2024 Assistant Principal in Civil Service

Cheeseplant

A new competition has opened. Closed on 24/10 on public jobs.

Good Luck to all those applying

https://www.publicjobs.ie/en/?option=com_jobsearch&view=jobdetails&cid=194388&campaignId=24456408&Itemid=263

336699

I’ll throw my hat in the ring for this one, best of luck everyone.

Oresim

Here we go again!!🙈

Meadowlands

@Oresim 🤩 Here we go again!

AngelaG

Capabilities rather than competencies ....

Foxy1987

I noticed that you can only choose one location for this comp..

jessimirish

Throwing my hat in the ring for the first time. Coming from the private sector, this application process will be a learning curve for me. Best of luck everyone!

mmerton365

First time eligible for InterD.

Looks a little less prescribed than last time.

Good luck to all.

Mogs121

Anyone have experience of capabilities vs competencies based interviews?

GailliamhAbú2022

Where could you get help with the application? Or examples of what is expected. Never done this application before.

Leesha

First time going for this. Best of luck everyone

87629

Assistant Principal Open Stream 

Assistant Principal Interdepartmental Stream

can I ask what the difference here is?
is it better to go for both streams ?? Thanks so much

furrybones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122683898#Comment_122683898

You must have 2 years service to apply to the interdepartmental stream. No service required for the open stream.

87629

thank you! Is it that if you do have 2 years service in x department that you can be selected for any department if successful ? i.e. you may end up in a different department? (As the closed ap comp is the opposite of this)

would then assume that you can apply for both if you do have the 2 years service and that may increase chances being in two streams ?

Wood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122684008#Comment_122684008

You need to have 2 years service total. Could be a combination of Dept. X, Y and Z. Internal Stream is restricted to serving civil servants only, and if successful you can be assigned to any department.

If you apply for both streams you will have 2 orders of merit, but only a single score, so for example you could be 49th on the interdepartmental, but 599th on the open, depending on the quality of applicants

jessimirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122684172#Comment_122684172

Thanks! I'll be applying on the Open as I'm coming from the private sector. I was wondering have you any idea if when assigning roles do they prioritise the InterD stream over the Open stream or how does it work in terms of when people are called? If there are two separate streams how do they assign merit on one vs the other? (so say a role opens, will they always go to whoever's next up on the InterD first before whoever's next up on Open, and do they exhaust that stream before they even start with Open)

BlueAW

Based on the leadership application question - is there much hope in going for this with experience of a small team size for a short duration? Do we know if this is the same question from previous competitions?

furrybones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122684641#Comment_122684641

The new capability framework takes potential into account. Even if you don't have experience in a specific area, but you can show you have the potential, you can pass the shortlisting/interview stage.

sedum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122684641#Comment_122684641

What do you think would count as a small team and a short duration (curious for my own application too)…? Maybe you can draw out the wider impact that your team had eg were they influencing a wider range of stakeholders to deliver? There's only so many direct reports that one person can effectively have anyway…

sedum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122684475#Comment_122684475

Looking at the previous thread on this topic, I think there is a ratio where they alternate between the two streams to take candidates

BlueAW

@sedum I’m currently in CS but no direct reports as not the norm in my organisation but I have experience managing a team of 2/3 on a project for a duration of 1-2 months so I’m not sure if what they want is more targeted towards having direct reports.

jessimirish

Question… I'm throwing my hat in the ring for this competition, currently in the private sector. Basically I'm in a fairly toxic corporate rat race environment and I want out as soon as possible (have been at the company for 7 years and enjoyed it most of the time, but things have taken a turn this year in my department). I'm motivated by being of some sort of good to the public as opposed to making money for a toxic unnecessarily intense corporate.

I have also recently applied to a couple of specific roles at government agencies, thinking based on the salary scales they are HEO level equivalent public sector roles. Would mean taking a fairly significant pay cut, but my priority is getting out of where I'm at, and given that the roles seem nice and at good orgs by all accounts (I know people who work there), I'm happy to do that at this point for an easier life. None of the application closing dates for those roles have come around yet so it's a wait and see job there.

Question is, if I were to get one of those other jobs and also be in the AP pool, would it affect my AP application chances if I were to change jobs during the application process? Obviously not ideal to change jobs so soon after starting one, but the AP salary is more in line with what I'm on now - and given the last panel seems to have taken about 2 years to place some people, I know for sure I can't wait that long to get out of where I am now. Would it reflect poorly on my application if I had started somewhere else in the meantime?

Moving2017

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122685453#Comment_122685453

The various roles are completely separate and would have no bearing on each other.

countyireland12345

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122685453#Comment_122685453

Not at all. In the interview for the 2022 AP comp I told them I was 2 weeks into a CS job and still passed the interview and placed on the panel. It's all about demonstrating you possess the required competencies, or capabilities as they are now called.

CW2022

same as that why not! First time applying also any advice or where to look for advice? Thank you

OllieDro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122684172#Comment_122684172

Thanks Wood,

Just to enquire, if you are a public servant are you eligible to apply on the interdepartmental stream?

Moving2017

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122687396#Comment_122687396

You’re not.

jessimirish

Question - is placement based solely on the order of merit, or do they take any of your past experience into account in terms of what department/role might be most suitable for your skillset? There's some departments I feel I'd have a lot more knowledge starting out (and others where I wouldn't have a clue) - coming from the private sector so applying open stream

hungerjames

Placement is based solely on order of merit and whatever role is next up in the hopper, without taking previous gigs into account which would slow the process down considerably.

lateron

Has anyone had any experience of the new capability interviews?

What is the difference between them and the competency based interview?

Not alot of info on them. I would appreciate anyones input on them.

Thanks in advance 🙂

okaydo

Hi All, any suggestions on the best place to do sample aptitude tests for AP level?