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Recruit Prison Officer 2019

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  • Options
    #242
    Arod13
    Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭Arod13


    Kells girls wrote: »
    They said when my group finished verbal that we would hear in the middle of june
    Ah crap.they said nothing to us.was hoping we’d receive them sooner.


  • Options
    #243
    Phillip k
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 50 ✭✭Phillip k


    Arod13 wrote: »
    Iv no idea how the scoring is done,really wanted to know.if you knew what the pass mark was we might not be so nervous.
    I’d the same issue with the calculator.i brought my own but couldn’t use it.

    You couldn't usr it ? Did they not let you I used mine .


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    #244
    JD1982
    Registered Users Posts: 20 ✭JD1982


    Phillip k wrote: »
    You couldn't usr it ? Did they not let you I used mine .

    We were told br


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    #245
    JD1982
    Registered Users Posts: 20 ✭JD1982


    JD1982 wrote: »
    We were told br

    We were told to bring only water in with us and nothing else. Everything provided.


  • Options
    #246
    Arod13
    Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭Arod13


    Phillip k wrote: »
    Arod13 wrote: »
    Iv no idea how the scoring is done,really wanted to know.if you knew what the pass mark was we might not be so nervous.
    I’d the same issue with the calculator.i brought my own but couldn’t use it.

    You couldn't usr it ? Did they not let you I used mine .
    They were clear that all personal belongings were to be put in the cloak room.i found it odd that you wouldn’t be allowed use your own calculator but I didn’t ask the,that’s what I get for assuming!


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    #247
    JJss1988
    Registered Users Posts: 67 ✭✭JJss1988


    Arod13 wrote: »
    They were clear that all personal belongings were to be put in the cloak room.i found it odd that you wouldn’t be allowed use your own calculator but I didn’t ask the,that’s what I get for assuming!

    At my test we were informed before the test started that the only thing allowed on our tables was water, and the paper/pens/calculator that they gave to us.
    Any personal belongings were put into the cloakroom at the back.


  • Options
    #248
    Arod13
    Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭Arod13


    JJss1988 wrote: »
    Arod13 wrote: »
    They were clear that all personal belongings were to be put in the cloak room.i found it odd that you wouldn’t be allowed use your own calculator but I didn’t ask the,that’s what I get for assuming!

    At my test we were informed before the test started that the only thing allowed on our tables was water, and the paper/pens/calculator that they gave to us.
    Any personal belongings were put into the cloakroom at the back.
    That’s what was said to us so I just went along with it.
    To be honest it’s not the maths that has me worried!


  • Options
    #249
    niteclubbecks
    Registered Users Posts: 142 ✭✭niteclubbecks


    Arod13 wrote: »
    That’s what was said to us so I just went along with it.
    To be honest it’s not the maths that has me worried!


    What has you worried so much???


  • Options
    #250
    Arod13
    Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭Arod13


    niteclubbecks wrote: »
    Arod13 wrote: »
    That’s what was said to us so I just went along with it.
    To be honest it’s not the maths that has me worried!


    What has you worried so much???
    Verbal,found it tricky.


  • Options
    #251
    irishgirl91
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭irishgirl91


    niteclubbecks wrote: »
    Is it the medical assessment or the fitness test the next stage?

    Stage 3 is the group exercise, written report and panel interview

    Stage 4 is medical and fitness


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    #252
    niteclubbecks
    Registered Users Posts: 142 ✭✭niteclubbecks


    irishgirl91 wrote: »
    Stage 3 is the group exercise, written report and panel interview

    Stage 4 is medical and fitness

    Never heard anything about written report.


  • Options
    #253
    Arod13
    Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭Arod13


    niteclubbecks wrote: »
    irishgirl91 wrote: »
    Stage 3 is the group exercise, written report and panel interview

    Stage 4 is medical and fitness

    Never heard anything about written report.
    Iv heard about this, believe your shown a video of an incident and you’ve to write a report of it.


  • Options
    #254
    Iseedeadpixels
    Registered Users Posts: 3,848 ✭✭✭Iseedeadpixels


    Arod13 wrote: »
    Iv heard about this, believe your shown a video of an incident and you’ve to write a report of it.

    Must be similar to the old exam we done about 10 years ago.


  • Options
    #255
    TopProspect
    Registered Users Posts: 20 ✭TopProspect


    Does anyone know if there are courses coming up for the interview for the prison service ?


  • Options
    #256
    irishgirl91
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭irishgirl91


    TopProspect wrote: »
    Does anyone know if there are courses coming up for the interview for the prison service ?

    Career services do a stage 3 prep course


  • Options
    #257
    irishgirl91
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭irishgirl91


    niteclubbecks wrote: »
    Never heard anything about written report.

    Yeah on the information booklet its listed as other assessments


  • Options
    #258
    irishgirl91
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭irishgirl91


    Arod13 wrote: »
    Iv heard about this, believe your shown a video of an incident and you’ve to write a report of it.

    Hi. Yeah that's the format from last year watch a short video and write a report about it


  • Options
    #259
    irishgirl91
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭irishgirl91


    Hopefully the stage 2 results will be out sometime in June!!! :)


  • Options
    #260
    Iseedeadpixels
    Registered Users Posts: 3,848 ✭✭✭Iseedeadpixels


    irishgirl91 wrote: »
    Hopefully the stage 2 results will be out sometime in June!!! :)

    Mid June I think they said.


  • Options
    #261
    niteclubbecks
    Registered Users Posts: 142 ✭✭niteclubbecks


    irishgirl91 wrote: »
    Yeah on the information booklet its listed as other assessments


    Where did we get the booklet? I can’t seem to find it


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    #262
    Clever8619
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭Clever8619


    Hello all!

    Serving officer here. Leaving the job shortly as I have managed to get into the gardai. So I said I'll give my thoughts on the job for you new recruits.

    For me the best part of the job was the training. Great laugh and you meet some good people, instructors and fellow new officers. Once you start for real it gets a bit different. Nothing prepares you for the mayhem you walk into. From the start you've a bit of a target on your back as your new. The noise and smell takes a bit of getting used to.

    The prisoners tend to fall into a few categories. The annoying and extremely needy, the friendly, the nasty and violent and the prisoners who will have absolutely nothing to do with staff. All of whom present different challenges. The needy ones try take up all your time with loads of requests and threats of self harm etc when they don't get their own way. The nasty ones are difficult to manage and very volatile. Start fights and take on staff at every opportunity (especially if they zero in on a weak officer). If you are intimidated easily or as they say in the job are "watery" your working life will be absolute hell. I've seen a few in my time and they are miserable. The friendly ones are generally only friendly as they are up to something. Not all of them and this may seem cynical but in my experience that's what I've come to know. No prisoner is your friend. You can be friendly, provide support etc.. but they are never your friend or vice versa. Again a weak officer will be conditioned over months by these seemingly "friendly" prisoners amd before you know it theyre asking for something to be brought in for them and when you say no they will turn on you. Then there's the ones who will have nothing to do with you and absolutely hate the uniform and will never do as asked or told.

    Your day can generally go one of three ways. A good day, bad day and terrible day. The tough days are draining especially if your dealing with alot of people who want to argue and shout at you all day. Or if theres been alot of incidents i.e fights, self harm, slashings, attempted suicides attacks on staff etc..

    The staff you work with are great and everyone has (Or should have) eachothers back. You may at times feel isolated when your standing in front of 5/6 prisoners and things are getting heated but know that when you call for assistance you wont be waiting very long until 10s of officers burst onto the scene. This is important to remember as there will be times when your on your own and a situation with prisoners will start to escalate. Always stick to your guns and never back down if you need assistance call for it. If you back down from a prisoner once they will all know very quick and they will take you on at every opportunity.

    It's a great job once you find your feet and get used of the mayhem. If you scare easily I'd say find another job because you will see alot of disturbing things. The rota is good and time off isn't hard to come by. Transfers though forget about it. You'll go on a list. After 4/5 years you might get Portlaoise anywhere else god knows Limerick and Cork are virtually impossible to get to.

    I'll be sad to leave but living in Dublin isn't all its cracked up to be so joining the gardai who are more flexible re. location seems a better fit for me. Good luck with the rest of application process it's a bit long winded I know but worth it in the end. Didn't mean for the post to be this long, I could have gone on even longer but won't bore anyone any longer


  • Options
    #263
    JD1982
    Registered Users Posts: 20 ✭JD1982


    niteclubbecks wrote: »
    Where did we get the booklet? I can’t seem to find it

    Go back to the first messages received my public jobs for this campaign and scroll down, there’s a link for it. Print it off for good reading and safe keeping for when you want to refresh yourself on it


  • Options
    #264
    ddmam
    Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭ddmam


    Clever8619 wrote: »
    Hello all!

    Serving officer here. Leaving the job shortly as I have managed to get into the gardai. So I said I'll give my thoughts on the job for you new recruits.

    For me the best part of the job was the training. Great laugh and you meet some good people, instructors and fellow new officers. Once you start for real it gets a bit different. Nothing prepares you for the mayhem you walk into. From the start you've a bit of a target on your back as your new. The noise and smell takes a bit of getting used to.

    The prisoners tend to fall into a few categories. The annoying and extremely needy, the friendly, the nasty and violent and the prisoners who will have absolutely nothing to do with staff. All of whom present different challenges. The needy ones try take up all your time with loads of requests and threats of self harm etc when they don't get their own way. The nasty ones are difficult to manage and very volatile. Start fights and take on staff at every opportunity (especially if they zero in on a weak officer). If you are intimidated easily or as they say in the job are "watery" your working life will be absolute hell. I've seen a few in my time and they are miserable. The friendly ones are generally only friendly as they are up to something. Not all of them and this may seem cynical but in my experience that's what I've come to know. No prisoner is your friend. You can be friendly, provide support etc.. but they are never your friend or vice versa. Again a weak officer will be conditioned over months by these seemingly "friendly" prisoners amd before you know it theyre asking for something to be brought in for them and when you say no they will turn on you. Then there's the ones who will have nothing to do with you and absolutely hate the uniform and will never do as asked or told.

    Your day can generally go one of three ways. A good day, bad day and terrible day. The tough days are draining especially if your dealing with alot of people who want to argue and shout at you all day. Or if theres been alot of incidents i.e fights, self harm, slashings, attempted suicides attacks on staff etc..

    The staff you work with are great and everyone has (Or should have) eachothers back. You may at times feel isolated when your standing in front of 5/6 prisoners and things are getting heated but know that when you call for assistance you wont be waiting very long until 10s of officers burst onto the scene. This is important to remember as there will be times when your on your own and a situation with prisoners will start to escalate. Always stick to your guns and never back down if you need assistance call for it. If you back down from a prisoner once they will all know very quick and they will take you on at every opportunity.

    It's a great job once you find your feet and get used of the mayhem. If you scare easily I'd say find another job because you will see alot of disturbing things. The rota is good and time off isn't hard to come by. Transfers though forget about it. You'll go on a list. After 4/5 years you might get Portlaoise anywhere else god knows Limerick and Cork are virtually impossible to get to.

    I'll be sad to leave but living in Dublin isn't all its cracked up to be so joining the gardai who are more flexible re. location seems a better fit for me. Good luck with the rest of application process it's a bit long winded I know but worth it in the end. Didn't mean for the post to be this long, I could have gone on even longer but won't bore anyone any longer

    Thanks a million for that. It's great to get a bit of insight from a serving prison officer. I'm struggling with whether or not to proceed with the application, this really helps. Cheers


  • Options
    #265
    raze_them_all_
    Registered Users Posts: 6,744 ✭✭✭raze_them_all_


    ddmam wrote: »
    Thanks a million for that. It's great to get a bit of insight from a serving prison officer. I'm struggling with whether or not to proceed with the application, this really helps. Cheers

    Limerick and Cork ain't long anymore. 2 years and you're onside the top 10 for transfers there


  • Options
    #266
    Clever8619
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭Clever8619


    raze_them_all_ wrote: »
    Limerick and Cork ain't long anymore. 2 years and you're onside the top 10 for transfers there

    Haha I wish otherwise I'd be in Cork 3 years ago.


  • Options
    #267
    Arod13
    Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭Arod13


    Clever8619 wrote: »
    Hello all!

    Serving officer here. Leaving the job shortly as I have managed to get into the gardai. So I said I'll give my thoughts on the job for you new recruits.

    For me the best part of the job was the training. Great laugh and you meet some good people, instructors and fellow new officers. Once you start for real it gets a bit different. Nothing prepares you for the mayhem you walk into. From the start you've a bit of a target on your back as your new. The noise and smell takes a bit of getting used to.

    The prisoners tend to fall into a few categories. The annoying and extremely needy, the friendly, the nasty and violent and the prisoners who will have absolutely nothing to do with staff. All of whom present different challenges. The needy ones try take up all your time with loads of requests and threats of self harm etc when they don't get their own way. The nasty ones are difficult to manage and very volatile. Start fights and take on staff at every opportunity (especially if they zero in on a weak officer). If you are intimidated easily or as they say in the job are "watery" your working life will be absolute hell. I've seen a few in my time and they are miserable. The friendly ones are generally only friendly as they are up to something. Not all of them and this may seem cynical but in my experience that's what I've come to know. No prisoner is your friend. You can be friendly, provide support etc.. but they are never your friend or vice versa. Again a weak officer will be conditioned over months by these seemingly "friendly" prisoners amd before you know it theyre asking for something to be brought in for them and when you say no they will turn on you. Then there's the ones who will have nothing to do with you and absolutely hate the uniform and will never do as asked or told.

    Your day can generally go one of three ways. A good day, bad day and terrible day. The tough days are draining especially if your dealing with alot of people who want to argue and shout at you all day. Or if theres been alot of incidents i.e fights, self harm, slashings, attempted suicides attacks on staff etc..

    The staff you work with are great and everyone has (Or should have) eachothers back. You may at times feel isolated when your standing in front of 5/6 prisoners and things are getting heated but know that when you call for assistance you wont be waiting very long until 10s of officers burst onto the scene. This is important to remember as there will be times when your on your own and a situation with prisoners will start to escalate. Always stick to your guns and never back down if you need assistance call for it. If you back down from a prisoner once they will all know very quick and they will take you on at every opportunity.

    It's a great job once you find your feet and get used of the mayhem. If you scare easily I'd say find another job because you will see alot of disturbing things. The rota is good and time off isn't hard to come by. Transfers though forget about it. You'll go on a list. After 4/5 years you might get Portlaoise anywhere else god knows Limerick and Cork are virtually impossible to get to.

    I'll be sad to leave but living in Dublin isn't all its cracked up to be so joining the gardai who are more flexible re. location seems a better fit for me. Good luck with the rest of application process it's a bit long winded I know but worth it in the end. Didn't mean for the post to be this long, I could have gone on even longer but won't bore anyone any longer
    Thanks for this.as ddmam said,it’s great to hear from a serving officer.
    Are you leaving the service solely because of location or is there other reasons?


  • Options
    #268
    Clever8619
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭Clever8619


    Arod13 wrote: »
    Thanks for this.as ddmam said,it’s great to hear from a serving officer.
    Are you leaving the service solely because of location or is there other reasons?

    A bit of everything really. Like I said I did enjoy the job but lack of opportunity for diversifying the role. It gets monotonous. There is limited roles available and there's a seniority list for everything. Not bashing the job at all just trying to be honest. Prisoners seem to be getting appeased more and more aswell these days. Putting someone on report is a waste of time. Very little deterrant for poor behaviour. Atmosphere seems to be getting nastier aswell. Im obv in a dublin establishment and with the influx of new staff and more experienced ones leaving people are learning as they go. Anyone will tell you it takes years to develop jail craft so people are learning as they go.


  • Options
    #269
    Clever8619
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭Clever8619


    Clever8619 wrote: »
    A bit of everything really. Like I said I did enjoy the job but lack of opportunity for diversifying the role. It gets monotonous. There is limited roles available and there's a seniority list for everything. Not bashing the job at all just trying to be honest. Prisoners seem to be getting appeased more and more aswell these days. Putting someone on report is a waste of time. Very little deterrant for poor behaviour. Atmosphere seems to be getting nastier aswell. Im obv in a dublin establishment and with the influx of new staff and more experienced ones leaving people are learning as they go. Anyone will tell you it takes years to develop jail craft so people are learning as they go.

    For those that make it through I would say it's very important to work in every area of the jail. That will give you a good grounding on how everything works. Don't just try stick to your landing. If there's opportunity to work different wings or reception or whatever put your hand up. You'll meet all prisoners, see more, and your confidence will grow. Alot to learn about entitlements, property, visits. You'll get asked a million times a day where this is? Where that is? Can I do this? I need to see the dentist doctor etc why haven't I had this medication. All this is really time consuming investigating these things only to be told after ringing and running around he's been told already he's not getting it. It takes you away from your real work which is getting your landing running smoothly and keeping an eye on the idiots who are bullying people or disrupting the wing. Learn pretty quick to prioritise and when to tell a prisoner foxtrot Oscar. It's serious business working in a jail people don't get it until they are in it. I didn't. So go in with your eyes open and take it very seriously. Learn from people and set your stall out early is the best advice I can give.


  • Options
    #270
    Kells girls
    Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭Kells girls


    Great insight thank you very much for taking time to post this, fingers crossed for next round to all, I’m more confident now after reading this


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    #271
    JJss1988
    Registered Users Posts: 67 ✭✭JJss1988


    Arod13 wrote: »
    Thanks for this.as ddmam said,it’s great to hear from a serving officer.
    Are you leaving the service solely because of location or is there other reasons?

    Thanks very much for the info. I think we all need to realise what this job involves and what is needed to get through each day.
    It will be challenging mentally and as we were told in the Prison officer brief what happens in work must be left in work.


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