Principal Officer 2025

I personally wouldn’t recommend the job test prep the tests were way harder and really stressed me out. In reality this test was a lot more doable and I just closed it and bit the bullet and stopped trying to practice. It was way too little time to get into the swing of practice so I just did them as I am and very glad they are out of the way

I definitely quit the numerical analysis practices after they got too obsessed with currency rates and profit and loss sheet analysis but I did find the charts and graphs prep good for getting my head into the right place in fairness!

Some of those job simulation ones were tricky to know what they were looking for! For a few of them I was like "where is the option to say I would gather more information and then decide"

bit of a rant….

These competitions are so time consuming and completely detached from the realities of the roles they are attempting to fill. The situational tests especially seem more about measuring idealised behaviour than assessing real world competencies. Honestly, I find myself thinking, what would my manager not do, when attempting to answer the question of what one should do. These tests are also so subjective, it seems like the middle of the road answers (slightly appropriate/ appropriate/ slightly inappropriate/ inappropriate) could go either way depending on way the wind blows! Instead of identifying candidates with practical skills and sound judgment, the process seems to favour those who are simply good at navigating abstract assessments. For a system meant to recruit capable public servants, it is incredibly convoluted.

There was one particular question for one of the graphs where I genuinely believe the answer as presented mathematically speaking, is false, but I am 99% sure the 'correct' answer will be cannot say.

Thankfully those are out of the way. Want to say I found them easy enough but the scoring may say otherwise

Ugh- I made a mistake!

Anyone know when the results are due?

there was also a mistake in the test material - the graph had number of households using that fuel NOT amount of fuel.

I thought the SJT part was calibrated well towards PO level, this ups the game on AP level scenarios. However, some depts allow more initiative to staff than others, so the correct answer might differ considerably. The other exercise is more objective and you know (with reasonable confidence) on your answers...yet time was limited.

”For the PO 2025 competition, candidates will be ranked on the outcome of their Stage 1
online assessments. Candidates will be progressed to the shortlisting stage and will be shortlisted in accordance with their ranking. At shortlisting, applications will be assessed against a scored criteria, and a further rank order will be created. The number to be invited forward at each stage will be determined from time to time by publicjobs.”

- shortlisting is due to take place in August according to the booklet, but not sure if or when the ranking of stage 1 assessments happens.

For August Interviews, you would need to give enough time for candidates (especially with physical interviews). Therefore my guess is results out before the end of July.

are you estimating this? Sounds like you’re rather certain.

I've seen a lot of competitions play out over the years & I read the booklet.

The booklet says shortlisting in August.

Results of each stage usually take about 3 weeks to come out then there's about a weeks lag and they move to the next round. There's usually a 2-3 week notice period of each stage.

Friday of a bank holiday weekend, 3 weeks after the tests close is very likely results day.

Shortlisting will take about 3 weeks during August. They won't do many because it's time consuming and the first batch of interviews is usually small.

Interviews you generally get 2-3 weeks notice of the time and date. The first batch usually knows they'll have an interview for about a week before they get a time and date.

Current panel expired end of August so they'll want some people on a new panel before long.

Hi!

Colleague asked me what questions we were given in the Critical Analysis rest.

I remember the comprehension test, bar chart on UK v. Ireland male v. female, table I think was on GDP.

What were the other two tests?!😃