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Third Secretary & Development Specialist Campaign 2020

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    #182
    newbie18892
    Registered Users Posts: 474 ✭✭newbie18892


    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.


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    #183
    Aleece2020
    Registered Users Posts: 269 ✭✭Aleece2020


    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.


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    #184
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭ [Deleted User]


    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?


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    #185
    caius97
    Registered Users Posts: 79 ✭✭caius97


    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.


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    #186
    Aleece2020
    Registered Users Posts: 269 ✭✭Aleece2020


    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:


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    #187
    caius97
    Registered Users Posts: 79 ✭✭caius97


    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:


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    #188
    augustgetaway
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭augustgetaway


    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?


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    #189
    440Hertz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 651 ✭✭✭440Hertz


    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!


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    #190
    Garamond20
    Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭Garamond20


    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.


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    #191
    completedit
    Registered Users Posts: 2,639 ✭✭✭completedit


    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.


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    #192
    R2020C
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭R2020C


    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 :)


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    #193
    PearseCork92
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 142 ✭✭PearseCork92


    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.


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    #194
    JDWW
    Registered Users Posts: 36 ✭JDWW


    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.


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    #195
    PearseCork92
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 142 ✭✭PearseCork92


    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.


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    #196
    HartsHat
    Registered Users Posts: 279 ✭✭HartsHat


    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.


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    #197
    augustgetaway
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭augustgetaway


    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!


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    #198
    completedit
    Registered Users Posts: 2,639 ✭✭✭completedit


    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.


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    #199
    g96
    Registered Users Posts: 3 ✭g96


    [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 ?


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    #200
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭ [Deleted User]


    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.


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    #201
    g96
    Registered Users Posts: 3 ✭g96


    [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?


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    #202
    PeachL00pies
    Registered Users Posts: 44 ✭PeachL00pies


    Third time applying for Third Sec. Happy with my OOM. Also applied for DSO as I've a medical background and I'm currently working in an NGO. Looks like they'll be planning for the New Year in terms of appointments but I know that COVID has caused mobility issues with current Third Secs.


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    #203
    completedit
    Registered Users Posts: 2,639 ✭✭✭completedit


    PeachL00pies wrote: »
    Third time applying for Third Sec. Happy with my OOM. Also applied for DSO as I've a medical background and I'm currently working in an NGO. Looks like they'll be planning for the New Year in terms of appointments but I know that COVID has caused mobility issues with current Third Secs.

    How often do the roles come up?


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    #204
    chrishic
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭chrishic


    Just got a call to video interview for the development role there. Any tips/ideas going forward?


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    #205
    heffo1
    Registered Users Posts: 47 ✭heffo1


    chrishic wrote: »
    Just got a call to video interview for the development role there. Any tips/ideas going forward?

    Thats brilliant! Do you mind me asking whereabouts you were on the OOM for it?


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    #206
    PeachL00pies
    Registered Users Posts: 44 ✭PeachL00pies


    I applied in 2017 and 2018. I placed 40 outside the qualifying OOM in 2017 and failed the SJT in 2018. Positions used to come up every 2-ish years. They panelled more people in 2018 than in previously years and it served them until this year.


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    #207
    completedit
    Registered Users Posts: 2,639 ✭✭✭completedit


    Third times a charm. Best of luck with it


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    #208
    ddpas
    Registered Users Posts: 61 ✭✭ddpas


    Got a call for interview for third secretary, I've never done a recorded interview before so this will be very interesting!!


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    #209
    chrishic
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭chrishic


    heffo1 wrote: »
    Thats brilliant! Do you mind me asking whereabouts you were on the OOM for it?
    I was around 7 in the DSO, just got the invite to third secretary there too.

    Best of luck to all waiting!


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    #210
    emhds
    Registered Users Posts: 21 ✭emhds


    Just got invited for an interview at stage 2 - any advice on how to best answer the questions? And does anyone have any indication as to what the criteria are for passing or how we're marked?


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    #211
    heffo1
    Registered Users Posts: 47 ✭heffo1


    chrishic wrote: »
    I was around 7 in the DSO, just got the invite to third secretary there too.

    Best of luck to all waiting!

    Thats great, I'm in the 500s for DSO so I'll be a while waiting yet! Best of luck with it!


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