Economist & Policy Analyst Graduate Role

High_castle

Perhaps they're planning to hire more? They must've been very busy this past year

ShatterResistant

Just to give my two cents, I had my interview earlier this week, was relatively happy with how it went - they're friendly and fair conducting it, each of the four interviewers takes a competency and will be the only one to ask questions based on that competency. Interpersonal & Communications was assessed overall based on performance across the interview, presume this will be the same for everyone. Stick to your competencies, and anticipate an obvious question or two arising from your response, for each of the sub-points. In particular for the question on policy analysis, expect to be drilled on the answers you give of specific software/variables/techniques you used and what the results were of your policy analysis - this is the job you're applying for. For specialist knowledge, the questions were tailored more to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your general economic and policy awareness, it was the only questions which were more 'in general' rather than an account of past experiences to match the competencies. Interview took 40-45 minutes, one or two general questions about your application at the start, then they moved on to each interviewer to cover their allotted competency, then one or two general questions at the end if any of the board members have them/if there's time. They also give you an opportunity to highlight anything you felt you didn't get to mention or any questions you have.

A friend of mine was successful in this competition last year, he was interviewed end of January and received OOM first week of February, followed by a job offer in early March - his OOM was in the 30-35 bracket. He says that people joined throughout the year who were further down the list which would imply more positions than the 30 or so suggested before (not sure if this was from an official source or generally the case?). Of course that's just the hearsay experience of a friend, but just to give an idea of someones experience last year.

I think it's important to account for people who have applied for multiple competitions, who will receive jobs elsewhere, who will not meet every competency at interview stage, and for additional jobs that may come up throughout the year while the panels are still active.

Best of luck to everyone still awaiting their interview, it's actually a blessing to be able to do them via Zoom in my opinion, with the comfort of doing them at home. Focus on what you know is going to be asked, they're out to confirm you're up to scratch, not to catch you out! If anyone has any other specific questions, don't hesitate to shoot me a PM.

exitstageleft

High_castle wrote: »

There were 9. I have already received my results and OOM.

Hey High_castle, Where, roughly, are you on the OOM? Any idea of they've started hiring of the first panel yet?

High_castle

No idea...I'm in the top 15 and I haven't heard from PAS.

BlueAW

Does anyone have any clue on how many people are on panel one? I know PAS can’t give certain details out but it’d be nice to know how many people are ahead of you including the people from panel 1 and not just how many are ahead in panel 2!

lucat

A similar campaign was run earlier this month, closing date 4th Feb. Did anyone apply? Campaign ID: 2105809

exitstageleft

I believe that may have been a slightly more senior position - potentially a future boss to one of us!

crinkley

yes I applied, haven't heard anything yet though

exitstageleft

Hey folks,
I had my interview and I was pleasantly surprised with how it went. I did struggle with one of the competencies but I knew it was an area I was weak on. For what it's worth, as was said earlier, the competencies are asked for explicitly. In fact, the interviewers were very good at explaining what they wanted from me. Overall, it was very fair and I reckon whatever score I get reflects my suitability for the role rather than a poor interview performance. Guess you can't ask for more than that.

Best of luck to those left to interview! Hope the results will follow shortly after that.

KD1934

I had mine too, wasn’t too happy. Felt I was asked a lot of hypothetical questions instead of concrete examples about myself and was put on the spot quite a lot. Hopefully we will get the results quite quickly after the last few next week.

goodstart

For those who received an OOM and have also completed garda vetting and submitted references, when do you think we'll hear about the actual position, start date, contract etc.?

exitstageleft

Do we think today odd the last day of interviews for batch 2? If so, can we expect results next week? I presume interviews are scored as soon as they're finished so it should only be a matter of collating the data.

@goodstart, roughly what order of merit were you? It's interesting to have a rough idea how many they're moving through.

ShatterResistant

Contacted PAS by email for an update - pretty short and nothing new really, just that interviews are still ongoing and results expected to issue in March.

I'd say so exitstageleft, fingers crossed we should have results by end of next week.

goodstart

@exitstageleft I'm in top 20 OOM.

@shatterResistant what email address are you using to contact? I sent an email to the contact listed in the "my applications" section of publicjobs but didn't get a response.

ShatterResistant

I'll PM you - vague recollection that we're not supposed to post contact details on boards.

KD1934

Do we think we will get the news from PAS sometime this week?

emmaneiser

KD1934 wrote: »

Do we think we will get the news from PAS sometime this week?

They’re out now

exitstageleft

They must have heard you!


So now the question is, how many places are likely to be reached on the order of merit for batch 2?

KD1934

Maybe they keep tabs of this page!

Passed anyway, would love to know how many are on panel 1 but alas, we will just have to wait and see.

exitstageleft

goodstart wrote: »

@exitstageleft I'm in top 20 OOM.

Thanks goodstart. When you get your start date will you please pop a message on here so we can continue the excruciating countdown to see if they'll reach our positions before the panel runs out?

ShatterResistant

Delighted with those results, placed in the top five so as long as the first batch gets exhausted, in with a good shot of a job.

exitstageleft

ShatterResistant wrote: »

Delighted with those results, placed in the top five so as long as the first batch gets exhausted, in with a good shot of a job.

Congrats! I'm a little behind you but within shouting distance. I'll be eagerly awaiting a post saying you've been called!

ShatterResistant

exitstageleft wrote: »

Congrats! I'm a little behind you but within shouting distance. I'll be eagerly awaiting a post saying you've been called!

Happy days, congratulations! Will update as soon as I hear anything.

goodstart

I didn't grow up in Ireland and this is my first time applying with the civil service, so I'm interested to know if you all knew that this would be a 5+ month process from the beginning? Like I had no idea and I was hoping to be in a position working months ago, and now the waiting is killing me.

It seems like this long of an application process would only work for somebody who already has a job. Do you all have jobs currently and just looking to switch to this one?

BlueAW

goodstart wrote: »

I didn't grow up in Ireland and this is my first time applying with the civil service, so I'm interested to know if you all knew that this would be a 5+ month process from the beginning? Like I had no idea and I was hoping to be in a position working months ago, and now the waiting is killing me.

It seems like this long of an application process would only work for somebody who already has a job. Do you all have jobs currently and just looking to switch to this one?

Hi,
Unfortunately this process can be very long and a panel lasts a year. It might be even longer given everything happening at the minute. I’ve a job at the moment as I couldn’t just wait for this job given the uncertainty.

.25lifecrisis

I did know it would take this long as I have friends who have gone through AO competitions before me. I already have a job but I know of people who were unemployed or working in shops etc. and living with their parents while doing it. Lots of talk about widening access and diversity and inclusion in the civil service but it is essentially a competition for the financially secure...

goodstart

Are we thinking that we're near the end of the process?

I'm 18 on the first panel, how much longer should I expect to wait?

Thanks for the help!

BlueAW

goodstart wrote: »

Are we thinking that we're near the end of the process?

I'm 18 on the first panel, how much longer should I expect to wait?

Thanks for the help!

I think it’s hard to tell when they will get to your OOM. I know someone who was in the early 20s for the competition two years ago and they started in June but I think the speed of which they go at changes from year to year! You could always email and see what OOM they have reached so far.

KD1934

Has anyone heard of any movement on panel 1?

ShatterResistant

Emailed for an update today and they said to expect to receive an email this week with regard to the next stage in the process, which will involve scanning in academic qualifications etc. In the interview results message they said that if your place on the order of merit is reached then the final 'clearance' process is commenced before offer of an appointment. Hoping this means that if they're asking for proof of qualifications that my OOM is reached - anyone know if this is correct?