New 2021 Assistant Principal in the Civil Service

Thanks, yes I think it's quite hard to ascertain the marking or the best approach, and logically you would think being able to include a piece from your AP promotion should merit 15-20 points more not less. I am working at an equivalent grade in a different public body, so certainly on paper meet all the criteria. I think my main issue is with most processes you can have a feeling whether something went well or not, and why, and at this stage I am wondering whether I should be presenting entirely fictional examples. I appreciate all the feedback from posters and obviously there's a lot of people in similar positions. I am not expecting any changes from the review process, but will certainly share if there's any insights.

Hopefully there will be some new opportunities on publicjobs soon, and best of luck to all those proceeding to the next stage :)

Oh good stuff, did they give you plenty of notice

Start now on the competencies and have them completed before you get your presentation topics. It took more time than I had anticipated to do all the research so if you have your examples all done and learnt it will take the pressure off.

you’re not going to be able to get through long examples and be prepared for short rapid questions so if I was doing it again I would spend more time learning the competencies and buzz words then trying to memorise my answers for them

best of luck everyone

Specialist knowledge competency could be tied in with other competencies, even at the beginning when you are asked to talk about yourself a little, prepare an opening pitch that would cover both specialist knowledge and drive and commitment, you might be asked to elaborate it at a later stage but it's always good to give them some idea to develop as opposed to waiting for the answer to be asked. For example, you can say that you see an opportunity to further develop your leadership skills, so you researched and have decided to do a course in this area. Or for specialist knowledge, you can give an example of you being the go to person for a particular aspect of your job, that you are the knowledge expert whenever certain issues/queries come up, that you are the person everyone turns to for a solution.

Short examples with very little context, lots of actions and a satisfactory result is very important.

Thank you Crinkley and FenFlynn very much - that's very clear and very helpful!

@crinkley and @FenFlynn

Thank you for the great advice - I never considered including the specialist knowledge in the opener.

Mine was 4 days before my interview but 2 working days.

when they send the topics they let you know when it must be submitted

Got my clearance forms absolutely delighted they got to my oom so quickly

Huge congrats! That's great news for you.

Does anyone know the last date of current online interviews? I see someone previous posted the 12th April for theirs. Is there dates after that?

For the strategic analysis exercise, do you research outside of the documentation provided or just refer to what you have been given?

Congrats to those that have been successful in the process so far :)

I researched outside of the documentation, I treated it very much as I would a business case in my current role and you wouldn’t leave out examples of best practice. Easy to go down rabbit holes though but I think it’s important to have a decent high level of knowledge on the subject for the q&a after the presentation. Just be able to justify everything

Just submitted my strategic analysis exercise there now - going down rabbit holes is an understatement! It was all consuming for the past week - but interesting all the same. Now back to the regular prep.

The Q&A afterwards for me was very much around why I picked the policy choices I did, this also allowed me to explain why I ruled out others so showed that I spent a significant time researching best practice. How long I think it would take to be implemented which allowed me to go on to other projects I had managed. Those are the two stand outs I can remember

You’ll be so glad when it’s over. I honestly thought I had failed it, and it was a nice surprise. Relax tonight and just try and portray all your qualities as best as you can. You got this far so you’ve got what’s needed

best of luck