Executive Officer in the Civil Service 2026

Went down a few places in OOM but I wasn't convinced I would pass, (this was my first formal interview in my career) so I'm absolutely delighted. Well done everyone!

Got my results there and also passed! I’d talked myself into thinking I hadn’t so I’ve honestly just been beaming since I opened the email lol. Well done to everyone else and best of luck to those who have yet to interview/receive their results 😊

I take it back, got his results!! So proud of him, first in the county in both streams. He won’t be missing out on a role this time around haha

I interviewed last Thursday 21/05 and got email today. Placed number 1 for my selected area so delighted ☺️

It was a lot more conversational than a lot of the advice online might have you believe, while still being structured (they tell you what capability theyre looking for at each section). More small questions: "I see you have a degree in ___ how do you think that will help you with ___" "tell me about how you would introduce yourself to a new coworker" and less large "tell me about a time you lead a team through a difficult situation" questions.

I still think it was very helpful to have examples for each capability, but you might not get to say them, I only briefly referenced most of mine.

Thank you and yes, as far as I remember it was at least a couple questions for each.

They didn't, but mentioned they had it, they count it towards your grade for the communicating and collaborating capability. So for the breakdown of our results yesterday it said:

Communicating & Collaborating (including written exercise): [numbergrade]

One thing my other half said was they interrupted and cut him off a lot, initially caused a bit of panic post interview but apparently they do that if you’ve satisfied what they’ve asked or if you’re giving a lot of context to your example but they’ve gotten the idea. He’s top of his county post interview now so if they interrupt you don’t panic. It might be a good sign.

Make sure to use “I did this” not “we”. The interview is the time to boast about all you’ve achieved and your strengths even if it feels a bit uncomfortable. For examples, make sure you have a clear result to give them. So you’ve probably seen the STAR format, the result is really important and don’t be very vague. Like what was the impact it made within the context of your example. Not just “it made things more productive”. What did making it more productive achieve? Did it free up people to work on more projects? Reduce the amount of resources being used? All depends on your example.

These are a few bits my partner focused on and he did really well, I think his lowest score for a capability was 68. Another thing I saw someone on Reddit suggest was have the buzz words from the capability framework on sticky notes on the wall in front of you to remind you of them and try fit them in where you can.

Thanks for this, some good advice. I already completed my interview but I am wondering if he answered STAR format to everything. For example, why do you think you have the experience to work in this role? In that case, I feel like rattling off education, work experience etc is what you should answer, as opposed to STAR format. So I am wondering if he answered STAR for everything? Or just when it was 'tell me a time' type questions?

Any update from Limerick panel?

Yes, but 0-9 doesn't mean 9, it just means there wasn't 10+, chances it's 9 is 10% if you assume each value 0-9 are equally likely (or significantly less if you assume a normal distribution curve).

From the 2024 campaign I know of people who interviewed on a thursday, informed they passed on tuesday and then entered clearnace on Wednesday, with clearnace taking a week and then offered a job.

Once you enter clearance post interview and you have a relatively low oom my understanding is that your brought through quickly.

I passed batch 1 interviews and I asked PAS last week when will the clearnace process start, they indicated that they intend to start clearance for batch 1 in the coming weeks.

Clearance is, references, education requirements checks and garda vetting, then your offered a placement (might be wrong) and if your placement requires further security clearnace beyond regular vetting then you have to wait around 12 weeks for that.

In general though it seems clearances have slowed down across the board when compared to a year or two ago when they were quite rapid.

I emailed PAS and they said they only called 2 for open and 2 for interdepartmental for our county so far. Is that number unusual for a first batch? When my other half got his interview result there was no batch number. He was in open and interdepartmental so it’s possible the maximum people they called was 3, potentially only the two.

Hi,

Does anyone know whats involved with clearance for interdepartmental please?

( as you are already in civil service, is there anything much to check)

Thanks in advance