Central Bank - Bank Executive

I did one in January for a development position. There were some process flow based things that you probably won't get - but the rest was pretty generic. I was sent a link for a similar but different test as a preparation - which were actually harder than the ones I ultimately sat.

As far as I remember there were 5 sections - verbal reasoning, letter pattern matching, process flow, numerical estimates and one more that for the life of me I can't remember.

They weren't necessarily difficult - but its depends what you're good at or not - the pattern matching was the most difficult for me and I figured that I wouldn't get any - yet once I started I got about 60% done. The key here is time - I flew the other sections but you don't get the luxury of having a lot of time to ponder things - you really need to get your brain into overdrive - and find the way of thinking that works for you and the problems at hand.

One thing to be careful of is to make sure you write the correct answers in the correct boxes. At the end I fecked 2 questions by writing in the wrong section. You use a pencil but you can only fix an answer once (they tell you how) - they don't give you a rubber.

I did get called for interview, the interview was a panel of 4 people - and was pretty easy as interviews go. The only catch was that I had to give a 5 minute presentation on my role in software development at the start - so likely you guys may get something similar.

Didn't get the job in the end. I did a great interview for a more senior job - team lead/dev mgr which would be my level - but I just applied for the job because I am desperate to get out of the hole I work in at the moment - I think they figured that. But it was all good experience otherwise.

Best of luck

D.

For a Bank Executive position in the Central Bank you don't have to give a presentation. You must sit aptitude tests and then an interview. The aptitude tests are pretty standard there really isn't anyway you can prepare for them. Though remember to bring a calculator for the maths section it will make things easier.

The interview is usually made up of a panel of 3 people. One from HR and the two others from various departments in the Bank. They normally last from between 25-45 minutes.

There is no set questions that they ask but obviously knowledge of the Central Bank and Financial Regulator plus current market awareness is essential.

Oh and I know it sounds stupid but when going for interview please go to the right building. The Central Bank is on Dame Street with the golden tree in front of it. You wouldn't believe the amount of times that HR get phone calls from the Bank of Ireland opposite Trinity telling them that people who have interviews with the Central Bank have turned up at BoI thinking that was the CB and then HR have to go collect them!

Tan Princess wrote: »

[So for current market awareness how detailed are we talking, just a general blurb on the irish economy or a knowledge of financial markets. My background is economics but i try to avoid finance stuff as much as possible as I'm crap at it.

What exactly does the job involve does anyone know is there much technical stuff. Do you know what technical questions they might ask? I've heard its easier than the ESRI interview.

It depends on where you will be placed but it is usually a general entry level management position. The EO position is the 2nd grade on the scale. There will most likely be quite a bit of admin and research, but as for specifics I couldn't really say. I wouldn't worry about having to do technical stuff as part of the job there is a good amount of training required. And it's highly unlikely that you will be sent out to meetings by yourself.

They aren't looking for in depth knowledge of financial markets etc. But they will expect you to know about the credit crisis, why there is so much pressure on the economy and other stuff that has been reported in media recently. Essentially they want to know that you are aware of the bigger picture.

I doubt they will ask too many technical questions. The competition is open to both internal and external candidates so they have to be quiet even handed in their questions. In some ways its good in others its bad. They probably won't ask you about the internal workings of the Bank but they might look for awareness of the Financial Regulator. But they might compensate by asking more HR questions than they would with an internal competition.

Ps- The Central Bank (and a number of other public organisations- including the Houses of the Oireachtas etc) are not part of the civil service (though most people would imagine they are). The civil service is strictly the direct employees of government departments, not state bodies or other state institutions.[/QUOTE]

The Bank isn't part of the civil service (there was a court case a couple of years ago that decided this) but it does follow the civil service model exactly. Staff get the same pay, holidays, pensions, benchmarking etc.

Probably the only difference is that you can't move from one government dept to another but you can always be seconded.