Third Secretary Campaign 2022

Brooklyn94

Hi all,

As the online assessments have just been released for the Third Secretary competition 2022, I thought we could use this forum to discuss the process.

It appears the format is slightly different this year? More time and questions.

agoodusername

I applied, first time going for 3rd sec but I'm doing it mainly for the experience. I'm only out of college recently so this campaign is possibly a bit early for me.

bichonfrise7

Can anyone find the information booklet for this year?

tomjmsn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119566001#Comment_119566001

22302204_Final_Junior_Diplomats_DFA_2022.pdf

Do you mean this one? There is a new information booklet for the tests. There should be a link to it in your messages on Public Jobs

bichonfrise7

Yes thank you! Every time I googled it it was only the 2020 one coming up!

christinxcat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058261482/third-secretary-campaign-2022

Thanks for starting the thread Brooklyn94! Have trawled through the 2020 thread here and found it very useful, but yes, seems the format is a little different this year. I imagine in general the whole process will have been slightly adapted, since COVID regulations were lifted.

Best of luck to all in the first round!

Brooklyn94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119566257#Comment_119566257

No worries, it was useful for sure!

Can anyone confirm if we are allowed a physical calculator for the numerical reasoning? The familiarisation material mentions a calculator but the information booklet states we have to use our computers inbuilt calculator.

bichonfrise7

In other comps I think your allowed, however that’s the first time I’ve seen that there’s an inbuilt calculator, mightn’t be any harm to ask PAS

tomjmsn

Does anyone know if we have already gotten through a first stage? As in, were the 500 word statements and application forms sifted or is everyone through to this test stage?

bichonfrise7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119570499#Comment_119570499

I think it's like a rough sifting of applications, I was removed from a comp once because my degree didn't match the criteria, but as far as I know, after interviews they double-check everything, like references, qualifications etc - that's my understanding of it anyways

Smoochs!

I am so worried about the self assessment questions and the situational judgment ones. I have no idea how to approach the self assessment, and ive being practing the AO situational judgment and cant seem to score higher than the middle band, any advice for me

R2020C

Does anyone have any good recommendations for practise test websites that might be good?

Also, sorry if this is a stupid question, but, if you have a friend who works as a third Secretary and you ask them for any tips, does that count as canvassing and then disqualification? Or is it only canvassing if you email DFA?

Thanks and good luck everyone!

Shield

Moderator note: Identical discussion deleted in Newbies & FAQ

niallkenny83

Hi Smoochs,

Where are you practicing the AO tests? Can you pls send a link?

Many thanks

Smoochs!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119577049#Comment_119577049

I'm not allowed to post or even send links, just google Test Advice for Public for public jobs, click the titled page, and you'll find links in the bottom. Let me know how you get on. I cant seem to get higher than the middle band

delricyo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576537#Comment_119576537

As long as your friend isn't involved in the selection process for 3rd Sec, it wont be considered as canvassing. And given that he/she is a 3rd Sec, they definitely wont be involved in the process

KRedzer

Does anyone know how grading for the Self-Assessment Questionnaire works? It doesn't really explain it in the booklet, but surely if you're assessing your own capabilities you can't do badly (unless of course you're extremely honest).

felixs981

Hi guys,

didn't apply on time this year, def going to try the next one.

I heard the provider of the assessment is now "Assessment Intelligence", can anyone confirm?

Also, did you get some example questions or additional info about the assessment you can share?

When the time comes, I would like to practice!

R2020C

Thanks so much! No they aren’t involved at all with recruitment

felixs981

can someone post the booklet?

test portal opens today ... good luck!

christinxcat

Just completed the tests - will be very interesting to see my OOM. Here's the order I did them in:

NR gave me PTSD to failing leaving cert maths 😂 But I managed well otherwise with it. Didn't manage to finish that section, but got to the last question in the second last sheet.

VR was grand, finished with 15mins to go, so looked back over some of my answers - definitely recommend doing this if you have time to spare.

SAQ was really nice to finish on. Practiced the situational judgment-style Qs quite a bit, so felt very prepared.

Wishing everyone the best of luck in the first round! Definitely take breaks after completing each test if you intend to do it all in one sitting.

christinxcat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119570499#Comment_119570499

A colleague of mine told me that everyone who applies gets through to the first round. She was offer TS years ago, so the process may have changed slightly, and yes I imagine if qualifications jump out as not suitable for the position, that these applicants may not progress to the testing stage.

However, my colleague also flagged that the initial applications may be considered in more detail upon progressing to later stages, i.e. interview.

TravelMoon

Just completed the tests now.

Have to say I didn't enjoy the new testing system/application.

The verbal reasoning seemed atrocious to me, numerical was grand, as was the situational.

However, I found the room scanning awkward with a laptop... I would say if you've not done them yet take a second look at the instructions beforehand.

Anyway, time will tell!

Brooklyn94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119600381#Comment_119600381

Thanks for all the info, sounds like it went well!

Where did you practice the situational judgement style questions?

Also, can you see the questions at the same time as the material they are based on?

Thanks!

Brooklyn94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119600512#Comment_119600512

Thanks for the update! Do you mind maybe elaborating on what was so bad about the VR aspect?

It seems that it is not as time constrained as previous assessments.

Good luck with your results!

nsauce

Any tips for the self assessment part? I've done the other two parts but I've left this one till last. It's the part I'm most dreading because I'm not sure how best to approach it.

nsauce

For anyone who still hasn't done them, I thought the verbal reasoning and the numerical reasoning were grand and pretty straight forward. I got both finished with a couple of mins to spare. There were a couple questions in the verbal reasoning I wasn't sure of but had no trouble with the numerical.

ConsRoxMySox

I did my assessments on Sunday, took longer than I expected. Numerical was grand, verbal was alright but I hate the self assessments because it's one thing that no matter how many of these comps I do I can just never figure out what they want, so wouldn't be surprised if it takes me out of it haha.

Protoman

Allah be praised they finally changed the verbal and numerical test provider. Evergreen corp and their detergent lines in Munich and the accompanying tiny graphs appear to be gone for good! Something to be thankful for. They persisted with that for so long.

Don't know why they got rid of the e-tray simulated scenario response. That was quite good.

LegallyAbroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119626174#Comment_119626174

There hasn't be an etray for TS for years (if there was ever one).

Protoman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119626211#Comment_119626211

There was definately one the last recruitment campaign (late 2020)

HadjiMurat

All finished! Felt the actual tests were more manageable than the ones I had been practicing. No issues with time or format, which seem to have been problems in the past.

I did the VR on Tuesday, then the SAQ yesterday and finally the NR this morning.

VR - Can't really remember much of it at this stage 🤣 Liked that the passages were short, but didn't like that there was no standout text to catch your attention like dates, place names, numbers etc. The format with the six questions on one page was nice. I had time to go back over two passages I was unsure of. Have no idea what my score is going to be though, so little to distinguish between true/false and cannot say in a lot of questions. Some practice runs I did very well and then others I got loads wrong.

SAQ - I thought this was fine. I answered the SAQ as honestly as possible, rather than trying to tailor my answers to what they are looking for. I'm not a confrontational or impatient person, so I assume my score will be ok 😅 Situational judgement is very similar to VR in that there is little to distinguish between answers. Feel like I will get a lot of 'partially correct' answers in this part.

NR - I left this until last because I felt like it's the one that you can get the highest score in with enough practice. I think I did well, most of my calculations agreed with one of the options. I'm sure there were 1 or 2 trick questions that I didn't pick up on though.

Overall, I think the process was smooth. My main worry beforehand was that I wouldn't be able to answer all questions within the time frame, thankfully I did. Not sure if I agree on it being the best way to trim down candidates, (I do understand the practicality of the process given the number of candidates), I just think it's going to be harsh on a number of people (potentially including myself) who are going to miss out on progressing to the next stage as a result of getting some VR or situational judgement questions wrong, where the options for answering are very similar.

The next stage takes place one month from now, so I am going to guess that we'll receive news on our OOM placing in approx two weeks. Well done to all who completed the tests and good luck for the results and beyond ☘️

Protoman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119626643#Comment_119626643

From your username I suppose you're a reader of Tolstoy. A hardship posting in the Moscow winter awaits you!

Best of luck with the campaign!

HadjiMurat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119628542#Comment_119628542

Haha! Moscow would be well down the list of preferential places for a posting! If a posting was decided by a candidate's favourite writer, I would end up in Tokyo off the back of reading multiple Murakami novels 🎌😎

odelazy

Does anyone know how quickly the rankings/results from these tests would be released? I know the next round isn't for another month but presumably the scoring would be pretty much automatic for these tests.

paddyflynn_td

Looking at last Third Secretary Competition, albeit a different test formula, they got their results late evening about a week after. Perhaps we might get news tonight but with the Precis/2nd Stage still a bit away, if we don't hear today, I'd not expect hearing until today week. Best of luck!

niallkenny83

Any results yet folks? I haven't received anything myself

agoodusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119673039#Comment_119673039

Nothing yet, I imagine we'll get our results within a couple of hours of each other.

Would love some news by next Friday, I've quite a lot going on between now and the start of next year and would like to know if I need to be in the country for an interview in the next few months.

nsauce

Can't believe we still haven't heard anything regarding results. In 2020 they got their results a week after the testing period finished. The scoring is automatic like.

KRedzer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119703402#Comment_119703402

Yeah it is mad. When is the next stage due to be - it's this month right?

nsauce

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119703452#Comment_119703452

Yeah 24 October is when the next stage is supposed to start.

paddyflynn_td

Yes it's very nerve-wracking. Hopefully this evening or by Friday especially since Stage 1 started early so Stage 2 could start a little earlier as well. Perhaps the Budget allowances are a big factor this time round as they would have taken a lot from the last panel, it may be tighter making the panel this time round, alas that's only speculation. Here's hoping for news soon.

niallkenny83

Still nothing. At this stage Starting to think there may be a tech issue and theyre sorting through tests manually

ConsRoxMySox

A message there from PAS - that they still don't have results! Madness!

I'm pretty sure I bombed the situational judgement so I'd like to be put out of my misery at least.

nsauce

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119713381#Comment_119713381

Yeah I don't even get why they bothered to message saying results will be out in a week. I guess people must have been emailing asking when the results would be out.

agoodusername

Just inside the cutoff point, got results in the past 15 minutes

ConsRoxMySox

Results out - i will never puzzle out their scoring, because I scored highest in what I thought I did worst in.

KRedzer

Managed to rank in the 30s on the third time of trying, better get practicing for the Precis exercise - have never done one before.

nsauce

Does ranking in the 290s on Order of Merit mean I'm out of the running for sure if they intend on only calling up to 251?

Annoying because I got a really good score in both the verbal and numerical (well above the top third category for both in the feedback doc) but not so good in the Assessment Questionnaire and that must have brought me down a lot.

DaninMcSpanin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119731224#Comment_119731224

Very similar position here. Not the first time those sort of Questionnaires have tripped me up, never been any good at them.