NEW 2020 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

Anonire · 10-04-2020 9:59am

urgelgru wrote: »

I've honestly never filled in that box and I've gotten through shortlisting every time that process has been applied. Not saying I'll make it through this time mind...

I haven't filled it in either. I tailored my responses in the rest of the form to show my suitability to the role. I would have only been repeating it again.

batman007 · 11-04-2020 2:53pm

mur.c wrote: »

Can I ask how people are answering questions 1 and 2? Question 3 asks for a specific example so I am using STAR to work through an example for that one. However, for the other 2 I'm not so sure whether to give bullet point examples or may give 2 more detailed examples. Any thoughts?

Hi Mur.C,

I've never done a Civil Service application before but I'm going to try use the STAR method for the first two questions as well as the third. However, for the first two questions I'm going to use a bullet point per skill, I think.

Anyone else have any thoughts/insights on this?

beauf · 13-04-2020 12:05pm

Whats the Candidate ID? Should we fill that in?

whampiri · 13-04-2020 12:12pm

beauf wrote: »

Whats the Candidate ID? Should we fill that in?

Your candidate ID is in your profile on public jobs.

James2020App · 13-04-2020 2:20pm

I am looking at someone else's form that was successful in a prior AP competition. Her form from had both
Q1) Mgt Experience
Q2) Project Mgt
and the personal statement questions

In addition to this her form had questions relating to Key Achievements related to:
1) Leadership
2) Analysis & Decision Making
3) Delivery of Results
4) Interp & Communication Skills

This 2020 form only seems to be requesting:
1) Leadership
2) Project Mgt
3) Judgement & complex decisions as well as the personal statement

So my question is is this 2020 form only a shortlisting in order to fill out the proper longer form including more detailed examples, or is this 2020 form the only form that will have to be filled out.

I am just unsure whether I should use my examples that I already have prepared and have used for other competitions, or does that come later.

Any help appreciated

lucat · 13-04-2020 2:40pm

Steamer wrote: »

So are you guys summarising experiences under the headings for 1&2 and then one example for 3?

I'm using an example for all of them. If I was just summarising my experience would that not be a repeat of Section A?

Brera · 13-04-2020 3:08pm

James2020App wrote: »

I am looking at someone else's form that was successful in a prior AP competition. Her form from had both
Q1) Mgt Experience
Q2) Project Mgt
and the personal statement questions

In addition to this her form had questions relating to Key Achievements related to:
1) Leadership
2) Analysis & Decision Making
3) Delivery of Results
4) Interp & Communication Skills

This 2020 form only seems to be requesting:
1) Leadership
2) Project Mgt
3) Judgement & complex decisions as well as the personal statement

So my question is is this 2020 form only a shortlisting in order to fill out the proper longer form including more detailed examples, or is this 2020 form the only form that will have to be filled out.

I am just unsure whether I should use my examples that I already have prepared and have used for other competitions, or does that come later.

Any help appreciated

That’s interesting to see how it compares to the older form.

It’s only a hunch but I guess if a lot of stuff is missing from the new form that they could be doing it during the video interview / questionnaire ?

urgelgru · 13-04-2020 5:50pm

I agree, I don't think they'd do another form. It's just more of the same. But I'd also guess that they haven't nailed down the next stages of the comp yet. For the video interview I think they'd ask similar questions to the form to see how you can sell those areas. and then for an "in person" interview could be more structured around the competencies.

SoaringPanda · 13-04-2020 6:53pm

Anyone know if there's a verbal reasoning and analytical test as part of the process? I assume there will be.

lucat · 13-04-2020 8:01pm

SoaringPanda wrote: »

Anyone know if there's a verbal reasoning and analytical test as part of the process? I assume there.

No reason to think there wouldn't be. Possibly maths too.

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.

NEW 2020 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

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