Junior Diplomat/Third Secretary

Towick

IS_a_Class wrote: »

how did people find today? i felt it was very tough, with some very vague questions i found hard to answer and then some others that required me to think of instances of something very specific that would be hard to recall or have prepared or.

i felt they didnt hit on one or two of the competencies that were listed at all, and asked me quesions about competences that were not listed. Also the questions that were asked on the listed competencies were tough enough.

I performed poorly anyhow so would be extremely surprised to make it through. Good luck to those w ho do.

Sorry to hear that - but you just don't know what will happen, especially if questions were that vague. Will no doubt catch others out as well. Keep the head up.

JUDE2013

Same here. All the interviewers were lovely, but I found the whole thing very tough. Everything I came out with sounded underwhelming, and there were definitely questions I wasn't expecting which threw me off, so I think this might be the end of the road for me too. Still, it was all good experience and I'll be better prepared for my next interview because of it.

LWB

Sorry to hear that you two found it tough . How long did the interview last? I'm curious to see how they'll manage to get through all of us.

JUDE2013

LWB wrote: »

Sorry to hear that you two found it tough . How long did the interview last? I'm curious to see how they'll manage to get through all of us.

The interviews last 45 minutes, but they have four boards running simultaneously, which is how they're coping with the numbers.

Best of luck with your interview.

LWB

Thanks Jude; much obliged.

WrongWay

That's interesting that they are running boards simultaneously.

How many people would you say are through to this round?

datura

Sounds tough! What kind of questions are they asking about the Foreign Policy areas?

datura

WrongWay wrote: »

That's interesting that they are running boards simultaneously.

How many people would you say are through to this round?

They told me about 90 are through.

WrongWay

Not bad odds of getting a job. I have heard 35+ jobs from this panel over the next two years

fi314

The worst thing about simultaneous interview panels is that the questions and style vary panel to panel. A friend did it yesterday and found it to be quite standard. Competency questions followed by general chat about foreign policy area of your choice. Has anyone had a situation question? ie if you were in a mission.....

Exhibitnumber1

Difficult to say.

Is it a pas/fail situation?
Is there anything carried over from Stage 2?

Anyone know when we'll be notified?

datura

Exhibitnumber1 wrote: »

Difficult to say.

Is it a pas/fail situation?
Is there anything carried over from Stage 2?

Anyone know when we'll be notified?

I asked and they said "after Christmas"

lucat

IS_a_Class wrote: »

how did people find today? i felt it was very tough, with some very vague questions i found hard to answer and then some others that required me to think of instances of something very specific that would be hard to recall or have prepared or.

i felt they didnt hit on one or two of the competencies that were listed at all, and asked me quesions about competences that were not listed. Also the questions that were asked on the listed competencies were tough enough.

I performed poorly anyhow so would be extremely surprised to make it through. Good luck to those w ho do.

But that's typical DFAT though, and tbh, typical of interviews in Intl' Politics/IR in general. Even if you ask at the end of the interview "what are the day-to-day responsibilities blah blah" you will find that they might be looking for a different profile than what they advertised- it's very hard for them to look for one specific profile anyway. This makes the questions impossible to predict (even if they seem obvious after the fact). I had an interview today with the EU in Palestine, and I had the same experience. I think there's no way you can predict the questions- even the policy related ones that should- in theory- be somewhat obvious.

fi314

Got told that decisions are being made tomorrow (basically top performers from each panel) and people will be informed before Christmas!

gaf1983

fi314 wrote: »

Got told that decisions are being made tomorrow (basically top performers from each panel) and people will be informed before Christmas!

Well that's good news, it will give people through to the final round more time to prepare for it I guess.

S_P

Does anyone know how many people are going through to the next round? I heard it would involve a short assault course exercise at the end…don't think I'll be at my physical peak post-Christmas though!

The_Conductor

S_P wrote: »

I heard it would involve a short assault course exercise at the end…don't think I'll be at my physical peak post-Christmas though!

Someone has been having you on.

Exhibitnumber1

S_P wrote: »

Does anyone know how many people are going through to the next round? I heard it would involve a short assault course exercise at the end…don't think I'll be at my physical peak post-Christmas though!

Is that after the party piece test?
I've been learning Greensleeves on the recorder and I can nearly get through it without a mistake.

fi314

Now that interviews are over, how did people feel it went. From my experience I was personally was surprised that the focus of the questions were aimed at people fresh out of University.

IS_a_Class

fi314 wrote: »

From my experience I was personally was surprised that the focus of the questions were aimed at people fresh out of University.

I didn't have that experience

fi314

Really? That is interesting as we probably had different panels. Overall, I tough interview but surprised at number of Education/University related questions- hard to think back that far:)

gaf1983

fi314 wrote: »

Now that interviews are over, how did people feel it went. From my experience I was personally was surprised that the focus of the questions were aimed at people fresh out of University.

Yeah at one stage I found myself trying to recall the details of an Undergrad Political Science essay I had written back in 2005... I was surprised at the inclusion of university questions too, but I guess what's the point in having a degree as a requirement for the job if the recruiters aren't going to check if it's relevant to the position.

Regarding the interview overall, I think I acquitted myself fine in the competencies sections and hypothetical questions, with examples from my working life, however, I feel I may have slipped up in some of the Foreign Policy questions - some of which were quite specific, and not necessarily directly related to the content of the Statement of Strategy.

LWB

I'm fresh out of university and struggled quite a bit with questions that I didn't really have the work experience to answer. I'd happily have answered questions on college work! I found the hypothetical questions challenging too; I had to keep asking for clarification, because they were very unspecific.

I was also told that we probably wouldn't be told the results until after the New Year - seems to be a lot of conflicting information about that going around...

Towick

I feel the competency questions etc were ok, but the policy questions killed me.

This sounds ridiculous but the two I got were so general that I stumbled badly. Not that I know Irish foreign policy inside out, but I was expecting something a bit more specific to be asked.

Took a lot of 'ooohing' and 'aaahing' before I could produce something akin to a coherent response. Total wipeout. Which, along with the serious competition and high standard of applicants, doesnt make me feel very optimistic.

Panel members were so nice though. Not at all intimidating as I thought they would be.

Exhibitnumber1

Rang them.

Definitely no word before 6th Jan.

Exhibitnumber1

Apparently notification will be given tomorrow

The_Conductor

Best of good luck everyone- I hope that whatever the results for you, it opens a doorway to exciting futures.

Dcsmall

I'm in last year of Secondary School and going to sit my Leaving Cert in June, I am interested in politics and international relations and was going to do a BA Honours(Joint) doing History,Economics and Politics and International relations then in my second year doing Economics and International Relations.
I was then going to do a Masters in either Politics or International Relations.
Anyone who made it into being a Third Sec got any tips for a 17yr old looking to get into this line of work? The best course to take or something you would do if you could be my age again etc..
Some advice would be greatly appreciated.

JohnMearsheimer

Dcsmall wrote: »

I'm in last year of Secondary School and going to sit my Leaving Cert in June, I am interested in politics and international relations and was going to do a BA Honours(Joint) doing History,Economics and Politics and International relations then in my second year doing Economics and International Relations.
I was then going to do a Masters in either Politics or International Relations.
Anyone who made it into being a Third Sec got any tips for a 17yr old looking to get into this line of work? The best course to take or something you would do if you could be my age again etc..
Some advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have a degree in politics and a masters international relations and it has been no use to me when applying for 3rd secretary. I would not advise anyone to study international relations and pin their hopes on becoming a 3rd secretary. The first stage of the recruitment process comes down to how good you are at taking tests. This is the hurdle most people fall at.

You just need a degree to be considered to apply for 3rd secretary. If there's something else you want to study more than politics and IR then I would say go with that and maybe keep an interest in politics/international affairs. Of course, if all you want to study is politics/IR then go ahead.

The_Conductor

I'd also add to the above that more than one modern language, with up and coming trading partners in mind- might prove to be invaluable. You are expected to attend classes to improve your fluency in the languages you are most likely to need to use- which could well be Spanish, Portuguese or even Russian or Mandarin (which I imagine there are very very few people on the ground with a good grasp of).

After that- its a degree- the ability to think rapidly on your feet, and the ability to perform under pressure.

A degree in International Affairs- is a nice piece of paper- but ultimately- someone with a degree in materials engineering could get the job ahead of you- or indeed perform significantly better in the post, than you.

WrongWay

Anyone heard anything?

Exhibitnumber1

WrongWay wrote: »

Anyone heard anything?

Nope

fi314

I think they have forgotten

IS_a_Class

got rejected

Congo_123

IS_a_Class wrote: »

got rejected

Really? Did you get notification just now?

WrongWay

IS_a_Class wrote: »

got rejected

Sorry to hear that. Did you get an email or a message on your public jobs account?

fifty grand

I also got rejected. I was sent an email and text about an hour ago telling me to log on to my publicjobs account and there was a message there. Best of luck to everyone still to hear...

Fuc

I haven't heard anything yet.

WrongWay

Fuc wrote: »

I haven't heard anything yet.

Neither have I. Don't know what is going on.

Col711

WrongWay wrote: »

Neither have I. Don't know what is going on.

I haven't heard anything either...

JUDE2013

Got my rejection too, in the same way as the others.

For those of you who haven't heard yet, it's probably a good sign. Best of luck.

WrongWay

Results are out. 40 through to the next round.

Best of luck to everyone and commiserations to those who didn't get through this time.

gaf1983

Afraid I didn't get through either. Best of luck to those candidates who did.

Fuc

Missed out too, all the best to those going to the next stage.

LWB

Nor me. I didn't even come close to the top ten for my panel. Best of luck to everyone else!

micromurph

I got rejected too. Best of luck to everyone who got through.

How do you know where you placed in your panel?

Fuc

micromurph wrote: »

I got rejected too. Best of luck to everyone who got through.

How do you know where you placed in your panel?

It was in the message I got from Public Jobs. Was placed 13th, but they are only calling back the top 10.

micromurph

Fuc wrote: »

It was in the message I got from Public Jobs. Was placed 13th, but they are only calling back the top 10.

My message doesn't say anything about it. I can only assume that's a bad sign! Ah well.

Dcsmall

Tough break for those who got rejected, but best of luck to those who are through.
I do want to be a secondary school teacher of History and Economics, so I might pursue that and then apply for Third Sec while I at least have a job as one.

To those who took the test, is there anything you would recommend learning or what even lvl 8's do you have?

Dcsmall

I was looking at a course in DCU for 380 about International Relations.
http://www.careersportal.ie/courses/coursedetail.php?job_id=474&course_id=303#.UtmtprTFK1s

Any good for this type of work?