2024 Assistant Principal in Civil Service

Ok, this is in no way scientific and I need to make a lot of disclaimers around this but…

I used to work in a HR section in my department and we would run internal and open competitions. We would usually only have shortlisting as opposed to testing and shortlisting (we did do testing for some competitions but I don't have as much experience with those, so I'm loathed to say 25% again here). What we would usually see after initial shortlisting is that around 25% would fall, and typically around 50% of the remaining candidates would not pass interview stage. So around 35-40% of the original cohort of candidates would successfully pass all levels and make the panel (which is not to say all those who made the panel were offered a job of course, that is a separate issue). We never set out with those goals in mind, it just happened naturally and over a number of campaigns for it to feel like a natural curve I guess.

If we were to apply that logic to this competition:

There were 3,751 candidates in total, of whom 2,867 passed the initial round of testing (Stage 1). Which means around 25% fell at the testing hurdle. I wouldn't be surprised if, after shortlisting, 25% of the remaining candidates fell as well.

For this current stage, PAS shortlisted (Stage 2) candidates up to open OOM 260 and interdepartmental OOM 167 (Dublin panel only) and invited the successful shortlisted candidates to Stage 3 interviews. However, they did so in batches so it is harder to know the numbers of those who were successful/those who fell. Also, it is worth nothing that at least some of the 260 may contain the 167 as Interdepartmental candidates may have also selected the Open competition.

Based on comments here, they called the top 45 (of those who passed Stage 2 shortlisting) to the first round of interviews (Stage 3, Batch 1). The interviews took place at the end of March and results are likely in mid-April, at which point they will move on to the next bundle of people from that first batch.

Allowing for a natural attrition rate of ~25% to fall at the shortlisting stage, around 65-106 people may have fallen at this stage leaving 155-320 (depending on whether the figure of 260 OOM contains the 167 Interdepartmental, or is separate to it) to progress to Stage 3 interviews.

Allowing for ~45 candidates to be called to each round of interviews, there could be between 4 and 8 rounds within Batch 1 before they would move onto Batch 2 (i.e., those candidates with OOMs higher than 260 in the Open competition). So best case scenario means it is around September/October before they finish 4 rounds of interviews for Batch 1 and are then able to move onto Batch 2. If there are 8 rounds in Batch 1, it will run right up to the end of the year. And remember, this competition expires in December.

In short, it'll be a while before they move past batch 1 by the look of it.

But again, highly unscientific, mindless pondering.

I am in a similar position as you, but was a bit closer to the cutoff. If, as they say it will, this competition only lasts until December, I don't fancy my chances. Elpeep's reply is a much more comprehensive explanation of what is my feeling as well. They will have several batches of candidates from the fist shortlisted group. Also consider that literally hundreds of AP vacancies were filled by the last comp; there won't be as much demand for this one. I think the only chance for us is if they extend the comp, but I'm not sure how likely that is, given the lower demand than last time….

The people who were interviewed three weeks ago won't hear anything until the results are ready for all 45 of the interviewed candidates. The Interview Board won't meet to discuss the post-Stage 3 OOM until after all interviews and I think there were interviews up to Friday of the week before last, 04/04. Then it takes a while for PAS to get ready to issue the results. My guess would end of this week (which is Thursday) or Tuesday of next week (Easter causing some issues).

more frustrating for those of us in counties still waiting for any movement :(

When did the batch end they usually take 2 weeks from the last interview date to send out results

I'm Dublin Batch 1.1 and I got my interview result yesterday.

Silly question. What's clearance and what's considered a high oom?

It's inconsistent but usually every 18 months to two years. The current competition closing date for applications was October 2024 and the previous was in November 2022, and I believe the previous one was summer 2021.

This competition was due to run only to the end of this year, so the next should then be due to launch late this year or early 2026. It's hard to guess though.

The best option if interested is to monitor the social media channels of publicjobs.ie.

Clearance hasn't been initiated yet for Dublin batch 1.1 FYI. Got results Tuesday 15 April and was told clearance will begin after Easter.

Things clearly don't move quickly.

Interview for Dublin Batch 1.2 (well, I am assuming 1.2, I was 1.1 but couldn't make the previous date so was pushed back). Last week of May.

I’m in the same boat and got the email today also.

Can anyone advise on what their timeline was with regards the strategic exercise? I know you've 7 days to complete it but how far in advance of your meeting did you have to submit it? I'm away shortly before my scheduled time and don't want to work on it during my holiday.

No, that information wasn't provided in my message.

The message was just a Zoom invite with details about the meeting.