Civil Service - EO exams

TheBigLebowski

Does anyone know how many went for the ICT exam? And are all these ICT results just bunched together separately from the EO results? Because they weren't based on location?

dubdub123

I think that the application was for EO and then you could click the option for ICT so by default EO was going to be included. I didn't realize it was so competitive to be honest - thought maybe a couple of thousand but nowhere near where it seems to be at.
Does anyone know where the ICT jobs are located ? Any around mayo etc?
Also -saw that AO and AO for Revenue on line but familiarisation booklet wasn't up yet. What type of candidate are they looking for there - someone with a degree ? For Third Secretary , is that a much higher post?

druss

dubdub123 wrote: »

Does anyone know where the ICT jobs are located ? Any around mayo etc?
Also -saw that AO and AO for Revenue on line but familiarisation booklet wasn't up yet. What type of candidate are they looking for there - someone with a degree ? For Third Secretary , is that a much higher post?

ICT jobs are all round the country.

AO/Third Sec will require an honours degree. 2.1 or better normally.

Third Sec is the same pay/grade as AO, but specialized to Foreign Affairs. You'd get living abroad subsidies and more OT though!

death1234567

dubdub123 wrote: »

Got the email about ICT as well - ranked just outside the top 100 but this appears to be nationwide,

I got top ten in that aswell so I don't think its nationwide . Maybe it spilt up because I think there are/will be 5 ICT centres around Ireland after the Decentralisation thing. Not sure though.

druss

death1234567 wrote: »

I got top ten in that aswell so I don't think its nationwide . Maybe it spilt up because I think there are/will be 5 ICT centres around Ireland after the Decentralisation thing. Not sure though.

Most of the major departments will have a dedicated ICT unit outside of Dublin after decentralisation. It'll be more than 5.

dubdub123

great, thanks for the info. The info booklets are up there now, so I'll take an eyeball. There's an AO comp specific for Revenue as well as the other comp for AO and AO ICT.
There's also an online survey for the Junior diplomat role.

gazzer

This time, i would expect there to be far more jobs, but then there are also far more applicants.

Dont think this will be true in Dublin. I work in the Civil Service as an EO(JSA). A lot of the EO positions that are been decentralised out of Dublin are been taken up by people not in Dublin, so in effect you have a person working as an EO in Dublin who didnt want to leave Dublin through Decentralisation but their position has decentralised.

For instance my friend transfered to a position in Mayo. 20 of them started on the same day. Bear in mind that these 20 positions are decentralised from Dublin yet she was the only one who had come from Dublin. The rest of the people had cross transferred from other rural locations. Makes a whole joke of the decentralistion scheme because its not the staff who decentralise from Dublin,, rather its the position.. This leaves a lot of EO's in Dublin who will be twiddling their thumbs in the near future.

druss

Revenue did the same last time. The initial exams are the same, but they do their own interviews and get you to do a presentation etc.

druss

gazzer wrote: »

This time, i would expect there to be far more jobs, but then there are also far more applicants.

Dont think this will be true in Dublin. I work in the Civil Service as an EO(JSA). A lot of the EO positions that are been decentralised out of Dublin are been taken up by people not in Dublin, so in effect you have a person working as an EO in Dublin who didnt want to leave Dublin through Decentralisation but their position has decentralised.
This leaves a lot of EO's in Dublin who will be twiddling their thumbs in the near future.

True about Dublin...but the regional vacancies, especially in IT, will have to be filled somehow. An unfortunate side effect of decentralisation is a lot of early retirements too.

Supercell

In the next stage the email states "will consist of a written junior management exercise and a competitive interview ".

Is the written more situational stuff like the first test?, and whats a competitive interview? (all kinds of mental images about that!).

dubdub123

it mentioned in the booklet that location would be selected later on for ICT.. I would expect then that it is nationwide , but I don't know.
so nearly 500 jobs last time around .. is there a breakdown by county available? though I wonder if any comparisons are even valid, as number of jobs may be less now, anyhow..

druss

Supercell wrote: »

In the next stage the email states "will consist of a written junior management exercise and a competitive interview ".

Is the written more situational stuff like the first test?, and whats a competitive interview? (all kinds of mental images about that!).

You'll get more information on that before they call you. Last time, the exercise was basically letter writing/decision making. You had to reference other documentation and correspondance to inform your decisions.

Competitive interview just means that other people are being interviewed too! Don't think that any gladiator stuff is involved.:)

It's competency based, so you'll be given key skills which will form the basis of the interview. No real trick questions,

gary the great

i got placed 74 in Dublin, 11 in kildare and 13 in Wicklow


Delighted with that, really am, even though theres still only quite a small chance ill get a job im happy with that achievment.

Someone said that for every 3 that go for interview only one gets a job?

Supercell

gary the great wrote: »

i got placed 74 in Dublin, 11 in kildare and 13 in Wicklow


Delighted with that, really am, even though theres still only quite a small chance ill get a job im happy with that achievment.

Someone said that for every 3 that go for interview only one gets a job?

I got close to you in Kildare and Wicklow but about 30 out in Dublin..Dublin results must have been tight!
Best of luck with the second round.

AlexBM

Congrats all. I only went for Dublin, and got 63 in that, so I'm pretty pleased. I had no idea there were going to be so many people applying. Does anyone know if the amounts of people applying per county will be available publicly? Or even if I can find out how many people applied for Dublin? I'd like to know exactly how I did in relation to the amount of people.


Also, anyone any idea on the timescale involved? The sooner the better for me!

dubdub123

apparently they're still working off old panel, so not sure when they will start using the new one. think that they will interview as the need arises depending on how openings come up - this particular panel will stay active for 3 years. I thought that in the aptitude test center they said interviews would be held at the start of June, so I expected them to start pulling people up to a certain merit order, but I don't think that's going to happen.. all v. confusing !!

machalla

This may be of interest from askaboutmoney.

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=78140

"I just contacted them and they are still working off the old panel for now. Don't appear to know how many posns are available at present as they'll just find out as they are required. Didn't sound like there was any plans to immediately interview people, but i thought on the day of the aptitude test they mentioned start of June. I'll probably hear something when i'm least expecting it and have half forgotten about this sometime in 2009 or 2010 !!"

A relation of mine did the aptitude tests for a civil service position about 3 years ago. A year or more later she got a call offerering her a position.

It seems like a mad way to recruit to me but what do I know. Perhaps its best practice...

druss

machalla wrote: »

This may be of interest from askaboutmoney.

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=78140

It seems like a mad way to recruit to me but what do I know. Perhaps it best practice...

It's far from ideal from a candidates point of view. As you say, you could be waiting for more than two years before you get an interview and a job.

From a recruitment point of view, it's probably the best available solution though. If you think about the size of the civil service, can you imagine the delays and expense involved in advertising, interviewing and recruiting for individual vacancies as they arise?

This way, the PAS have a pool of available people who they can pass on to departments when required. After a year or so though, a lot of people have moved on/lost interest so they can end up moving a fair way down the list.

In a way, you're better off just doing the exam/interview and forgetting about it until you start getting job offers.

Supercell

Hi Druss, do you know if candidates are told after their written and interview if they have been placed on the "panel" or you just have to wait until an offer eventually (or not) comes your way?

druss

Supercell wrote: »

Hi Druss, do you know if candidates are told after their written and interview if they have been placed on the "panel" or you just have to wait until an offer eventually (or not) comes your way?

If you pass both interview and the written stages, you get another message along following lines:

"I refer to your recent participation in the Selection Process held in connection with the above competition.

I am pleased to inform you that you have reached the qualifying standard and will come under consideration for appointment to the position of ****** when vacancies arise in your chosen region(s).
"

Normally you should get some job offers fairly quickly after that. Also your original test score is dissregarded at this point, so you could move up or down on the final panel depending on how you did in the interview/assignments.

The_Conductor

dubdub123 wrote:

apparently they're still working off old panel, so not sure when they will start using the new one. think that they will interview as the need arises depending on how openings come up - this particular panel will stay active for 3 years. I thought that in the aptitude test center they said interviews would be held at the start of June, so I expected them to start pulling people up to a certain merit order, but I don't think that's going to happen.. all v. confusing !!

I was told they will be interviewing for regional positions which they hope to decentralise ASAP, and EO-ICT possibly sooner (July/August). Those interested in Dublin based positions will unfortunately have a much longer wait, as there is a surplus of staff at these grades in Dublin (particularly in Social Welfare and Agriculture) and an effort is being made to reassign currently serving staff to departments in which a need exists, rather than recruiting newcomers.

dubdub123

Did they indicate any particular regions or how many would be getting interviewed for EO/ICT? I'm far down the list for that, just outside top 100 and was hoping they'd pull people off that for EO posns first, or that people may drop off the list if they're not qualified but I don't even know where those posns may be based.

Has anyone heard anything definite about interviews as yet? Thought they indicated start of June at the aptitude tests..

The_Conductor

While the positions are all filled, when particular departments seek staff, its not expected that there will be any EO ICT positions in the Dublin area for quite some time to come, as the ICT/ISD sections, particularly of the Department of Agriculture but also Social Welfare, are decentralising, and very few of the current incumbents have any enthusiasm for moving with their jobs. Obviously an attempt will be made to place current staff in IT roles rather than recruiting new staff, as positions arise- eventually this pool of staff will be exhausted however.

I imagine that EO ICT posts will come up for Letterkenny and Portlaoise very quickly- and will be very limited for elsewhere.

druss

smccarrick wrote: »

I imagine that EO ICT posts will come up for Letterkenny and Portlaoise very quickly- and will be very limited for elsewhere.

Cork will take a few as well. Wexford next year.

dubdub123

what about other offices around - would there be a need in those rural offices for some level of IT staff? Say within revenue offices. Will staff already in those offices get preference or would they have to come in off the panel?

druss

dubdub123 wrote: »

what about other offices around - would there be a need in those rural offices for some level of IT staff? Say within revenue offices. Will staff already in those offices get preference or would they have to come in off the panel?

Mabe medium sized offices have some, but in my experience smaller offices don't have IT staff. Normally a staff officer is appointed, who gets basic IT training. If something major occurs, they are talked through the fix by IT staff at headquarters. If it's really, really major...someone will get a day out from head office to go and fix it.:p

The_Conductor

dubdub123 wrote: »

what about other offices around - would there be a need in those rural offices for some level of IT staff? Say within revenue offices. Will staff already in those offices get preference or would they have to come in off the panel?

Most pre-existing staff recruited within the last 3 years, are under contractual obligations to decentralise come what may. I imagine there are more than sufficient to cover whatever limited IT requirements there may be at local offices. In any event, as in all departments- the IT function is centralised for the most part- and all Departments have subscribed to the 2 central locations for data stores (Back Weston in Celbridge, and Citywest).

With respect of Revenue- most of the IT recruitment there is to facilitate bringing ROSS and other functions which were developed by contractors, back in-house.

dubdub123

great, thanks for the info. hopefully over the next while, further details will emerge as people get called for i/views. if anyone hears of interviews starting up for either EO or ICT EO , please post so that we can get an idea of whether things are moving along. I found the email quite confusing in relation to this, regarding being successful and into the next round, but not indicating if I'll be called for interview or just have to wait.

The_Conductor

They probably will do the first batch of interviews fairly promptly- perhaps towards the end of June/beginning of July in order to constitute the panel, and thereafter conduct further interviews on the strength of staff requests from the different departments.

dubabroad

I have seen on public jobs that they re advertising for AOs.
Can anyone explain to me the difference between AO and EO positions?
In terms of salary, wht they would require from applicants and also long temr prospects for promotion etc?
I did not know about EO jobs until too late so filed to apply. I understand that they will not come up for about 3 years.
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
I presently work in uk civil service at HEO grade but need to move back to ireland fairly soon so prepared to take a cut in wages etc
Apologies if this is off thread