What does a CS Administrative Officer do?

Juggler101

Hi all, got an interview very soon for Administrative Officer in the CS. I expect I'll need to know what's expected of the role, but I've never worked in the CS.

The competition paperwork mostly talks about researching for creating policy. What else do AO's actually do from day to day?

I'm sure it varies a bit from department to department, but it would be great to get some insights from people with CS experience about the breadth of the role 🙏

Augme

Could be responsible for answering PQs, FOI requests, correspondence, research, policy writing, drafting legislation, managing the staff in your unit, managing projects, dealing with customers/stakeholders.

That's a very broad guidelines of what you could be doing. But it's also very department and role dependent too.

Juggler101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925701#Comment_119925701

That's really useful Augme - thank you.

It would still be great to hear more from other boardies - if anyone knows of other tasks that get assigned to AOs?

tomjmsn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925701#Comment_119925701

I think the above basically covers everything but there are two other big factors that will determine what you will be doing - 1) which department you work in, and 2) who your AP is. I would say your responsibilities will vary considerably from department to department and AP to AP.

Prepare to be interrupted in your interview and remember it is nothing personal.

Juggler101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119927898#Comment_119927898

Thanks for that.

What do you mean being interrupted? Do you mean if I'm taking too long answering then they'll interrupt and move along to the next question? I presume they need to get through the questions efficiently, and get through a whole pile of interviewees too!