2023 Senior Executive Officer: Local Government

Sunnysmile

@Openair22 yes from PAS - I emailed them re the numbers and they were very quick to respond.

Avdel

Very helpful thank you

Openair22

Thanks it’s great to know, will all those moving through the process keep us up to date its interesting to hear how it’s moving particularly straight to main interview from short listing, thanks!

Avdel

Just reading this comment again and Im a bit concerned 😟

My OOM is 722 so pretty low chance of going any further in this competition. Just wondering how the 707 number is calculated considering Im 722.

Sunnysmile

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121510780#Comment_121510780

I emailed PAS and asked how many people applied and how many were successful and if there will be a second batch - and that's the response I got from PAS in the email. You can email them and ask for the numbers too. 🙂

Gargoyle711

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121510780#Comment_121510780

Could it be related to the LA's that you selected? Is there a separate OOM for different areas?

Avdel

Im not sure. Ive emailed PAS do.ill wait until they come back to me.

kaykay27

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121515206#Comment_121515206

Gargoyle711, i asked this question in earlier (could of been here can’t remember) and the advise given was that there is only 1 OOM and not for seperate LAs….im hoping demand for wicklow won’t be high

Openair22

Is there many G8 vacancies in your LA areas?

kaykay27

ohh how do you find out the number of vacancies? through pas?

Openair22

If you’re already working in a local authority you may be aware of how many vacancies there is presently and likely over the next year due to imminent retirements etc

SolarVirgin

Hi folks,

Did anyone do the main interview yet - would be interested to know how they felt it went? I did mine last week and not happy with it overall.

Question: if you do the interview are you simply marked and placed on panel based on the overall mark (even if very low on panel due to mark) or is it the case that not all interviewees make the panel at all?

Thanks

evillive

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121658538#Comment_121658538

I'm up tomorrow, my interview board all appear to be HR recruitment/related people, so hoping I'll get a good run on my local authority experience and competencies even if they mightn't directly relate from their own careers.

Re the panel, based on what I've seen before if you pass, you will be placed per your marks and up to your selected LAs to come looking whe they need a body. Good luck anyways, the more time that passes after an interview you can always pick holes in responses you gave. I can't see why they would qualify someone if they did a dreadful interview. All theyhave for us up to this point is results of an online test to put us in some starting order and an application form which the interview should use in conjunction with the chat to ascertain how suitable we really are!!!

Eimys

@SolarVirgin I did mine last week and like you I wasn't happy either. The interview was nothing like I expected especially as I've been working in the public sector a long time and done many interviews in the past. It was a strange experience and I'm glad it's over. I guess I'll find out just how bad in Feb 🤣

As for making the panel, once you pass and get the number of marks they have set you'll generally be panelled.

Gargoyle711

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121662198#Comment_121662198

Sorry to hear you both didn't feel great after the interview. I'm up next week and prepping for it now. I'm coming from not-for-profit sector so a real newbie. Can anyone remember from the booking stage what the last date for interview was? I know I selected one close to the end hoping that I'd be called on another panel that I'm on for the CS - so just wondering what date in Feb is the last interview as I expect they'll then be able to order everyone by merit according to interview. Good luck with this next phase, the waiting is hard.

evillive

Got a good run on it this morning, did t struggle with too many questions but could have been stronger. The board were fair, got all the time allowed they covered the 5 competencies outlined and threw in lots of requests for my own examples putting the ball in my court a lot.

I imagine they'll meet stronger candidates but happy with my effort given my form and prep done

Best of luck to everyone else

Eimys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121663777#Comment_121663777

I can't remember the last date for interviews but they did tell me that I'd find out the end of February. Best of luck with the result!

SolarVirgin

I'm not sure either on the last date for interviews. The details disappeared off my messages on the PS portal. I know I was the second day from the start. If end of Feb is when we hear I plan to put it out of mind completely. I actually kept getting flashbacks on how badly it went. 😂 Anyone know how many were going to interview. I think I read somewhere that about 100 were placed from last panel (21-23) so would need to be in top 100 to have a reasonable expectation of an offer within the lifetime of the panel (obviously location dependant).

Good luck to all still to sit.

theshiek

Interview coming up, any tips?

Was it mostly a case of rolling out your own examples?

SolarVirgin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121679440#Comment_121679440

Yes for me it was. What I'd say is that there isn't a chance to really get into the meat of anything. 4/5 competencies and examples. You'd kind of be better keeping it reasonably succinct / top level. They kept interrupting to ask questions and it derailed all my flow and brought the interview away from prepared stuff. It moved quite fast and they kept apologising but saying they had to move on. I'm used to busy meetings and robust exchanges but still felt I couldn't get any traction. Perhaps for you it will be different but based on my experience my advice would be keep examples short and be ready for lots of questions - some quite off topic.

Best of luck with it.

Gargoyle711

Hello, I'm prepping for my interview next week and from reading about other people's experiences through the thread above I'm not getting a strong sense that they delve into areas such as the structure of LA's, legislation or the Putting People First Action Plan that is referenced in the information booklet. I don't want to spend a huge amount of time on these is it's not necessary. Do they ask about them in the interview?

SolarVirgin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121681988#Comment_121681988

Didn't ask me anything of that nature even though I'd prepared. However I'm an external applicant so they may have assumed little knowledge on my behalf, not sure.

interested_all

This was my first public sector interview. I have to say that I wasn't prepared for the continuous poking of questions throughout the examples I was providing. The interview structure was laid out in the beginning, with each competency given a set amount of time. The questions posed were challenging. Overall I think I will put this one down as a learning experience and hope I perform better in the future.

I was advised that this is the last component of the recruitment process and they hope to have interviews completed and notifications issued by the end of February. Good luck to all remaining interviewees.

Avdel

Just wondering how people got on with the interviews?

evillive

Just received email to advise I was unsuccessful!! I wasn't happy with my interview overall so not terribly disapponted

Avdel

Sorry to hear you weren't successful. I've heard the interviews for the Council are a lot harder than the Civil Service.

SolarVirgin

I was also unsuccessful. I had posted previously above, that I was unhappy with my interview performance so I wasn't surprised. I did expect to have a low ranking at best but no, I didn't panel. Hope others got better news.

Sixofone

I was successful, pleasantly surprised following a few fails previously in equivalent civil service competitions. Not sure how long the process will take from here.

Openair22

How many were paneled from final interview well done to all who made & braved it… Will they need us extra OOMs at any point?!!🙏🏻😁

Avdel

Im really hoping they do call a 2nd batch 🙏

kaykay27

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121817129#Comment_121817129

any update from anyone on a 2nd batch call?

Avdel

I haven't heard anything to date.

Openair22

Not yet but likely be a few months I understand from PAS that 106 we’re paneled from the first OOM interviews out of 218 candidates who interviewed … There are panels for all counties with the exception of the Southern Regional Assembly… All future shortlisting requests will be sent via message board on publicjobs.ie….

The_Honeybadger

I just enquired about further shortlisting as I finished outside the initial 414 that were called. Just got an email back to say there is no decision re if or when there will be a second batch of shortlisting.

A colleague of mine in a permanent SEO role finished in the 800’s in OOM in the previous competition a few years ago and got a position out of it so hang in there if you weren’t in the initial batch.

Avdel

Good to know, thanks for the update!

CiboC

I was just outside the threshold for the first batch, thanks for the update!

CiboC

Just got a message on public jobs that candidates who have placed 415 and above on the order of merit will be invited to Stage 2 (Shortlisting) 

'It is envisaged that the results from Shortlisting will be issued to candidates at the end of June.'

Avdel

I got the same but the shortlisting was really hard on the first batch so im not holding my breath ill get through that! 😅

kaykay27

does anyone have any feedback on the shortlisting criteria - what did it consist of? not holding out much after today’s announcement but just more curious what to potentially expect

Openair22

Does this mean that the other panel is exhausted seems unlikely?

Anyone on here been promoted from the original panel?

The_Honeybadger

Got the same message. As they haven’t stated a cutoff they are presumably going to assess all further qualified applicants so OOM is now meaningless?

flended12

So, based on previous scenarios.

1. Likely oom will go out window now, however if you were 415 for example and are accepted, your now #1. If you were 416 and aren't accepted your gone till next comp.

2. Even if you got the message today about shortlisting you may still not be called based on your application form. This has happened in the first batch.

3. I'd imagine first panel is close to empty, hence today's message.

4. Nobody knows as yet, how many will be called forward.

5. If you got the message today, start going through your original application pronto.

Good luck to all.

Openair22

Thanks for this - for anyone who makes the cut how long after shortlisting is interview (approx) - peak leave period into July…😬

BKWDR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122223661#Comment_122223661

I know people who have been given start dates from the original OOM.

It's all the same process now for the second batch. Short list based on form , weed out people and then call for interviews in batches

Avdel

Has anyone heard anything back from the 2nd round of shortlisting?

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122298499#Comment_122298499

Was wondering the same. It said end of June as far as I remember so hopefully people will know this week.

I have some good colleagues at AO level that didn’t even get called for interview in the first round so it seems they are being fairly picky.

Avdel

I've heard the shortlisting is extremely difficult to get passed. Im an external candidate so (no council experience) so im not holding my breath.

Avdel

Quick update: i contacted PAS and they kindly informed me that the shortlisting results will be out by the end of next wk.

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122323758#Comment_122323758

Thank you. I was wondering when we might hear.

The_Honeybadger

Just got notified that I’m on to the next stage, interviews in Sept