did it later in the afternoon haven't received the message through publicjobs yet.

Maedbh3232

Thanks!

For those who have to retake it, were you told when the repeat Precis is scheduled for? I'm just worried about my work schedule over the next two days and trying to fit in a second (unexpected) assessment now

Treetirty

Maedbh3232 wrote: »

Thanks!

For those who have to retake it, were you told when the repeat Precis is scheduled for? I'm just worried about my work schedule over the next two days and trying to fit in a second (unexpected) assessment now

Mine is the same time Friday as it was today, so 10am.

FenFlynn

Yeah, same here. Exact same time.

spritefeedback

same.

I suppose I am just pretty fortunate that my time is 12pm so its more or less lunchtime so that makes it easier with short notice. Other times could have been an issue.

Amazon88

Same, was 10am today now 10am Friday.

PurpleRainx

Treetirty wrote: »

Anyone just get this from PublicJobs?

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the precis exercise you completed this morning will not be assessed. We have to request that you complete another precis exercise.

Because I'd love to know why they're asking me to do it again when they sent me an e-mail confirming that they had received my earlier one.

Christ-that’s horrific I’m sorry.

I don’t like that they are not saying what the unforseen circumstances are. We are at least owed that.

I did mine at 2:30-praying I don’t have to resit mainly because it is tough and also because of work commitments.

Am I the only one on here who did it today that is yet to be asked to do it again?

Very best of luck to those who have to do it again..

FenFlynn

PurpleRainx wrote: »

Christ-that’s horrific I’m sorry.

I don’t like that they are not saying what the unforseen circumstances are. We are at least owed that.

I did mine at 2:30-praying I don’t have to resit mainly because it is tough and also because of work commitments.

Am I the only one on here who did it today that is yet to be asked to do it again?

Very best of luck to those who have to do it again..

That's strange that you don't have to repeat it. I did mine around noon but received a message to say that I have to repeat it.
I think the problem is with the exercise itself, there were themes given at the bottom of the article. In fairness, I didn't even look at that, just dived straight in to writing the precis. Now the thought of repeating the process is just too much. Having already geared up for it and then completely relaxed afterwards, now it's impossible to build up the momentum again.

FenFlynn

belgowho wrote: »

That was my guess too. If you download the text from the message now, those themes arnt there.

I printed mine out yesterday afternoon, there were still bullet points at the end with suggested themes. Must be taken away for the afternoon ones