Advice please! Executive Officer Competition

defiantdancer

Hello there, I would be really grateful for some advice from people who have already been through the Executive Officer Competition. I am new to the world of the Civil Service & am A mature entrant-just turned 50. I am working as a CO for the last year. I really like my office & my colleagues but I am really struggling on the CO wage with increased mortgage rates,utility bills etc as am on my own.So,I don’t have a partners income to help out.I really do believe my department is doing their best to make a difference which is very important to me. Hence, I don’t want to move to the Private Sector just for monetary reasons but I am really struggling financially like so many people. I am very conscious it is not just me. So many people are in this situation😔My questions for you lovely people are as follows:

what are the different stages in the EO competition?

how long do these competitions usually take?

Is there a maths test etc?

Is there any way to prepare for these tests? I saw online Executive Officer preparation packages. There was a fee involved -€180😔 has anybody done these courses & would they recommend them? Would anybody have any other advice as to how to prepare?

I really hope this post doesn’t offend/upset anybody. I would just be really grateful for some advice. At the moment, I feel like I am literally just staying afloat, but I feel if I had a financial emergency/crisis, I would go under😔 I worry constantly about my finances. I really want to give the EO competition my best shot to have some more security. TIA for any advice.

xeresod

Same as for CO - online tests maths/verbal/job sim, shortlisting and competency based interview with the panels lasting 2 years.

Lots of threads already on recent EO comps so have a read through those, they'll answer all your questions in detail.

defiantdancer

Xeresod, thanks so much! Will do that.

tritriagain

Also if you are worried about the maths side of the assessments it's worth noting that in the last open EO competition that you only had to pass the maths but it didn't count in your final results/placing.

defiantdancer

Thank you Tritriagain.good username!

SortingYouOut

What has been described so far is the Open or Inter-Departmental competition process for EO.

If you're wanting to stay where you are, an internal competition will probably open up and you would be eligible at two years service. Depending on the Department, internal comps don't have maths or verbal reasoning exams. You would submit an application and on to interview then if shortlisted.

In the meantime, i'd be looking at the EO competency framework and asking yourself what experience you have across the competencies, particularly in those that differ from CO.

https://www.publicjobs.ie/documents/Executive_Officer_Competencies.pdf

Put yourself out there for experience and you'll be more than ready for EO when the time comes then.

defiantdancer

Thank you SortingYouOut.That is good advice.