NEW 2020 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

Tipp star · 14-04-2020 9:11am

Sorry if this has been asked before, does anyone know how long you have to be in the civil service to apply for the interdepartmental stream of this competition?

Ravelleman · 14-04-2020 10:16am

Tipp star wrote: »

Sorry if this has been asked before, does anyone know how long you have to be in the civil service to apply for the interdepartmental stream of this competition?

Two years, be it at a single grade or multiple grades.

Irishder · 14-04-2020 10:47am

Hi all,
just submitted the form there. Applied for the principle officer last year but didn't get past the first stage. Hopefully this one goes better. Out of interested i picked Waterford and Kilkenny as locations i presume that is putting me at a disadvantage straight away?

Best of luck to everyone.

quad_red · 14-04-2020 10:48am

Ravelleman wrote: »

Two years, be it at a single grade or multiple grades.

Is there any sway with this - I'll have my two year anniversary at the end of next week.

Am tempted to submit on the Inter Dept as well given it's so close. Or is it utterly pointless?

Mac0783 · 14-04-2020 10:54am

Hi,

Does anyone have the link for the inter d comp? It looks like it's been taken off publicjobs.

Thanks

uncle ernie · 14-04-2020 11:28am

Mac0783 wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone have the link for the inter d comp? It looks like it's been taken off publicjobs.

Thanks

This is the link:

https://www.publicjobs.ie/en/?option=com_jobsearch&view=jobdetails&cid=114935&campaignId=2045902

When you click 'Apply now' and go into 'Complete the online application form' you will have the option to select Open/Interdepartmental/Irish.

The Student · 14-04-2020 12:31pm

Mac0783 wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone have the link for the inter d comp? It looks like it's been taken off publicjobs.

Thanks

Competition ref is 2045902

urgelgru · 14-04-2020 1:07pm

Irishder wrote: »

Hi all,
just submitted the form there. Applied for the principle officer last year but didn't get past the first stage. Hopefully this one goes better. Out of interested i picked Waterford and Kilkenny as locations i presume that is putting me at a disadvantage straight away?

Best of luck to everyone.

Well yes there will be less jobs at AP level outside of Dublin. I haven't looked at the other AP threads in detail here but you'll probably see that some regional panels had no movement at all.

At least Waterford would have some fairly large offices. My brother was on a CO panel there last year so I was hopeful he'd get something in the city due to large offices like Social Welfare and Revenue, then he went one better and got placed in his own town, the jammy git

I'm not really familiar with Kilkenny but I imagine they'd have a couple of large offices too?

One advantage of being a regional candidate is that as they usually move through the process with Dublin quicker, so you get a bit more time.

Of course that's a disadvantage if you feel you feel you have your competencies bang on and are just itching to get going! :pac:

James2020App · 14-04-2020 1:35pm

If you were willing to move anywhere in Ireland to take on an AP job, obviously you would put Dublin as your number one preference, but what would you put done as option number 2?

lucat · 14-04-2020 2:36pm

Just submitted mine. Anyone else have trouble saving theirs? I had to copy and past each field into a new form and save that one...
Anyway at least it's done now. Good luck everyone!

Addle · 14-04-2020 3:05pm

James2020App wrote: »

If you were willing to move anywhere in Ireland to take on an AP job, obviously you would put Dublin as your number one preference, but what would you put done as option number 2?

Limerick maybe?

Cheeseplant · 14-04-2020 7:21pm

Addle wrote: »

Limerick maybe?

or Laois

Cheeseplant · 14-04-2020 7:26pm

quad_red wrote: »

Is there any sway with this - I'll have my two year anniversary at the end of next week.

Am tempted to submit on the Inter Dept as well given it's so close. Or is it utterly pointless?

Completely pointless unless you have 2 years by 16/04. Even if you aced the interview, HR would find you ineligible when it comes to the appointment stage.

Candidates for promotion to Assistant Principal must:

a) be serving in a permanent, temporary or acting (see para 5.e below) capacity in the Civil Service in a grade below that of Assistant Principal, and

b) on or before the closing date of
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]16[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]th [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]April 2020 [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial][/FONT][/FONT]and have not less than two years’ service in the Civil Service. Temporary officers and officers serving in an acting capacity in the eligible grades may compete in the competition provided they fulfil the eligibility requirements set out above.

c) Have management experience at an appropriate level including leading teams and managing stakeholders.

d) Have significant experience of some or all of the following: People management, project management, managing budgets, delivery of programmes, strategic and change management;

Gadgetman99 · 16-04-2020 2:12am

Any one else having problems submitting the application on the PAS website?

Brera · 16-04-2020 2:14am

Gadgetman99 wrote: »

Any one else having problems submitting the application on the PAS website?

I was able to upload mine about an hour ago with no problems.

I wonder those the PAS site go down for a while over night ðŸ€”

Gadgetman99 · 16-04-2020 2:19am

Thanks I'll try again in the morning hopefully with better results! Good luck with your application btw!

Brera · 16-04-2020 2:21am

Gadgetman99 wrote: »

Thanks I'll try again in the morning hopefully with better results! Good luck with your application btw!

Hopefully it will work for you in the morning.

Good luck with your application

Cheeseplant · 16-04-2020 10:43am

well the form is in.. now let's hope they don't announce a moratorium!

Landslide79 · 16-04-2020 12:09pm

Application submitted. Took a good bit of time and had to stop myself from falling into the trap of overanalysing everything I had written - embarrassingly, a bit exhausted by it now! Glad to have that part over with, whether I progress or not.

Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone on the thread - I'm new to Civil Service recruitment and posted about a month back for feedback on filling out the application form and the overall recruitment process. I got some brilliant tips that were very useful when approaching the form and they gave me a great grounding insofar as just knowing what points to build answers on, so cheers again - much appreciated!

Best of luck to ye all, hoping ye make it through and are keeping well amidst the Covid madness.

urgelgru · 16-04-2020 12:27pm

Best of luck to everyone. I always treat these things as learning experiences no matter what.

Forthebuzz · 16-04-2020 1:45pm

Finally got mine in, been meaning to do it for weeks. In the end only started it this morning so not sure if it will be enough

trigger26 · 16-04-2020 2:01pm

Only got the motivation to really go at this properly yesterday, done now. Best of luck everyone.

James2020App · 16-04-2020 2:06pm

I can only imagine there has been an awful lot of applications made for these roles. Between the competition been extended, more than half the country being off over the same period and fearing for their jobs therefore going for a more secure well paid civil service job.

You're not in you can't win though, so good luck to all.

Major Dubfire · 16-04-2020 3:08pm

Where was the portal Folks? It disappeared completely for me

Aglomerado · 16-04-2020 3:09pm

Got mine in too. I had no enthusiasm for filling in the form but made myself do it. Good luck all!

Chocolate Teapot · 16-04-2020 3:53pm

Major Dubfire wrote: »

Where was the portal Folks? It disappeared completely for me

The competition closed for applications at 3pm, so perhaps that’s why the portal is gone

Forthebuzz · 16-04-2020 3:56pm

James2020App wrote: »

I can only imagine there has been an awful lot of applications made for these roles. Between the competition been extended, more than half the country being off over the same period and fearing for their jobs therefore going for a more secure well paid civil service job.

You're not in you can't win though, so good luck to all.

I wonder will there be more, this thread seems a lot quieter than the last campaigns for the moment.

Major Dubfire · 16-04-2020 4:39pm

Chocolate Teapot wrote: »

The competition closed for applications at 3pm, so perhaps that’s why the portal is gone

No, it was unavailable anywhere in search or navigation before the deadline. Usually open competitions are prominent.

Forthebuzz · 16-04-2020 4:43pm

Major Dubfire wrote: »

No, it was unavailable anywhere in search or navigation before the deadline. Usually open competitions are prominent.

How close to deadline? I searched it around 1.40 to put in my application

Major Dubfire · 16-04-2020 4:48pm

Forthebuzz wrote: »

How close to deadline? I searched it around 1.40 to put in my application

Between 2:30 and right up to 3pm. Was just flat out with other stuff in work and couldn't get a chance before.

Did it appear straight away for you? I performed any relevant search term you can think of, also scrolled through nearly all job categories even as the "days left" number got higher and higher.

:Keith: · 16-04-2020 4:49pm

Got my application submitted last night. To say it was difficult to motivate myself to fill it out with everything going on is an understatement. Let's hope they get this panel going before a moratorium sets in. Good luck to everyone!

Brera · 16-04-2020 5:25pm

Forthebuzz wrote: »

I wonder will there be more, this thread seems a lot quieter than the last campaigns for the moment.

I was thinking that myself.

I was also wondering how many people actually new about it. It was originally advertised before the lockdown when the private sector was in good shape and the lure of an auld public sector job wouldn’t have been as strong.

I’m sure if it had been advertised after the lockdown the number of applicants would have been through the roof but this time I’m not so sure. Time will tell

Best of luck to everyone this time.

Forthebuzz · 16-04-2020 5:34pm

Major Dubfire wrote: »

Between 2:30 and right up to 3pm. Was just flat out with other stuff in work and couldn't get a chance before.

Did it appear straight away for you? I performed any relevant search term you can think of, also scrolled through nearly all job categories even as the "days left" number got higher and higher.

Oh feck, yeah it did show up straight away for me.

Forthebuzz · 16-04-2020 5:37pm

Brera wrote: »

I was thinking that myself.

I was also wondering how many people actually new about it. It was originally advertised before the lockdown when the private sector was in good shape and the lure of an auld public sector job wouldn’t have been as strong.

I’m sure if it had been advertised after the lockdown the number of applicants would have been through the roof but this time I’m not so sure. Time will tell

Best of luck to everyone this time.

Anecdotally as well a good few in work appear to have pulled out who were going for it when they heard that it was going to have more online stages than usual.

Major Dubfire · 16-04-2020 7:53pm

Forthebuzz wrote: »

Oh feck, yeah it did show up straight away for me.

The worst part is if I logged on to boards at like 2:45 instead of 3:05 to comment I would have found the direct link here on the previous page within 2 minutes!

Incredibly frustrating. I know there has to be deadlines and ideally should have it in sooner but looks like there is zero flexibility despite multiple genuine attempts to submit before the deadline.

Anyway, best of luck to you and all.

gordongekko · 16-04-2020 8:15pm

Major Dubfire wrote: »

The worst part is if I logged on to boards at like 2:45 instead of 3:05 to comment I would have found the direct link here on the previous page within 2 minutes!

Incredibly frustrating. I know there has to be deadlines and ideally should have it in sooner but looks like there is zero flexibility despite multiple genuine attempts to submit before the deadline.

Anyway, best of luck to you and all.

The competition was open for 40 days so they were very flexible.

Tomjim · 17-04-2020 12:44pm

When is the online assessment scheduled for?

Forthebuzz · 17-04-2020 1:10pm

Tomjim wrote: »

When is the online assessment scheduled for?

It doesn't say, the original booklet said mid April I think but then they pushed out the closing date and the new booklet doesn't specify when stage 1 will take place

Not sure how much pas are affected by covid19. They may have a lot of people working remotely which could cause delays

Caip79 · 17-04-2020 4:25pm

Forthebuzz wrote: »

It doesn't say, the original booklet said mid April I think but then they pushed out the closing date and the new booklet doesn't specify when stage 1 will take place

Not sure how much pas are affected by covid19. They may have a lot of people working remotely which could cause delays

is it a given that there will be supervised testing? booklet states there will but then in another part states it might be a requirement. booklet seems to indicate online testing stage 1 then video interview stage 2. any info appreciate me as first time entering civil service interviews

Forthebuzz · 17-04-2020 7:33pm

Caip79 wrote: »

is it a given that there will be supervised testing? booklet states there will but then in another part states it might be a requirement. booklet seems to indicate online testing stage 1 then video interview stage 2. any info appreciate me as first time entering civil service interviews

I'm as in the dark re supervised testing. Historically it has always been part of the process but they may cut it due to current circumstances. The booklet definitely alludes to it going straight from testing at home to online video interview

Caip79 · 17-04-2020 9:16pm

Forthebuzz wrote: »

I'm as in the dark re supervised testing. Historically it has always been part of the process but they may cut it due to current circumstances. The booklet definitely alludes to it going straight from testing at home to online video interview

thanks that’s the way i saw it too

Augme · 17-04-2020 9:19pm

The supervised testing aspect can now be done from people's homes.

Tomjim · 17-04-2020 9:50pm

Augme wrote: »

The supervised testing aspect can now be done from people's homes.

How would they do that?

Ap2020 · 17-04-2020 9:53pm

Tomjim wrote: »

How would they do that?

Remote proctoring. This is what was done for the PO competition. You will need a webcam.

Tomjim · 17-04-2020 9:59pm

very interesting - thanks

Brera · 17-04-2020 11:14pm

I would be shocked if they didn’t do some sort of aptitude tests.

To me the main difference with this competition vs previous years seems to be that they have taken some of the questions from the initial application form and are including a video section instead.

It would make sense that would use the application form as a first stage to screen people. Then use the videos as the next stage. After which you could do the tests. Followed by the real interview.

It would be a clever way to filter your candidates and you would end up with a smaller number going on to
do the aptitude tests and in person interview.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough anyway what the plan is

Forthebuzz · 18-04-2020 12:46am

According to the booklet stage 1 is the online aptitude tests as usual, the query above was more in relation to redoing them as that usually happens at PAS and that wouldn't be possible currently.

It has been mentioned above that they could supervise remotely which is a very viable option and if that is done at Stage 1 then there would be no need to repeat tests at all

Does it seem like they are replacing shortlisting off the form with the online video interview? I heard that there was a lot of appeals following shortlisting in the previous campaign

BMHOPE · 19-04-2020 12:57am

They have done it before for competitions, you lift up the laptop and scan the room with webcam, you book a particular timeslot, instructions are given to start, webcam stays on during the test and they supervise you remotely. Actually not too bad.

lucat · 20-04-2020 12:34am

BMHOPE wrote: »

They have done it before for competitions, you lift up the laptop and scan the room with webcam, you book a particular timeslot, instructions are given to start, webcam stays on during the test and they supervise you remotely. Actually not too bad.

I've done it before. It was fine. They can see you, but you can't see them.

lucat · 20-04-2020 1:19pm

I really want to know when this test is so I can decide when I need to start practicing.

NEW 2020 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

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