Third Secretary & Development Specialist Campaign 2020

KRedzer · 05-11-2020 7:21pm

mulligja wrote: »

781 for TS, 373 for Development Specialist

Made a balls of the Verbal Reasoning and got 39 so just scraped a pass. Bit disappointed am hoping I can at least get 1000 in the AO stream based off these results. Congrats to everyone on getting results, is good to know even if not terrific news.

I’m placed similarly for the DSO role, and did badly in the verbal even though I put a lot of work into practicing. Very disappointed but hoping that we’re called to the assessment centre. Placed 55th last year on the AO comp after the aptitude tests, so I’m not sure how many they take in each batch.

Aleece2020 · 05-11-2020 7:28pm

DSO: In the 240s.
TS: In the 530s.

TS is more competitive; definitely more applicants there folks!

mulligja · 05-11-2020 7:32pm

KRedzer wrote: »

I’m placed similarly for the DSO role, and did badly in the verbal even though I put a lot of work into practicing. Very disappointed but hoping that we’re called to the assessment centre. Placed 55th last year on the AO comp after the aptitude tests, so I’m not sure how many they take in each batch.

Yeah I also practiced quite a bit for verbal, think everyone got thrown off by the difference in format, so fingers crossed we still hear back!

completedit · 05-11-2020 7:40pm

mulligja wrote: »

Yeah I also practiced quite a bit for verbal, think everyone got thrown off by the difference in format, so fingers crossed we still hear back!

Verbal was tough. I crawled over the line. I just got 45. Did really well in numerical reasoning somehow.
Tbh, by the looks of it, unless you're scoring in the 70s, you're just gonna be so far down the pecking order. But Im a glass half full person and I am just delighted that I got through. I failed my last aptitude test and felt I was dumb as a post. This proves I am slightly less dumb haha

exitstageleft · 05-11-2020 7:45pm

I was disappointed to see that they only included the SJT and verbal to determine our order of merit - my two worst scores!
The verbal was a nightmare with the multitabs. I think the speed read followed by rapid answering method was the way to go. Negative marking is probably only a fraction of positive scores. How did little get on who only spent 15 servings per question get on?

Like everyone else, I'm very keen to find out how far down the OOM lists they'll go for interviews. Will they go over 100, over 200? They'll have to dig fairly deep to unearth this gem!

completedit · 05-11-2020 7:47pm

I wonder what chain of events we need to transpire for those of us in the lower reaches to get a chance at the title

exitstageleft · 05-11-2020 7:47pm

Aleece2020 wrote: »

DSO: In the 240s.
TS: In the 530s.

TS is more competitive; definitely more applicants there folks!

Any idea if those scores might land you an interview Aleece? Did they get that far last time?

fe1person · 05-11-2020 7:56pm

Third Secretary applicant - I got in the the 310s. Also keen to find out how far down the OOM lists they will go.
For reference, I got 49 in VR and 69 in SJ.

Interesting that they only use the results in the Verbal Reasoning and Situational Judgement tests to determine the order of merit for TS. For anyone reading this post in the future, I'd definitely advise to do Numerical Reasoning and Deductive-Logical Thinking first to settle in and find your groove with the tests.

Aleece2020 · 05-11-2020 7:58pm

exitstageleft wrote: »

Any idea if those scores might land you an interview Aleece? Did they get that far last time?

This is my first time applying for AO. I applied for CO and EO earlier in the year as practice for this.

I spoke to a few AOs currently in the Civil Service via the gradIreland career fair and they told me that 400 is a fantastic number to have and you will get called on it (though that might be for the larger general entry route and not TS/DSO.)

completedit · 05-11-2020 7:59pm

Jesus, want to know the person who got 1 ðŸ˜‚

That's really good advise about easing yourself into the tests. I thought verbal reasoning was a safe bet and would just be a formality. Tbf, I don't know if naturally I could have done much better than I did, given how competitive it is, even if I had really prepared, I don't think I'd be scoring high enough to get much higher on the pecking order

completedit · 05-11-2020 8:05pm

mulligja wrote: »

781 for TS, 373 for Development Specialist

Made a balls of the Verbal Reasoning and got 39 so just scraped a pass. Bit disappointed am hoping I can at least get 1000 in the AO stream based off these results. Congrats to everyone on getting results, is good to know even if not terrific news.

Just to let you know, I got 781 as well. Wonder how that happened?

HartsHat · 05-11-2020 8:11pm

In previous competitions between 200 and 300 in the OOM has been the entry point to be called to round 2.

ddpas · 05-11-2020 8:12pm

Got 191 in TS stream and 95 in Development stream. There must've been a crazy amount of applicants this year!
On the original job posting it says the next stage is a video interview... wonder if it'll be one where we record ourselves??

HartsHat · 05-11-2020 8:14pm

ddpas wrote: »

Got 191 in TS stream and 95 in Development stream. There must've been a crazy amount of applicants this year!
On the original job posting it says the next stage is a video interview... wonder if it'll be one where we record ourselves??

Applications for TS are always in the thousands.

blithe · 05-11-2020 8:16pm

This may be a really stupid question but it's better to score in the low numbers, right? Or is it the higher your number, the higher you placed?

completedit · 05-11-2020 8:16pm

blithe wrote: »

This may be a really stupid question but it's better to score in the low numbers, right? Or is it the higher your number, the higher you placed?

Second by all accounts. Agonising when you think you did the hard part and then realise its a race to to the top haha

mulligja · 05-11-2020 8:19pm

completedit wrote: »

Just to let you know, I got 781 as well. Wonder how that happened?

They give people with same overall score the same OOM, happened to me on EO as well. There are likely a good 100 people with 781 as their OOM

blithe · 05-11-2020 8:20pm

completedit wrote: »

Second by all accounts. Agonising when you think you did the hard part and then realise its a race to to the top haha

Oh jeeze, there go my hopes XD‚ Seems a bit counterintuitive to do it like that?

completedit · 05-11-2020 8:21pm

mulligja wrote: »

They give people with same overall score the same OOM, happened to me on EO as well. There are likely a good 100 people with 781 as their OOM

Bukowski said never try and I can see why

newbie18892 · 05-11-2020 8:22pm

I assumed OOM 1 was the highest ranked? Is that incorrect?

MuchZeus · 05-11-2020 8:30pm

i got ~800 in the oom for third secretary. should i keep any of my hopes up for progressing in this or not?

DFA123 · 05-11-2020 8:33pm

newbie18892 wrote: »

I assumed OOM 1 was the highest ranked? Is that incorrect?

Your correct. 1 is the the highest/best. What we're all aiming for.

ticklemonster · 05-11-2020 8:33pm

OOM is rank order so whoever got 1 scored highest in the tests

PearseCork92 · 05-11-2020 8:34pm

ddpas wrote: »

Got 191 in TS stream and 95 in Development stream. There must've been a crazy amount of applicants this year!
On the original job posting it says the next stage is a video interview... wonder if it'll be one where we record ourselves??

That's good going, you should be called.

What were your scores in the individual components do you mind me asking?

05-11-2020 8:34pm

MuchZeus wrote: »

i got ~800 in the oom for third secretary. should i keep any of my hopes up for progressing in this or not?

Previous campaigns have only reached around OOM 470. But then again everything’s always open to change

exitstageleft · 05-11-2020 8:42pm

Do you think that everyone applying for the DSO also applied for the TS?

So you're likely to have the same people in front of you in both OOMs, maybe helping them work further down the list.

Daisies · 05-11-2020 8:47pm

exitstageleft wrote: »

Do you think that everyone applying for the DSO also applied for the TS?

So you're likely to have the same people in front of you in both OOMs, maybe helping them work further down the list.

I didn't. Only applied for DSO

05-11-2020 8:48pm

I'm deathly confused about the OOM. Some people have said the higher the score/rank (e.g. 800) the better, others have said the lower the score/rank (e.g. 191) the better. Which is it? I got OOM 341. I just looked at the info booklet and it really doesn't explain the OOM at all.

KRedzer · 05-11-2020 8:49pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm deathly confused about the OOM. Some people have said the higher the score/rank (e.g. 800) the better, others have said the lower the score/rank (e.g. 191) the better. Which is it? I got OOM 341. I just looked at the info booklet and it really doesn't explain the OOM at all.

It is a ranking, with number 1 being the highest ranked with the best score. They invite only up to a certain ranking per batch for the next stage.

Daisies · 05-11-2020 8:50pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm deathly confused about the OOM. Some people have said the higher the score/rank (e.g. 800) the better, others have said the lower the score/rank (e.g. 191) the better. Which is it? I got OOM 341. I just looked at the info booklet and it really doesn't explain the OOM at all.

Its definitely the lower the number I. E. Closer to 1 that's the better

newbie18892 · 05-11-2020 8:52pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm deathly confused about the OOM. Some people have said the higher the score/rank (e.g. 800) the better, others have said the lower the score/rank (e.g. 191) the better. Which is it? I got OOM 341. I just looked at the info booklet and it really doesn't explain the OOM at all.

That's what confused me as I saw the discussion earlier in this trend about it. It's better for your OOM to be as low as possible.

Aleece2020 · 05-11-2020 8:52pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm deathly confused about the OOM. Some people have said the higher the score/rank (e.g. 800) the better, others have said the lower the score/rank (e.g. 191) the better. Which is it? I got OOM 341. I just looked at the info booklet and it really doesn't explain the OOM at all.

The lower the better. It's the same in every campaign including CO, EO etc.

So, if you are number 1 on the OOM you are 1st in line. If you're 200 then you are 200th in line. You will be called forward to interviews, tests and job placements based on your number. Over time, your number will decrease as people are placed into jobs, drop out, fail interviews etc.

05-11-2020 8:53pm

KRedzer wrote: »

It is a ranking, with number 1 being the highest ranked with the best score. They invite only up to a certain ranking per batch for the next stage.

Thanks. And let's say they take a batch of people forward to the 2nd stage, some get offered positions, others don't and/or drop out but they still have positions left....they'll come back to OOM list again and take another batch?

caius97 · 05-11-2020 8:56pm

Gosh. I wish I found this forum before I entered! I’m a recent grad and I didn’t do well at all in the OOM. 990

I’m not the best at online tests but at least it will prepare me for the next campaign! Well done to everyone.

Aleece2020 · 05-11-2020 9:07pm

caius97 wrote: »

Gosh. I wish I found this forum before I entered! I’m a recent grad and I didn’t do well at all in the OOM. 990 I’m not the best at online tests but at least it will prepare me for the next campaign! Well done to everyone.

Similar position as you a few months ago.

Did the CO test and absolutely tanked it with an OOM in the 5,400+ range for Dublin. Tried the EO test later on and did a lot better with an OOM in the late 400s for Dublin and top 50 for Louth.

Moved up in this DSO test to the 230s which I'm pleased with. My main concern was failing the personality test. I'd say you should go for the CO next year; the current panel is just a one-year panel and you'll get some practice from the process.

:pac:

caius97 · 05-11-2020 9:11pm

Thanks, that’s really helpful!

Aleece2020 wrote: »

Similar position as you a few months ago.

Did the CO test and absolutely tanked it with an OOM in the 5,400+ range for Dublin. Tried the EO test later on and did a lot better with an OOM in the late 400s for Dublin and top 50 for Louth.

Moved up in this DSO test to the 230s which I'm pleased with. My main concern was failing the personality test. I'd say you should go for the CO next year; the current panel is just a one-year panel and you'll get some practice from the process.

:pac:

augustgetaway · 05-11-2020 9:19pm

I’m honestly shocked at how I did, mid 30s with full score in verbal reasoning definitely being my saviour! I barely scraped a 37 in deductive so I’m blessed they didn’t take that into consideration or else I’d have been doomed.

I’m cautiously optimistic about where I’ve placed, obviously anything can happen between now and whenever, but does anyone know if it’s going to be an actual video interview like Zoom, or one similar to other grad programmes where it’s just prerecorded?

440Hertz · 05-11-2020 9:25pm

It’s a really interesting career path, and one I regret not going for but I think I’m probably too late and my career has diverged too far from it.

If you’re interested, go for it!

Garamond20 · 05-11-2020 9:28pm

311 OOM for TS with 59 in both Verbal Reasoning and Situational Judgment! Panicked a bit and definitely didn't take as much time for SJ as I should have but I suppose I'm happy to have made the top 50% at least.

Obviously nobody really knows, but what would people reckon my chances of being called to the next stage are? From everything I've read it seems pretty 50/50 based on my score.

completedit · 05-11-2020 9:35pm

Garamond20 wrote: »

311 OOM for TS with 59 in both Verbal Reasoning and Situational Judgment! Panicked a bit and definitely didn't take as much time for SJ as I should have but I suppose I'm happy to have made the top 50% at least.

Obviously nobody really knows, but what would people reckon my chances of being called to the next stage are? From everything I've read it seems pretty 50/50 based on my score.

Man, that's crazy. I scored 59 on SJT and 45 in verbal. Suppose actually is a fair bit of a difference in the two scores but seems a mad gap between the 300's and 700's over 14 questions.

I wonder how many people were in the mix.

R2020C · 05-11-2020 9:47pm

Well done everyone on your results. Not sure I'll go through but there's always next year (hopefully). Does anyone who has participated in the competition before know when we might hear about the next round? Or have any advice about possible questions?
Thanks in advance

PearseCork92 · 05-11-2020 9:55pm

Screwed up the deductive logic and missed out by a point.

Got 71 on the verbal and 52 on the situational judgement (also did well on the numerical).

Pretty gutted, would have had a decent rank in the 200s or so if only I didn't fail the deductive going by the numbers here.

JDWW · 05-11-2020 10:02pm

Garamond20 wrote: »

311 OOM for TS with 59 in both Verbal Reasoning and Situational Judgment! Panicked a bit and definitely didn't take as much time for SJ as I should have but I suppose I'm happy to have made the top 50% at least.

Obviously nobody really knows, but what would people reckon my chances of being called to the next stage are? From everything I've read it seems pretty 50/50 based on my score.

completedit wrote: »

Man, that's crazy. I scored 59 on SJT and 45 in verbal. Suppose actually is a fair bit of a difference in the two scores but seems a mad gap between the 300's and 700's over 14 questions.

I wonder how many people were in the mix.

Just for a bit more perspective on this, I got a combined score of 117 (1 less than Garamond20) and that pushed me out to 340 so there must be 29 people with the same OOM as me.

PearseCork92 · 05-11-2020 10:10pm

JDWW wrote: »

Just for a bit more perspective on this, I got a combined score of 117 (1 less than Garamond20) and that pushed me out to 340 so there must be 29 people with the same OOM as me.

The whole process is rather cold and doesn't take into account the soft skills, languages, international relations and legal knowledge required of a diplomat. What doing shapes puzzles has to do with diplomacy if I'm not quite sure! That part really threw me and I got very muddled quickly despite doing fairly well on the rest.

Anyway, that's how they wish to whittle people down. So be it.

HartsHat · 05-11-2020 10:24pm

PearseCork92 wrote: »

The whole process is rather cold and doesn't take into account the soft skills, languages, international relations and legal knowledge required of a diplomat. What doing shapes puzzles has to do with diplomacy if I'm not quite sure! That part really threw me and I got very muddled quickly despite doing fairly well on the rest.

Anyway, that's how they wish to whittle people down. So be it.

They're only looking for 30 or 40 in the end.

There's always enough multilingual candidates/lawyers/people with IR experience in the end.

It is a cruel/harsh method though that does mean some great candidates never get to interview. That's the problem with having such lax minimum criteria (any degree at all) you get thousands of candidates and then cant actually look at individual applications.

augustgetaway · 05-11-2020 10:52pm

R2020C wrote: »

Well done everyone on your results. Not sure I'll go through but there's always next year (hopefully). Does anyone who has participated in the competition before know when we might hear about the next round? Or have any advice about possible questions?
Thanks in advance

They’re doing things a bit differently from what I can see this year with Covid.

Found this and thought it was helpful, implies to me we’ll hear about video interviews next week and that they’ll be doing things similar to other grad programmes. If it’s what I think it is, it’s the matpq system where you’re given a question, you get 30 seconds to prepare an answer and 60 seconds to record the answer, then you just submit them and wait. No human interaction, no one to go off, hoping they don’t go that route but assuming so!

www[dot]publicjobs[dot]ie/en/graduate-opportunities/graduate-third-secretary
^ scroll down and you’ll find the little timeline for it!

completedit · 05-11-2020 11:05pm

HartsHat wrote: »

They're only looking for 30 or 40 in the end.

There's always enough multilingual candidates/lawyers/people with IR experience in the end.

It is a cruel/harsh method though that does mean some great candidates never get to interview. That's the problem with having such lax minimum criteria (any degree at all) you get thousands of candidates and then cant actually look at individual applications.

Yeah, I completely underestimated how competitive it would be and overestimated my own uniqueness. I thought once I got through the filter round, if I did, then I'd be near enough close to securing a position. Haven't seen such competition since I tried and failed to get a job at RDS Christmas on Ice in 2007.

g96 · 06-11-2020 1:15am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm deathly confused about the OOM. Some people have said the higher the score/rank (e.g. 800) the better, others have said the lower the score/rank (e.g. 191) the better. Which is it? I got OOM 341. I just looked at the info booklet and it really doesn't explain the OOM at all.

Did you get placed that for DS? I’m placed 341 OOM for TS ?

06-11-2020 1:17am

g96 wrote: »

Did you get placed that for DS? I’m placed 341 OOM for TS ?

No TS too, I didn't apply for DS.

g96 · 06-11-2020 1:28am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

No TS too, I didn't apply for DS.

Oh that’s strange, must be that we got the exact same scores?

Third Secretary & Development Specialist Campaign 2020

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