ICT Managers Civil Service

fergald · 12-03-2021 6:51pm

Placed on reserve panel again. 23 years managing high level it projects. Worked for several large private sector companies.

Delivered on a public sector project worth 1.2 billion and machine learning projects.
Got shortlisted and interviewed for principal officer in
IT. All for an income of 50k as HEO now.

anyway my rant over,. Back to private sector for me,. Had two offers on the table.
That's my last attempt,. Hard to take when you see teams of individuals around you promoted with no IT experience.

Doing huge amounts of work for nothing. Private sector scapegoat who took on ps job.

RubyCalypso · 12-03-2021 6:52pm

No joy here at all. They didn't send any marking schemes / results either so I don't know where I fell down

fergald · 12-03-2021 7:27pm

RubyCalypso they won't send results out because you have a non tech person marking these,. Staff are coached to fill the forms in. It's a set routine like the interview,. Like in this day and age who follow that interview process.
Since I joined I have seen people get promoted who are actually terrible at their job,. No idea of IT, programming,. Project management or anything. If I had it back I never of taken that 20k drop to take the HEO job.

12-03-2021 7:41pm

You should be able to get some comment/info on the shortlisting if you follow up.

RubyCalypso · 12-03-2021 8:31pm

I'll chance following up with them on Monday

edenbridge146 · 12-03-2021 8:38pm

fergald wrote: »

Placed on reserve panel again. 23 years managing high level it projects. Worked for several large private sector companies.

Delivered on a public sector project worth 1.2 billion and machine learning projects.
Got shortlisted and interviewed for principal officer in
IT. All for an income of 50k as HEO now.

anyway my rant over,. Back to private sector for me,. Had two offers on the table.
That's my last attempt,. Hard to take when you see teams of individuals around you promoted with no IT experience.

Doing huge amounts of work for nothing. Private sector scapegoat who took on ps job.

Similar to yourself. 9 years after a Masters in Computer Science and on the reserve panel. I handed my notice in to work today for a career break with full intention of working in the private sector.
And back on the reserve panel. Again - beggers belief

Leinster2020 · 12-03-2021 8:40pm

Did anyone get a yes ?
I think they forgot about me, I have not heard anything one way or the other

floyd333 · 12-03-2021 8:48pm

Reserve panel also.

I got through 2 years ago and placed well on regional panels, but nothing came up.

12-03-2021 11:01pm

Heard of a few who are through to interview, good luck to em.

Reserve should see a callup for interview in time if the last panel is anything to go by

Leinster2020 · 12-03-2021 11:11pm

I honestly think they forgot about me, I know we all got texts a few weeks ago about 11.30pm but with so many others having received news it looks like I got forgotten about

brownbinman · 13-03-2021 3:19pm

reserve panel also, starting new role Monday week so not end of world

Leinster2020 · 15-03-2021 8:52pm

Was anyone here going for Inf' ?
I went for Inf' and have still not heard anything, just wondering if I am the only one

Burgo · 15-03-2021 10:17pm

Leinster2020 wrote: »

Was anyone here going for Inf' ?
I went for Inf' and have still not heard anything, just wondering if I am the only one

I went for both, haven't heard anything on the infrastructure side as of yet. Might be this friday considering the digital was last friday.

Leinster2020 · 16-03-2021 7:03pm

Inf' is out, I'm on the reserve

trigger26 · 16-03-2021 7:16pm

Leinster2020 wrote: »

Inf' is out, I'm on the reserve

Yep the same here

irumudikkilli · 16-03-2021 8:39pm

trigger26 wrote: »

Yep the same here

I am not in. Bemused!

doc22 · 17-03-2021 12:31pm

irumudikkilli wrote: »

I am not in. Bemused!

As in Reserve? How did you get on last time now that you are waiting for placement

kippy · 17-03-2021 12:39pm

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

I pushed them on this issue at least five years ago. It's an awful waste of time to be spending an hour or two cutting and pasting.

To be honest, part of the process is making the application itself a bit of work and thought.
Making it too easy to apply isn't in everyone's interest.

TaurenDruid · 17-03-2021 12:59pm

kippy wrote: »

To be honest, part of the process is making the application itself a bit of work and thought.
Making it too easy to apply isn't in everyone's interest.

Agreed. So ask appropriate, probing questions in the application form. Not see how willing your monkey is to dance, by copying "Period of time in role in months" "Job title" "Permanent/Temp/Acting", "Address of employer" etc. from one form to another. It's literally cost (my employer) an hour of my time, and hundreds of others likewise, for no gain except to deter, what, 0.1% of applicants?

It's asinine.

kippy · 17-03-2021 1:03pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

Agreed. So ask appropriate, probing questions in the application form. Not see how willing your monkey is to dance, by copying "Period of time in role in months" "Job title" "Permanent/Temp/Acting", "Address of employer" etc. from one form to another. It's literally cost (my employer) an hour of my time, and hundreds of others likewise, for no gain except to deter, what, 0.1% of applicants?

It's asinine.

Let me tell you it deters a lot more than 0.1 percent of applicants.
Plenty tyre kickers would chance their arm going for these roles if the process was straightforward.

AndrewJRenko · 17-03-2021 1:16pm

kippy wrote: »

To be honest, part of the process is making the application itself a bit of work and thought.
Making it too easy to apply isn't in everyone's interest.

Thought yes, work no. It's in no-one's interest to require people to spend an hour or two copying and pasting. It takes time away from crafting proper answers to the real questions.

kippy · 17-03-2021 1:22pm

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Thought yes, work no. It's in no-one's interest to require people to spend an hour or two copying and pasting. It takes time away from crafting proper answers to the real questions.

So you'd suggest a completely different application form for each role/panel?
What you were advocating earlier is just a quicker method of copying and pasting which makes it much easier for tyre kickers apply and waste the time of the people reviewing the apps....

AndrewJRenko · 17-03-2021 1:50pm

kippy wrote: »

So you'd suggest a completely different application form for each role/panel?
What you were advocating earlier is just a quicker method of copying and pasting which makes it much easier for tyre kickers apply and waste the time of the people reviewing the apps....

A quick and easy solution for them would be to split the career history parts of the form and the competency questions into two separate PDFs. So the career history stuff can be reused for multiple applications without loads of cutting and pasting. Keep the competency questions focused and detailed to deter the tyre kickers.

cee_jay · 17-03-2021 1:55pm

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

A quick and easy solution for them would be to split the career history parts of the form and the competency questions into two separate PDFs. So the career history stuff can be reused for multiple applications without loads of cutting and pasting. Keep the competency questions focused and detailed to deter the tyre kickers.

Should move away from PDFs completely imo. An online form, which you can save and return to, would be much easier.

kippy · 17-03-2021 2:04pm

cee_jay wrote: »

Should move away from PDFs completely imo. An online form, which you can save and return to, would be much easier.

It's not in everyones interest for it to be easy but in fairness to some posters here it could be made a bit more straightforward for applicants in some areas.

AndrewJRenko · 17-03-2021 3:04pm

cee_jay wrote: »

Should move away from PDFs completely imo. An online form, which you can save and return to, would be much easier.

I agree, but that's a longer term solution. Splitting out the pdfs could be done today.

cee_jay · 17-03-2021 4:13pm

kippy wrote: »

It's not in everyones interest for it to be easy but in fairness to some posters here it could be made a bit more straightforward for applicants in some areas.

I agree 100% - application forms require a degree of personalisation and tailoring for each competition.

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

I agree, but that's a longer term solution. Splitting out the pdfs could be done today.

They have to be merged again on receipt, which wouldn't necessarily be a quick solution for PAS and may be quite a large overhead and cause delays in the recruitment process on their side.

AndrewJRenko · 17-03-2021 4:20pm

cee_jay wrote: »

They have to be merged again on receipt, which wouldn't necessarily be a quick solution for PAS and may be quite a large overhead and cause delays in the recruitment process on their side.

Why would they have to be merged?

cee_jay · 17-03-2021 4:22pm

To associate one half with the other.

AndrewJRenko · 17-03-2021 4:56pm

cee_jay wrote: »

To associate one half with the other.

Why would they need to associate halves? There are already both online and PDF parts of the application, so one additional PDF part doesn't make much difference.

cee_jay · 17-03-2021 5:28pm

The interview/shortlisting board does not currently receive the online application form - just the pdf. It might not need merging - but it might - just pointing out what might look simple to the end user may not be as simple internally in PAS and could have significant admin overhead depending on how their systems are currently structured.

irumudikkilli · 17-03-2021 5:33pm

doc22 wrote: »

As in Reserve? How did you get on last time now that you are waiting for placement

I am shortlisted neither for the main nor for the reserve interview list. As to why, who knows! I have asked for a formal review however. We shall see.

17-03-2021 5:36pm

A public sector body recently ran their own comp for ap ict and it was a lot more cv based

Took as long to do as any pas form, and when i eventually got them to get back to me they acted as if it was me wasting their time

They didnt even bother getting back to those not shortlisted until the comp was well finished

If you dont get a job and dont get any info back you can treat it as a total waste of time or you can take it on the chin, pas or not

Edit- that last line sounds way too sharp in context! Im only trying to say that feedback is the least you expect after putting the effort in.

TaurenDruid · 18-03-2021 11:37am

cee_jay wrote: »

The interview/shortlisting board does not currently receive the online application form - just the pdf. It might not need merging - but it might - just pointing out what might look simple to the end user may not be as simple internally in PAS and could have significant admin overhead depending on how their systems are currently structured.

It's 2021, not 1921.

Their systems should be structured to accommodate ease-of-use for their customers (i.e., us), and themselves. So online access to an editable profile (basic details plus career history - and the basic details bit is already there!) and a separate online application form specific to each job application (but that is still accessible, because my examples often carry over).

It's online, so they/the interview board should be able to call it up instantly, rather than printing hundreds of 10+ page PDFs per campaign. Then shredding them afterwards.

"Candidate number 1234? Tick. AP ICT Infrastructure 2021? Tick. There we go!"

This isn't rocket science. (It's computer science!)

cee_jay · 18-03-2021 11:41am

TaurenDruid wrote: »

It's 2021, not 1921.

Their systems should be structured to accommodate ease-of-use for their customers (i.e., us), and themselves. So online access to an editable profile (basic details plus career history - and the basic details bit is already there!) and a separate online application form specific to each job application (but that is still accessible, because my examples often carry over).

It's online, so they/the interview board should be able to call it up instantly, rather than printing hundreds of 10+ page PDFs per campaign. Then shredding them afterwards.

"Candidate number 1234? Tick. AP ICT Infrastructure 2021? Tick. There we go!"

This isn't rocket science. (It's computer science!)

I agree, I am just saying that depending on PAS internal systems and processes, it may not be as easy as Andrew made it out to be, and if not, I would prefer a proper system upgrade.

25-03-2021 10:14pm

Did anyone chase up any feedback on this, out of interest

RubyCalypso · 25-03-2021 10:43pm

Yes I did. They gave categories of things they looked for. Each one had 4 levels ranging from irrelvant to highly relevant and you got points per one. You needed 10 to get to the reserve panel and 16 to get on the actual panel. It looks like you had to get highly relevant for each category to get to the interviews. They seem to have been very strict

25-03-2021 11:27pm

RubyCalypso wrote: »

Yes I did. They gave categories of things they looked for. Each one had 4 levels ranging from irrelvant to highly relevant and you got points per one. You needed 10 to get to the reserve panel and 16 to get on the actual panel. It looks like you had to get highly relevant for each category to get to the interviews. They seem to have been very strict

Thanks thats very useful- did they give you your own ratings when you asked i presume?

RubyCalypso · 25-03-2021 11:40pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Thanks thats very useful- did they give you your own ratings when you asked i presume?

They did

TaurenDruid · 26-03-2021 2:20am

cee_jay wrote: »

I agree, I am just saying that depending on PAS internal systems and processes, it may not be as easy as Andrew made it out to be, and if not, I would prefer a proper system upgrade.

Some of this stuff is just plain basic. They have my name, address and basic details on a profile. For whatever reason, they keep asking me for my citizenship every time I log on, it doesn't seem to save it, and they ask for my date of birth even though age is one of the things you can't discriminate on, and no employment agency should be asking for DOB!.

But I've been asked to provide a photograph, every time I've made it past basic shortlisting or gone for a test in there. I mean, if my driving licence or passport are good for 10 years, surely PAS could ask for a photo once and keep it available on the profile (and ask again for a new one every 10 years?). Nope. New application? "Send us in a photo..."

Inconspicuous · 13-04-2021 3:08pm

All,

I know that this competition has closed, but I'm curious to see the requirements for each of the streams. Would anyone have a copy of the information booklet that they could post up here please?

Thanks!

delricyo · 13-04-2021 4:52pm

Here you go

Inconspicuous · 14-04-2021 2:40pm

delricyo wrote: »

Here you go

Thanks a million delricyo, much appreciated

TaurenDruid · 19-04-2021 4:37pm

Does anyone have any indication of when the panel will be announced? Did the infrastructure panel interview the week before last but neglected to ask the PAS rep.

TaurenDruid · 07-05-2021 12:19am

Update: got placed on one of the panels, in the teens. Still on the reserve panel for the other stream. A little shocked, tbh, but delighted. Now I just need to hope they have enough vacancies to fill over the next two years, because I really don't fancy having to do this again! :-D

JMAC78R · 16-06-2021 1:26pm

Does anyone know generally how many are placed on the panels? I contacted PAS to see if there is any movement and they said that they are currently confirming vacancies and are expecting to send out offers within the next two weeks. I'm in the low teens for both so probably shouldn't expect to be called anytime soon, but its hard to tell with these things sometimes.

16-06-2021 2:28pm

The last comp seemed to be well undercooked, the panels were hoovered up as far as i could see.

I think low teens leaves you in good shape but across all comps lately PAS are absolutely crawling, so "soon" is relative!

elneenio · 01-09-2021 10:35am

Looks like they are on the reserve list for interviews now , so hopefully will be called for interview shortly ,anyone any feedback on the interview process, was there much questions outside the competencies at all even around public service ict strategy etc ? Will be my first ap interview so any feedback is good feedback ,thanks

TaurenDruid · 01-09-2021 11:44am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117831873#Comment_117831873

Trying to recall mine now from April - from memory (of the Infrastructure one), they stuck closely enough to the competencies for most of the interview, and I was able to use the examples from my application (but definitely have backup examples for each competency prepared). This is as it should be - they're supposed to be judging you on what experience you have.

The one out-of-the-ordinary thing was that they covered Specialist Knowledge as a series of fairly rapid-fire questions - "What is an X?", "What do you understand [term] to mean?", "Explain [term or concept] to me." You either knew the answer or you didn't, no room for waffle or 🐮💩. There were a couple of "wider" questions, then, at the end, on general I.T. trends and topics.

While I had also studied up on public service ICT policies and strategies, IIRC they didn't come up for me at all and I didn't get the opportunity to mention anything about them. I'd still recommend reading up on them, though! Hope this helps and best of luck!

BrunoCesar · 15-10-2021 11:29pm

Has anyone heard anything since they contacted us looking to know were we still interested? Presume if nothing within the next month it will be after Christmas before we hear any more...

ICT Managers Civil Service

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