NEW 2020 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

HannahR31 wrote: »

They were given after final interview. After stage 1 my oom was 80 on open and 47 on InterD. From what I can see there was no updated oom at any other stage until the end when I was put on the panel and was no. 9 on InterD panel and 18 on Open panel (I said 20 before but it was 18 I just checked).

I was 20 on open and have accepted an offer and am going through clearance now if that helps anyone!

For those asking for advice in the etray exercise, I believe from my own experience - and others' reported in this thread - that the format for etrays may have changed slightly.

In previous competitions I participated in, the format was to complete one large task, a scheduling rota, a Press Release draft, a formal letter responding to a query, etc. Something where you were given a decent amount of data to process and refine into a single document in the space of time allotted. Throughout the period, smaller tasks would be presented in the form of interruption "phone calls" (which were just a few lines of text where you had a multiple choice list of options to respond popping up in a box), other emails, and usually one minor task with a deadline about halfway through the process to force you to prioritise effectively.

On this occasion, my test involved only one, very minor interruption, and no big task. Instead, there was a lot of material to read through quickly at the start, and then a number of small tasks, decisions on work delegations to a team, that sort of thing. So it was more of a simulated work day as a high level manager than a specific task to do.

My approach would be similar in either scenario, if you're given it. Try to read everything and take brief notes before sending responses or beginning a big task, except where the answer to something is very obvious. There may be something further down your list of data that causes you to be double booked, contradicts your early assumptions, or gives evidence that a member of your team is unsuited to a certain type of work, so it's best to have read quickly through everything before making any major decisions.

Keep emails to your own team brief. They're not looking for you to have a super formal layout on internal emails, and you don't want to waste too much time formatting, laying out dates, or anything like that. If you're representing a new manager in your simulation, maybe immediately send a brief introduction to your whole team with a "I'll be in touch with you all shortly" type of message to save you having to write out who you are in every email you send after that!

I make a task list beside me as I read, with one word prompts to remind me of all the things I need to do, that I can strike out as I go for a little boost of motivation. I also write down a list of my team's names, and a couple of very short points about each one to have beside me for convenience. For example, I might have :

"Seamus, enthusiastic, forgetful, unexperienced" and "Mary, overworked, staying late, unhappy"

That would help me make sure I don't give anything super important to Seamus to complete on his own, and I don't assign Mary 5 annoying things to do.

The main thing is to be flexible, take very brief notes and breathe! Read through stuff and try move quickly, but don't panic if you're not going to get everything finished. The system is designed to put you under pressure, so you very likely won't get a perfect answer to everything sent off, and there may be tasks unfinished after the period. If you don't get everything done, you can still get a great score by prioritising which tasks you do complete, and leaving less urgent/important tasks to the end.

Hope that helps!

Skaterpeemp wrote: »

Brilliant thanks a mill

Great advice ....thank you

mojoviii wrote: »

For those asking for advice in the etray exercise, I believe from my own experience - and others' reported in this thread - that the format for etrays may have changed slightly.

In previous competitions I participated in, the format was to complete one large task, a scheduling rota, a Press Release draft, a formal letter responding to a query, etc. Something where you were given a decent amount of data to process and refine into a single document in the space of time allotted. Throughout the period, smaller tasks would be presented in the form of interruption "phone calls" (which were just a few lines of text where you had a multiple choice list of options to respond popping up in a box), other emails, and usually one minor task with a deadline about halfway through the process to force you to prioritise effectively.

On this occasion, my test involved only one, very minor interruption, and no big task. Instead, there was a lot of material to read through quickly at the start, and then a number of small tasks, decisions on work delegations to a team, that sort of thing. So it was more of a simulated work day as a high level manager than a specific task to do.

My approach would be similar in either scenario, if you're given it. Try to read everything and take brief notes before sending responses or beginning a big task, except where the answer to something is very obvious. There may be something further down your list of data that causes you to be double booked, contradicts your early assumptions, or gives evidence that a member of your team is unsuited to a certain type of work, so it's best to have read quickly through everything before making any major decisions.

Keep emails to your own team brief. They're not looking for you to have a super formal layout on internal emails, and you don't want to waste too much time formatting, laying out dates, or anything like that. If you're representing a new manager in your simulation, maybe immediately send a brief introduction to your whole team with a "I'll be in touch with you all shortly" type of message to save you having to write out who you are in every email you send after that!

I make a task list beside me as I read, with one word prompts to remind me of all the things I need to do, that I can strike out as I go for a little boost of motivation. I also write down a list of my team's names, and a couple of very short points about each one to have beside me for convenience. For example, I might have :

"Seamus, enthusiastic, forgetful, unexperienced" and "Mary, overworked, staying late, unhappy"

That would help me make sure I don't give anything super important to Seamus to complete on his own, and I don't assign Mary 5 annoying things to do.

The main thing is to be flexible, take very brief notes and breathe! Read through stuff and try move quickly, but don't panic if you're not going to get everything finished. The system is designed to put you under pressure, so you very likely won't get a perfect answer to everything sent off, and there may be tasks unfinished after the period. If you don't get everything done, you can still get a great score by prioritising which tasks you do complete, and leaving less urgent/important tasks to the end.

Hope that helps!

This is amazing advice, thank you so much!! Nervous for next week, first time doing an e-tray but everyone's tips on here have been so helpful, thank you all!

Hiya,

I haven't looked at this thread in so long, not since the original online test results came out. I was OOM of 108 at that time. I'm paranoid that maybe I've missed my PAS message calling me to the next round?

Congratulations to those of you who have gotten through! Best of luck in your new positions.

I'm loving this working from home stuff. I intend to stay at this. They'll have to drag me back kicking and screaming "hell no I won't go!!".

Yup. Found my email, 950 OOM. But at the time they were calling anyone with a score of 126 or higher and I haven't kept an eye on who that has changed/moved on since.

I received mine too.

This might be a silly question but it mentions that we’ll get some background information and instructions before starting the exercise and then on the next line it says we have 90 mins to complete the exercise.
Would I be able to log in let’s say tomorrow morning and get the information, do the tutorial etc and then do the etray a day or 2 later if I wanted?

Just to clarify that the tutorial and the background information are two different things. The tutorial is separate and you can log in one day to do that, then log off and do the exercise another day. The tutorial gets you acquainted with the format, shows you how to click through emails etc.

The background information is specific to the exercise and once you are reading the background info you are in the exercise. It sets the scene so to speak. Tells you your role and describes the situation and context on the day. You can't look at this on a Monday, think about it and then come back to do the exercise on the Wednesday for example.

MrsBean wrote: »

Just to clarify that the tutorial and the background information are two different things. The tutorial is separate and you can log in one day to do that, then log off and do the exercise another day. The tutorial gets you acquainted with the format, shows you how to click through emails etc.

The background information is specific to the exercise and once you are reading the background info you are in the exercise. It sets the scene so to speak. Tells you your role and describes the situation and context on the day. You can't look at this on a Monday, think about it and then come back to do the exercise on the Wednesday for example.

That’s brilliant, thank you! I had a feeling this would be the case but when I got the information today, the wording made me question if it was possible. Thanks for clarifying.

Did the e-tray yesterday. It is very mentally exhausting and I found it a tough exercise! I didn't get all emails answered and am sure I left one main task to the end which I don't think I went back to but can't be sure! What I didn't expect was once the exercise finished a survey started immediately this too was timed (10 -15 mins I think) I'm sure it is mentioned in the pre-assessment info but I must have skipped over that part :L
Anyway just thought it was worth mentioning to be prepared to give answers on how you felt you did/what you would do differently/how you would approach the work if it was a real scenario etc.

I am confident I blew the e-tray but I am chuffed to have made it this far in the competition and delight to have gained some experience.

Best of luck to all

Sorry to go a little off topic but what number after stage 1 have they called?

Hi I am planning on doing my E-tray tomorrow just wondering on the answering format are they a mix of multiple choice and written responses? or do you have to rate the answers with most / least effective? Thanks

Skaterpeemp wrote: »

Hi I am planning on doing my E-tray tomorrow just wondering on the answering format are they a mix of multiple choice and written responses? or do you have to rate the answers with most / least effective? Thanks

You have to reply as you would in a normal scenario! Definitely read though the advice here beforehand, it gives you a great insight into how the process is laid out and some useful hints.

Ravelleman wrote: »

AGS?

No, a Brexity role that involves travel and having your own transport which I currently do not have.

I've heard of panels being delayed until specific positions are filled via either an EOIs or secondment before but they were internal panels so not sure if the same applies to an open/interd.