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Administrative Officer Open Competition 2025

AdmiralHip

Hi everyone,

I'll be applying for the AO role in the coming days and I have some questions.

The application does not have any competency questions, only work history. I am getting conflicting info from people on how to format my work history. Do I incorporate the STAR method into my accomplishments/duties? Do I incorporate the competencies where possible?
The application asks for salaries from previous roles but not your current role. Is this new, and if so, do I need to fill it in? Some jobs I had were while I was a PhD student and they weren't paid, but they were positions I held (conference organizer for several years, student journal editor). I don't know if these are something I should include or not as well.
How far back in job history would you go? I've been working for 20 years, but intermittently due to school/university.
Any other tips for the application itself?

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notmaudgonne

Sounds like you did well, Admiral. Congrats!

When those in the top 10 get placed, could you keep us posted please? That would be a big help 😊

AdmiralHip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124459699#Comment_124459699

I hope so! I am hyper critical so it's always hard for me to gauge how something like this goes. I have no baseline for these (my first CS interview) but fingers crossed.

I am very curious to hear about placements too and also some insight into why they're taking ages. I hear some departments take much longer than others (like Justice) so I wonder if that's the reason?

AdmiralHip

Hah so I found out that I am OOM 1 in Batch 4. I clearly am way too critical of my own capabilities lol. Now to wait for clearance…but given how long some people are in it for, looks like it will be awhile. EDIT: Do people move down OOMs after the interview or if once you get it, that's it?

Aero Aruba

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124460591#Comment_124460591

If that is your OOM after the interview that is your final placement, there may still be people ahead from earlier batches awaiting allocation and clearance but well done, #1 is great.

AdmiralHip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124460660#Comment_124460660

Thank you so much! With the way the batches work, do they work through the entirety of each batch first before getting to the next one? I assume that's how it worked, but I am unsure how many people end up going through clearance per batch. It seems like such a massive wait that I am concerned I'll not even make it into AO if it's taking people 4-5 months just to get through Garda vetting.

Aero Aruba

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124460673#Comment_124460673

Yes basically everyone ahead on the earlier batches has to be inclearance before they start with you, sometimes they will indicate how many are ahead of you, even if other batches, if you ask them.

AdmiralHip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124460684#Comment_124460684

I'll ask them and see if they will tell me.

OogeyBoogsters

Emailed Public Jobs a couple days ago. They are still working through Batch 1. About 20 in Batch 1, 20 in Batch 2, and 30 in Batch 3 that were successful in interview

AdmiralHip

According to a friend at the top of Batch 1, he cleared the Garda vetting but he’s just been sitting around waiting for the next step after and it’s been a couple weeks now.

AdmiralHip

I'll be honest, I'm worried that I'll be timed out of this because the clearance will take forever. And I suspect my clearance might take longer because I'm not an Irish citizen yet (lived here for over 10 years but unsure how the clearance works and how far back it goes).

Danger Burger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124470043#Comment_124470043

I don't think the hold-up is actually the clearance. I'm batch one as well and went through the Garda clearance - it took a few weeks as usual, but I was emailed another few weeks back to say the clearance is completed. So it might be the next step (placement?) causing the hold up.

AdmiralHip

My friend’s clearance took from end of Jan to April so I am not sure. Maybe it takes longer for certain people. I wonder why placement would be so delayed though if that is the next step since my understanding was that clearance is dictated by the department who needs the candidate (because it can take longer for certain departments, is my understanding).

Mister R

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124472224#Comment_124472224

I think Justice and many some bodies under their aegis are the only ones where the additional clearances are required. The majority of roles shouldn’t require any more extensive clearances

AdmiralHip

I wonder why my friend’s took so long? I’m hearing others have had very long clearance times too over on Reddit.

Aero Aruba

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124473511#Comment_124473511

I think with the new recruitment platform they introduced there have been quite a few teething issues at Publicjobs of late, Reddit has a lot of people also complaining about miscommunication and also lack of communication from Publicjobs across a number of comeptitions.

Gonzo89

I was near the top of the panel in the first batch. My clearance process took what I thought was an unusually long time, so I decided to chase it up myself. It appeared that the HR section in my department were not receiving the emails from Publicjobs with my reference form, for them to complete. So I asked them to reach out to publicjobs themselves to make sure they got it.

The clearance process was completed about a week after that but it involved a bit of chasing.

Approximately three weeks later, my department assigned me to a role and I begin this Friday.

For anyone wondering about timelines, my interview was in early February and I received my results around a week later. And I am existing civil servant who requested to stay in my department.

notmaudgonne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124481379#Comment_124481379

Thanks for this update! Best of luck in your new role.

I’m in the teens and hoping to hear word soon 🤞

DLLK01

As someone who has successfully been placed in the mid teens from batch 2 in the interviews, I now have an upcoming interview for the Executive Officer position that I applied for before I did my AO interview. I am however unsure if it is worth my time and effort going forward with this interview for a lower position, given my success in the AO interview. The thought of putting the same amount of work and effort into preparing for this interview is putting me off. What does anybody think?

AdmiralHip

Thanks for the update and well done!

AdmiralHip

I suspect I’ll be getting an interview with EO (my OOM was in the 200s) and I figure I’ll do it, as a backup.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124484958#Comment_124484958

teachersambo

Does anyone know what OOM has been reached for interviews for this campaign? Are they still interviewing? I'm mid to high 300s so prob won't get called but I'm curious nonetheless.

AdmiralHip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124486641#Comment_124486641

Pretty sure they're still interviewing as the panel hasn't closed and it's going to run for a year at least. I was interviewed at the beginning of May and that was Batch 4, my OOM was in the 130s. I think they're onto Batch 5 now, and it's roughly 30-40 people per batch.

teachersambo

I see, that gives me a bit of an insight into things. Cheers!

Danger Burger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124484958#Comment_124484958

Similar boat here. I'm batch 1 teens OOM and currently on a TCO contract till the end of the year. Twice now Ive had an invite for a CO permanent role (one placement, one interview) but decided to pass because I'd feel like a dope starting from scratch again at the same pay only to get pulled out for an AO role soon after.

Given how slow this is moving though I will have to give the EO competition interview a bit more of a consideration.

imothy6819

[DELETED]

AdmiralHip

Anyone else from Batch 1 get placements yet and/or are people from Batch 2 & 3 going through clearance?

Caoimheee_15

I'm in the Top 10 for Batch 2 and just got invited for clearance this morning!

AdmiralHip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124503718#Comment_124503718

Sounds like it will be a ways off for my clearance then still.

DLLK01

Great news, I’m a few above you so hoping I’ll get called for clearance soon too

chazMeister

Does anyone know how long the panel will run for?