Third Secretary & Development Specialist Campaign 2020

FenFlynn

exitstageleft wrote: »

I think it's very rarely a one-year panel (but there were ones in both 2017 and 2018). It's often a two-year panel but it can be longer (as I think it was during the recession).

After making a hames of the first test I'd much rather it be a one year panel but that's pretty unlikely!

I do believe it's a two year panel after reading through some previous posts. It's no indication as to how many positions are available though.
Stage 1 definitely could be improved via practice, I've never done so well in any of the previous competitions but this year I did a lot of practice beforehand and scored quite surprisingly well.

spritefeedback

CrouchTiger wrote: »

I think the idea of going for promotion after 1 year as TS is probably a bit crazy. I mean, people have done it, but you can't realistically expect a promotion to FS till you've gone on posting, and that would mean usually at least 2 years at HQ and 4 years on post, so 6 years. In a word, the competition for a very small number of promotions is going to be very, very intense. The salary difference at the top end for TS (say after 10 years) and the starting salary for FS are not that big.

I don't really know what you mean about quotas or process. An internal competition is for DFA candidates only, and external competition can be anyone, including DFA candidates. The opportunities will just depend on your CV I guess. Someone might come in with great experience that could see them promoted very quickly.

That's more or less what I would have expected. Promotion will always depend on examples for an interview and to manage it quickly you would have to have enough relevant examples from before joining.


Maybe quotas is the wrong term but another thread discussed departments having a 2:1 ratio of external to internal people for each competition. Maybe that is the general service wide competitions only.

Benarros

PurpleRainx wrote: »

When can we expect results of stage 3? Reckon interviews will be this side of Christmas? Hope those of us lucky enough to progress to Stage 4 will have ample time to prepare (unlike stage 3!)

Has anybody knows when the third stage will happen? How can you prepare for the interview? Are the competencies the same as the AO/HEO, for example, leadership, analysis and decision making? Will they ask the same questions of the interview recorded followed up with probing questions?

gaillimhjon

Just got some feedback from the development specialist interviews !

gaillimhjon

gaillimhjon wrote: »

Just got some feedback from the development specialist interviews !

Do you receive the result of the précis and details of stage 4?

spritefeedback

gaillimhjon wrote: »

Just got some feedback from the development specialist interviews !

Three questions :-)
Did you pass?
Did you request it?
Did you find it helpful?

gaillimhjon

spritefeedback wrote: »

Three questions :-)
Did you pass?
Did you request it?
Did you find it helpful?

Hi ! I didn’t pass, failed 2 questions, and for those 2 questions I got feedback. I found it useful yes, and will take it onboard. I didn’t request the feedback, they said in their original results message that feedback would be issued in the coming weeks to those who didn’t pass the entire interview.

Alrite_

Thanks for letting us know. Just wondering when did you find out the results of the precis? Or did they invite you to the interview without you knowing the results of the written exercise?

gaillimhjon

Alrite_ wrote: »

Thanks for letting us know. Just wondering when did you find out the results of the precis? Or did they invite you to the interview without you knowing the results of the written exercise?

Hi! I haven’t received my precis stage 3 results for third secretary yet! This was just feedback for the DSO stage 2 that I didn’t pass! Hopefully precis results come soon for us!

Disappointed we didn’t hear today about stage 3 results. They said stage 4 would take place early December so looks like there’ll be very little notice (for those lucky enough to go through) , as they did with stage 3...

ddpas

There was about 8 days notice for the AO interviews

spritefeedback

gaillimhjon wrote: »

Hi ! I didn’t pass, failed 2 questions, and for those 2 questions I got feedback. I found it useful yes, and will take it onboard. I didn’t request the feedback, they said in their original results message that feedback would be issued in the coming weeks to those who didn’t pass the entire interview.

The questions for DSA were very different to the third sec. I would suspect that most people did better with the third sec questions. It is good that they automatically provide feedback and better yet that it was helpful.


Hope the precis excercise went well for you.

Going mad waiting for news!!!! Hope it’s today, watching my phone

Amazon88

Did anyone hear anything yet? 17 days until Christmas...

blithe

Hoping we get the results soon! Preferably today or tomorrow 🀞 Just want to know at this stage haha

John45

Theres a lot of movement in d dept now
Internal promotions, postings etc .so keep ur hopes up

FenFlynn

Another day with no news..
I just want to be put out of my misery at this stage.

We got such little notice for stage 3 so it is annoying that they’re taking a while... and they said early December for stage 4...

ticklemonster

It is possible that only a small proportion of people at stage 3 are being interviewed and hence only the top 40/50 or so have heard anything. Basing this on the Admin officer thread though

CrouchTiger

I think you'll probably hear shortly. The Department is absolutely slammed with Brexit, postings, an A/Sec competition, a Counsellor competition, and many other HR concerns. The delay is pretty inevitable when you also consider the COVID demands. The précis pieces need to be marked by colleagues already overworked, so I'm sure that may be part of it.

ticklemonster

ticklemonster wrote: »

It is possible that only a small proportion of people at stage 3 are being interviewed and hence only the top 40/50 or so have heard anything. Basing this on the Admin officer thread though

I think everyone in the AO competition received their spot on the order of merit though so they had that news at least

PeachL00pies

Results are out. No OOM.

emhds

So those with a score of 42 or higher being called. Does that mean that those who have qualified but did not get a high enough score may be called forward to interview in the future?

PeachL00pies

emhds wrote: »

So those with a score of 42 or higher being called. Does that mean that those who have qualified but did not get a high enough score may be called forward to interview in the future?

They actually didn't clarify. Which is disappointing. I passed and scored just under the mark, so to not have the opportunity to interview now is a let down.

FenFlynn

I got no results, does that mean I failed?

thirdsecmaybe

I've got a score of 36 - anyone have an idea how likely I am to be called to a potential second round of interviews?

Amazon88

Same here, scored 40. Gutted.

belgowho

Yea id like to know those who got under 42, are they gonna get called in future. I know previous competitions, people interviewed a year after the competition started. I hope it will be the same.

FenFlynn

As expected I failed. Good luck to those going forward.

PearseCork92

PeachL00pies wrote: »

They actually didn't clarify. Which is disappointing. I passed and scored just under the mark, so to not have the opportunity to interview now is a let down.

I'd suspect if they didn't outright say you're eliminated they'll keep you on ice depending on how many they intend to hire over the duration of the campaign. Wouldn't lose hope just yet.