Should be posted on publicjobs.ie in the morning. Been a CO now for a year…..hopefully I’ll do well (flunked the interview two years back).
Any tips and tricks and discussion welcome!
Interdepartmental competitions are always classed as promotion.
I think it mentions it in the booklet. Something along the lines of an individual currently serving at the grade of EO or equivalent cannot apply for this role. This is due to the fact you would be eligible for open competitions and mobility. This is an example of this on a HEO comp. It is found under eligibility.
“a) be serving in an established, unestablished or acting (see para 4.e) below) capacity in the Civil Service in a grade below that of Higher Executive Officer.”
Where does it say this? Not questioning you but I tried to find it on print and couldn't see it. But probably just me missing it
no you can’t
Really? I thought you can also chose interdepartmental if you're the same grade. Is there anything official on this?
Assessment is done online so should be no issue getting it done in the timeframe allocated.
Going to be awkward for a lot of people with holidays I imagine. OH has put in for this…
Wonder when in August will the tests be out amd what company are issuing them
you’re right - have to be a grade lower than EO to apply for interdepartmental
Yeah absolutely agree on that part, I'm in a role that suits my own skills right now however and I'm bored as beans… Barely enough work to get through half a day, no COs so I can't build any kind of experience up for applying to HEO, etc. Lovely people here and very understanding but I'd love something busier and even a little bit of stress!
I hope it works out for you I really do and you have provided a good answer to the likely question however unfortunately PAS don't always assign people to Departments and subsequently Departments assign new staff to sections where we will enjoy the role, thrive and meet that skills gap. Its a crappy system how it all works i.e. someone with a Greek civilisation degree assigned to the Department of Finance. Its really luck of the draw.
No, if you're still on probation it would be for the remainder of the 12 months you already started and if you have completed probation you wouldn't restart it.
If I get asked why I am applying for a job at the exact same grade, I'd be honest? I have done my work in my current Department as an EO but I'm looking to build up other skills such as my management ones which I've not gotten the opportunity to do in my current position. Also I'd mention that my work up to now has been heavily operational and I want to build up experience in a more policy oriented position if possible.
It isn't shameful to want a move otherwise mobility wouldn't exist in the first place.
Can you not look for a move within your department if you don't like the work. The grass isn't always greener. Tbh I don't think it's a good answer when a board member asks why are you applying for a job at the exact same grade.
If you don't like the department you are in. It would be a quicker move than mobility.
Why would you put an application in for this if your already an EO?
Assume if you go from existing EO to another EO role in the Open stream, you have to restart probation?
At the end of the application form (Question 1) there is an option to indicate if you'd like to be considered for roles that need specialist Irish language skills:
"The Civil Service is fully committed to fulfilling obligations under the Official Languages Act. It is intended that vacancies arising which require staff to provide a full range of services through the Irish language (Functional Bilinguals) may be filled from this competition. Candidates who indicate their interest and who are successful at the final selection stages will be required to undergo certain assessments though Irish, e.g. interview and written test, prior to being considered for such a position. Please indicate below if you would be interested in a position requiring specialist Irish language skills should any arise during the lifetime of this competition."
PAS said to apply for the open if you're an already serving EO, interdepartmental if you're a CO
“This application must be completed in full and submitted before the deadline at 2pm Tuesday 16th July”
yes, tick both open and interdepartmental. you will then be on 2 panels, 2 chances to get a new EO role
Says 3pm on publicjobs.ie
EDIT: Also says 2pm if you click into the advert though (timezone thing maybe?)
Hey! Very last minute but does the 16th of July deadline mean 12am this morning or like close of business tomorrow?
Interd only - well less people will be in the Interd pool so you'd be called quicker for an interview on the Interd anyway even if you ticked both. BEST OF LUCK :)
Just got through to someone on reception there, apparently it could be if you are logged in to the system on more than one device or if you are using symbols like "&" or other symbols that the system is interpreting as possbly malicious code. The advice is to press the back button to get back to the webform, copy all the contents of your form so far into a word doc or similar and then log out on all devices and see if you can get back in.
If this doesn't work then send your text so far in a word doc into PAS and they can try to identify the cause of the problem in terms of which characters you may be using that are causing the problems
AAARGH, anyone else getting error messages now when trying to save draft of the application form? I have called PAS but only got to leave a message so hoping they come back to me soon
Apologies, have just seen this has already been asked before & answered previously😊
hello there, I am also applying for this competition as am not very happy to where I have been assigned. The people are lovely but I want to keep my options open. I am two years in the Civil Service. The form is allowing me to tick both Open & Interdepartmental-is this correct? Would it be advisable to tick both? TIA😊
Hi Caoimhe
Sorry I didn't get back to you I was trying to work it out thanks Slave 77 for Response ye im really hoping to get it this time
Have a good hard think about each competency in your current position. You probably do each one multiple times a day every day without realising.
Failing that, ChatGPT is your friend.
Is there an Irish language stream to the EO competition?
