Technical agricultural officer

helenmaria1970 · 04-07-2018 8:55pm

Thanks very much..i appreciate the reply.

Fred1983 · 17-07-2018 11:38am

helenmaria1970 wrote: »

Thanks very much..i appreciate the reply.

Hi I did the aptitude test about 3 weeks ago, didn't hear anything back yet. I have a friend that’s in the Dept of ag, he was telling me if you get offered a job most likely to be in cork , Wexford , Kildare or Dublin , say if you already working as a technical ag officer you will get first preference to move to a different location if it suits you best eg: closer to home , then you would be moved to his last location. Could take years to get to where you want to work.
Also they are crying out for people to work in factory jobs because most people don’t want to work in them , your stuck in a factory all day you can’t leave , you have to be there for the first kill and the last kill and some factory’s start as early as six in the morning depending on demand also there is huge amounts of paper work in the factory . Most lads want the job off crop testing or reps inspection or checking at Marts for tags missing and animal welfare issues , these jobs are more sought after because you get to see parts of the county and meet different people also you get mileage which bumps up your wages. You don’t get these perks in the factory. I’m just telling you what he told me . Best of luck .

helenmaria1970 · 17-07-2018 11:59am

Thanks Fred.. Great info in that. V useful to all.

gingernut79 · 20-07-2018 2:59pm

Anyone else get an email this afternoon?

helenmaria1970 · 20-07-2018 4:35pm

No. What was it?

gingernut79 · 20-07-2018 4:53pm

Notification of placement on the order of merit and your test results. Got place for both my choices so pleased with that. They said it would be August before we had a result.

helenmaria1970 · 20-07-2018 8:21pm

Well done ! You must be delighted...good luck with everything.

Fred1983 · 20-07-2018 10:05pm

gingernut79 wrote: »

Notification of placement on the order of merit and your test results. Got place for both my choices so pleased with that. They said it would be August before we had a result.

What was the story with the email you got, if a job comes up in the area you picked do u get to start straight away or do you go to stage 2 interview and depending on how you get on you get the job. I though that if you did well on the aptitude test you get called for interview and then panal formed from that .

Fred1983 · 20-07-2018 10:47pm

gingernut79 wrote: »

Notification of placement on the order of merit and your test results. Got place for both my choices so pleased with that. They said it would be August before we had a result.

What was the story with the email you got, if a job comes up in the area you picked do u get to start straight away or do you go to stage 2 interview and depending on how you get on you get the job. I though that if you did well on the aptitude test you get called for interview and then panal formed from that .

gingernut79 · 21-07-2018 12:59am

Fred1983 wrote: »

What was the story with the email you got, if a job comes up in the area you picked do u get to start straight away or do you go to stage 2 interview and depending on how you get on you get the job. I though that if you did well on the aptitude test you get called for interview and then panal formed from that .

Yes, that's the one, will be invited to stage 2 for interview when the vacancy comes up for my place on the panel.

speckled_park · 21-07-2018 2:35pm

What timeframe are we talking for interviews? Im placed in the single digits in 2 counties, interview before the end of the year?

If im placed 7 there needs to be 6 vacanies filled before i get called?

gingernut79 · 21-07-2018 3:25pm

I was talking to an Agricultural Inspector friend, reckons they are starting to fill asap. Sure look at the time frame, we're already a few weeks ahead of the schedule they originally announced. From memory, you can move up or down the panel based on your interview score, I'm not sure how that works if they are calling people as they have vacancies to be filled.

gingernut79 · 21-07-2018 3:27pm

speckled_park wrote: »

What timeframe are we talking for interviews? Im placed in the single digits in 2 counties, interview before the end of the year?

If im placed 7 there needs to be 6 vacanies filled before i get called?

would they call 8 or 10 people and interview in batches?

speckled_park · 21-07-2018 6:02pm

gingernut79 wrote: »

would they call 8 or 10 people and interview in batches?

Would make sense. Guess that means there would be 8 or 10 jobs available in a county thou? Probably wouldnt be the case in most counties.

Well for the first batch of interviews anyway.

gingernut79 · 22-07-2018 10:08am

speckled_park wrote: »

gingernut79 wrote: »

would they call 8 or 10 people and interview in batches?

Would make sense. Guess that means there would be 8 or 10 jobs available in a county thou? Probably wouldnt be the case in most counties.

Well for the first batch of interviews anyway.

I'd expect an interview in PAS it wouldn't matter what county the job was in then?

speckled_park · 22-07-2018 2:26pm

gingernut79 wrote: »

I'd expect an interview in PAS it wouldn't matter what county the job was in then?

I dont know ðŸ˜ if i dont get an interview date over the next few weeks i think ill be waiting ðŸ˜

Fred1983 · 24-07-2018 12:00pm

speckled_park wrote: »

I dont know ðŸ˜ if i dont get an interview date over the next few weeks i think ill be waiting ðŸ˜

Wonder what’s the max number on the panal for each county.

gingernut79 · 24-07-2018 3:17pm

Fred1983 wrote: »

Wonder what’s the max number on the panal for each county.

I heard >300 being hired in total. and not all counties have DAFM offices or meat factories. 15 hires per centre on average?

speckled_park · 24-07-2018 6:17pm

gingernut79 wrote: »

I heard >300 being hired in total. and not all counties have DAFM offices or meat factories. 15 hires per centre on average?

300 is good to hear! what work would be in those counties that has no factory/dvo? I put down carlow and am high on the list, but doubt there would be 15 jobs there, no dvo i think and not sure if there are many factories.

gingernut79 · 24-07-2018 7:03pm

speckled_park wrote: »

300 is good to hear! what work would be in those counties that has no factory/dvo? I put down carlow and am high on the list, but doubt there would be 15 jobs there, no dvo i think and not sure if there are many factories.

The material said vacancies might not come up in all counties, I'm in Longford and put down Roscommon and Cavan as I know they have offices, Longford hasnt had an office in a long time.
There's a meat factory in Hacketstown from memory.

Fred1983 · 24-07-2018 11:12pm

As I said before these jobs will be advertised internally first and someone looking for a transfer will get it first and you will fill his position then , so you more than lightly could be sent anyway in the country. I put down Longford and Westmeath , got in the single digits for one and got in the low teens for the other.
Offaly , Westmeath, Cavan , tipp and Monaghan are all tullamore DVO. And Longford, Leitrim, Sligo DVO is in Leitrim .anyone working in Longford would be based in Leitrim DVO . I would say you would be called if a position comes up in the DVO catchment area. I could be wrong doe.

speckled_park · 24-07-2018 11:21pm

Fred1983 wrote: »

As I said before these jobs will be advertised internally first and someone looking for a transfer will get it first and you will fill his position then , so you more than lightly could be sent anyway in the country. I put down Longford and Westmeath , got in the single digits for one and got in the low teens for the other.
Offaly , Westmeath, Cavan , tipp and Monaghan are all tullamore DVO. And Longford, Leitrim, Sligo DVO is in Leitrim . I would say you would be called if a position comes up in the DVO catchment area. I could be wrong doe.

Thanks for info. Got an email earlier, interview in dublin in a fortnight.

Fred1983 · 24-07-2018 11:26pm

speckled_park wrote: »

Thanks for info. Got an email earlier, interview in dublin in a fortnight.

Fair play best of luck with it. What county’s ya pick

gingernut79 · 24-07-2018 11:41pm

speckled_park wrote: »

Fred1983 wrote: »

As I said before these jobs will be advertised internally first and someone looking for a transfer will get it first and you will fill his position then , so you more than lightly could be sent anyway in the country. I put down Longford and Westmeath , got in the single digits for one and got in the low teens for the other.
Offaly , Westmeath, Cavan , tipp and Monaghan are all tullamore DVO. And Longford, Leitrim, Sligo DVO is in Leitrim . I would say you would be called if a position comes up in the DVO catchment area. I could be wrong doe.

Thanks for info. Got an email earlier, interview in dublin in a fortnight.

They are moving quickly so, fingers crossed for the rest of us.

speckled_park · 24-07-2018 11:54pm

Fred1983 wrote: »

Fair play best of luck with it. What county’s ya pick

Thanks! Laois no.6 and Carlow no.3. Got message saying you've been picked, referencing Carlow as the location, which is ironic considering I was sceptical about picking it earlier! The message also said you will only get invited for one location,it probably referenced Carlow for me as I had a better placing there than Laois, even thou Laois was no.1 preference. Like you said thou may get offered work somewhere else. Need to do a good interview thou

could do with a job!:P:pac:

Fred1983 · 25-07-2018 9:35am

speckled_park wrote: »

Thanks! Laois no.6 and Carlow no.3. Got message saying you've been picked, referencing Carlow as the location, which is ironic considering I was sceptical about picking it earlier! The message also said you will only get invited for one location,it probably referenced Carlow for me as I had a better placing there than Laois, even thou Laois was no.1 preference. Like you said thou may get offered work somewhere else. Need to do a good interview thou could do with a job!:P:pac:

They are moving fast , this is prob the first round of interviews at least ya have two weeks to prepare. Good luck with it anyways. Let us know if ya get the job . ðŸ˜€

Long nose · 30-07-2018 3:25pm

Hi everyone, has anyone applied for 2018 TAO Competition?

Long nose · 30-07-2018 3:41pm

Results are out and I've been called for an interview. First round.. Does anyone have experience of the TAO interview. Can you move up or down the scale depending on the interview you give. I suppose you can definitely move down if you give a crap interview. Has anyone heard how many staff the Dept will be recruiting??. I had no luck in the 2016 aptitude test as I did no preparation. Was gonna be called for the 3rd round of in-house testing in February this year but the PAS decided not to do it and start a fresh competition. I did prepare for this test approx 6 weeks ago and ive been placed in the high single digits in both locations I chose.

What kind of questions are likely to be asked at interview. Is it completely competency based or is there room for normal two way conversation.

Does anyone know if all people who were on the 2016 panel have been offered work? It would be of interest if the recent government announcement of 1000 new custom staff/ vets included a few TAO's..

Thanks for reading...

timple23 · 15-08-2018 9:56pm

If you didn't apply for the latest round of technical officer positions, does that mean that you will have to wait another 2 years to apply again?

speckled_park · 16-08-2018 2:53pm

timple23 wrote: »

If you didn't apply for the latest round of technical officer positions, does that mean that you will have to wait another 2 years to apply again?

Yes i imagine. Its the way it was for the last campaign.

speckled_park · 16-08-2018 2:57pm

I did interview last week. Was happy enough with it . Got results today, i moved down places(from 3 to 5 ) for Carlow. Suppose its a waiting game now to see if ill get any job out of it.

Long nose · 17-08-2018 1:08pm

Did anyone contact PAS yet to find out any details going forward regarding offers of jobs. I came 3 rd in my interview panel for my chosen county. It was my second choice. Is it PAS that makes the offers or do they give panel list to DAFM to contact candidates? Well done to everyone whogot on panel.

gingernut79 · 04-09-2018 1:37pm

has anyone heard anything lately? They were all business at the start but its been very quiet this last 3 weeks.

speckled_park · 04-09-2018 2:02pm

gingernut79 wrote: »

has anyone heard anything lately? They were all business at the start but its been very quiet this last 3 weeks.

Hi gingernut

I sent an email last month querying no. of vacancies in laois and Carlow. I got this reply on the 20/08.

"There are vacancies in County Carlow, we are waiting for agriculture to confirm how many but there is at least 2 vacancies there. Clearance is due to commence by the end of the week and we will be in touch when we reach you on the order of merit."

That's the only info I have since last posting

hearmehearye · 05-09-2018 11:47pm

I got an update today, apparently I've been dropped from consideration because I don't meet their educational requirements? Despite ranking second and third in two counties.

I got nothing less than a C2 in my Leaving cert, all higher subjects and I have a degree in Food Science.

I've emailed to see if I can contest this but I'm absolutely devastated so far.

helenmaria1970 · 06-09-2018 8:21am

That makes no sense what so ever...What are they looking for...You've a degree for peets sake, what more do they want..?

gav86 · 06-09-2018 11:19am

hearmehearye wrote: »

I got an update today, apparently I've been dropped from consideration because I don't meet their educational requirements? Despite ranking second and third in two counties.

I got nothing less than a C2 in my Leaving cert, all higher subjects and I have a degree in Food Science.

I've emailed to see if I can contest this but I'm absolutely devastated so far.

Don't delay in sending in the review form when you get it as you only have 5 days from notification and then PAS have 5 weeks to get back to you. This happened me as well and I am still waiting to hear back. Best to call as well after you have sent in the review form as there seems to be uncertainty if this is PAS or DAFF responsibility.

hearmehearye · 06-09-2018 11:58pm

gav86 wrote: »

Don't delay in sending in the review form when you get it as you only have 5 days from notification and then PAS have 5 weeks to get back to you. This happened me as well and I am still waiting to hear back. Best to call as well after you have sent in the review form as there seems to be uncertainty if this is PAS or DAFF responsibility.

Do you mind elaborating on the review form? Why would it be sent? I'm new to PAS applications. Thanks in advance!

gav86 · 07-09-2018 8:12am

hearmehearye wrote: »

Do you mind elaborating on the review form? Why would it be sent? I'm new to PAS applications. Thanks in advance!

Once I got the message I emailed back to ask if I could have this reviewed and they replied with a form you have to fill out - it might be something they have on their website but I couldn't find it. I can forward it on to you

hearmehearye · 07-09-2018 10:43pm

gav86 wrote: »

Once I got the message I emailed back to ask if I could have this reviewed and they replied with a form you have to fill out - it might be something they have on their website but I couldn't find it. I can forward it on to you

Ah I received a reply today. DAFM doesn't recognise a BSc in Food Science! Crazy! I've been sent the review form, I'll fill it out asap. Thanks for the heads up on it

gingernut79 · 11-09-2018 2:30pm

hearmehearye wrote: »

Ah I received a reply today. DAFM doesn't recognise a BSc in Food Science! Crazy! I've been sent the review form, I'll fill it out asap. Thanks for the heads up on it

That is crazy! someone I know is an AAI with Food science degree from the Ag faculty in UCD. It does seem odd that industry experience isn't taken into account at the earlier stages, esp if you've been in a role subject to DAFM inspections, or are directly working in agriculture.

helenmaria1970 · 19-09-2018 8:02pm

Anyone get offers in the Mid West..?

Sheep breeder · 28-09-2018 12:12am

There is different types of work on offer, the factory work is usually per county, the field work is per regional office like Carlow work would be based in Enniscorthy, Kilkenny based in Waterford, when a post becomes available it is offered to present staff in that area and if no Up take then to the panel. The DVO work is most sought by present staff.
There is a two year sitting time before a new person is considered for transfer or promotion. Pay is not great starting off.

speckled_park · 08-10-2018 5:13pm

helenmaria1970 wrote: »

Anyone get offers in the Mid West..?

Sounds like no one here got an offer yet ðŸ˜…

speckled_park · 08-10-2018 5:14pm

Sheep breeder wrote: »

There is different types of work on offer, the factory work is usually per county, the field work is per regional office like Carlow work would be based in Enniscorthy, Kilkenny based in Waterford, when a post becomes available it is offered to present staff in that area and if no Up take then to the panel. The DVO work is most sought by present staff.
There is a two year sitting time before a new person is considered for transfer or promotion. Pay is not great starting off.

Thanks for the info. Are you a dept. man?

MMackey · 08-10-2018 10:59pm

I have been offered work in the Dept. as TAO. Whats the story with Money. 24K is pretty light. Is there room for it to go up? Anyone know?

Is promotion difficult?

Winter2018 · 09-10-2018 10:38am

That's brilliant for you that you have been offered a position. Do you mind saying which County and where you were on the list... as this will give hope to us that are still waiting from the recent competition to see where they are and how its progressing.
Good Luck in your new role.
Cheers,

Theyank1 · 12-10-2018 7:16am

Anyone else get placed on a panel?

I got placed this week, disappointed with my result, I was 10 after the supervised test but 14 now after the interview. Doubt they would reach that low.

Fred1983 · 14-10-2018 8:21am

Theyank1 wrote: »

Anyone else get placed on a panel?

I got placed this week, disappointed with my result, I was 10 after the supervised test but 14 now after the interview. Doubt they would reach that low.

How was the interview was it difficult

Theyank1 · 14-10-2018 11:17am

Fred1983 wrote: »

How was the interview was it difficult

The interview wasn't to bad, I was interviewed by 2 people 1 public appointment staff and 1 from dept of agriculture. The whole thing lasted 30 minutes and the asked me questions on 5 topics 1)dealing with people
2)decision making and problem solving
3) commitment to high standards
4) expert knowledge
5) communication
Got emailed these were the topics I'd be asked about so I cud prepare in advance

Technical agricultural officer

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