Economist & Policy Analyst Graduate Role

.25lifecrisis wrote: »

Does anyone know when results are likely to be out? Have they been released for the first batch?

Should be the 2nd or 3rd week of March. I would say the end of the 2nd week. O don’t think it’s done in batches so all the results should be out today but I could be wrong.

Can anyone from the January interviews shed some light? Also I’d be interested to know how many days of interviews there was in January?

High_castle wrote: »

There were 9. I have already received my results and OOM.

So is it fair to say that there will be two separate panels from this competition?

exitstageleft wrote: »

It's a bit odd that they'd be making a second panel so quickly.
If there were 9 days of interviews first time round and there were, very conservatively, 6 people a day interviewed, then that leaves 54 people ahead of the second panel.
Although a few might fail the interview, it still seems unlikely that they'll need a second panel for just 30 positions.

Ya, it doesn’t make sense. I didn’t hear of them doing it like this any other year

Just to give my two cents, I had my interview earlier this week, was relatively happy with how it went - they're friendly and fair conducting it, each of the four interviewers takes a competency and will be the only one to ask questions based on that competency. Interpersonal & Communications was assessed overall based on performance across the interview, presume this will be the same for everyone. Stick to your competencies, and anticipate an obvious question or two arising from your response, for each of the sub-points. In particular for the question on policy analysis, expect to be drilled on the answers you give of specific software/variables/techniques you used and what the results were of your policy analysis - this is the job you're applying for. For specialist knowledge, the questions were tailored more to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your general economic and policy awareness, it was the only questions which were more 'in general' rather than an account of past experiences to match the competencies. Interview took 40-45 minutes, one or two general questions about your application at the start, then they moved on to each interviewer to cover their allotted competency, then one or two general questions at the end if any of the board members have them/if there's time. They also give you an opportunity to highlight anything you felt you didn't get to mention or any questions you have.

A friend of mine was successful in this competition last year, he was interviewed end of January and received OOM first week of February, followed by a job offer in early March - his OOM was in the 30-35 bracket. He says that people joined throughout the year who were further down the list which would imply more positions than the 30 or so suggested before (not sure if this was from an official source or generally the case?). Of course that's just the hearsay experience of a friend, but just to give an idea of someones experience last year.

I think it's important to account for people who have applied for multiple competitions, who will receive jobs elsewhere, who will not meet every competency at interview stage, and for additional jobs that may come up throughout the year while the panels are still active.

Best of luck to everyone still awaiting their interview, it's actually a blessing to be able to do them via Zoom in my opinion, with the comfort of doing them at home. Focus on what you know is going to be asked, they're out to confirm you're up to scratch, not to catch you out! If anyone has any other specific questions, don't hesitate to shoot me a PM.

No idea...I'm in the top 15 and I haven't heard from PAS.

yes I applied, haven't heard anything yet though

I had mine too, wasn’t too happy. Felt I was asked a lot of hypothetical questions instead of concrete examples about myself and was put on the spot quite a lot. Hopefully we will get the results quite quickly after the last few next week.

@exitstageleft I'm in top 20 OOM.

@shatterResistant what email address are you using to contact? I sent an email to the contact listed in the "my applications" section of publicjobs but didn't get a response.

Do we think we will get the news from PAS sometime this week?

I didn't grow up in Ireland and this is my first time applying with the civil service, so I'm interested to know if you all knew that this would be a 5+ month process from the beginning? Like I had no idea and I was hoping to be in a position working months ago, and now the waiting is killing me.

It seems like this long of an application process would only work for somebody who already has a job. Do you all have jobs currently and just looking to switch to this one?

I did know it would take this long as I have friends who have gone through AO competitions before me. I already have a job but I know of people who were unemployed or working in shops etc. and living with their parents while doing it. Lots of talk about widening access and diversity and inclusion in the civil service but it is essentially a competition for the financially secure...

goodstart wrote: »

Are we thinking that we're near the end of the process?

I'm 18 on the first panel, how much longer should I expect to wait?

Thanks for the help!

I think it’s hard to tell when they will get to your OOM. I know someone who was in the early 20s for the competition two years ago and they started in June but I think the speed of which they go at changes from year to year! You could always email and see what OOM they have reached so far.

Emailed for an update today and they said to expect to receive an email this week with regard to the next stage in the process, which will involve scanning in academic qualifications etc. In the interview results message they said that if your place on the order of merit is reached then the final 'clearance' process is commenced before offer of an appointment. Hoping this means that if they're asking for proof of qualifications that my OOM is reached - anyone know if this is correct?

KD1934 wrote: »

Hmmm not sure what to think there. I’d be surprised that they’ve reached panel 2 so quickly, maybe they are just trying to get a head start on having everyone on the panel in ‘clearance’. I emailed last week and haven’t received a reply. That could just be me being wary of that whole situation though.

Absolutely, it would be very quick! Was settling in for a few weeks wait at least.

exitstageleft wrote: »

Do we know of anyone from Batch 1 who had actually started work?
(Surely the first thing they'd do that morning is log in and let us know on this thread.)

I would expect nothing less

FlatEnt wrote: »

Have they emailed you with the clearance information yet?

Yep, just got an email today with request for academic qualifications, references, garda vetting, ID verification etc.

emmaneiser wrote: »

They they say if they have a role for you or is it a case of getting clearance done for everyone so they’re ready to go when they get to our place on the panel?

The usual qualification ‘I am pleased to inform you you are under consideration for appointment as a Graduate Policy Analyst....’ and then ‘... this is not to be taken as an offer of appointment’.

Going by the depth of detail they’ve requested I think it’s unlikely they’d go through all that, ringing references, including current employer if all else checks out, unless there was a good chance they’d have a role.