Upcoming Jobs with CSO for 2011 Census

seanie63

Thats a good idea. Would be very helpful to get some sort of heads up. As mentioned before its a while since I have had an interview let alone one in the Civil Service so would love to know what to expect. My interview is on Tuesday.

Domscard

seanie63 wrote: »

Thats a good idea. Would be very helpful to get some sort of heads up. As mentioned before its a while since I have had an interview let alone one in the Civil Service so would love to know what to expect. My interview is on Tuesday.

Ditto for me Maybe they've scheduled them all over the country for Tuesday - crafty!

seanie63

Domscard wrote: »

Ditto for me Maybe they've scheduled them all over the country for Tuesday - crafty!

Hmmmmmm Interesting! lol!

Cute Hoor

Domscard wrote: »

Ditto for me Maybe they've scheduled them all over the country for Tuesday - crafty!

Not that crafty, there are definitely interviews on Wednesday as well.

seanie63

Heard somebody in my area as well has an interview in two weeks time.

Domscard

I've heard that there are to be 1700 interviews country wide :eek: About a one in four chance of a job. But there were 5000 applicants, so we've done well to get this far

seanie63

Geez thats alot of interviews for 440 jobs! Where did you hear that?

narky

My interview isn't until Wednesday week.

Domscard

seanie63 wrote: »

Geez thats alot of interviews for 440 jobs! Where did you hear that?

http://www.thesundaybusinesspost.com/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=RECRUITMENT-qqqs=themarket-qqqid=52637-qqqx=1.asp

ureds

Domscard wrote: »

I've heard that there are to be 1700 interviews country wide :eek: About a one in four chance of a job. But there were 5000 applicants, so we've done well to get this far

The 1 in 4 is the norm with the CSO as those who are not offered the job will be placed on a panel as substitutes should the 1st person decide not to accept the job or drops out after starting......and it does happen so i'm told.

Also i know of people having interviews in Mayo on Tuesday,Donegal on Thursday and Galway the following week.

seanie63

Anyone know of any interviews on tomorrow? Would be great to get some feedback.

lolabelle

I've also called for field supervisor interview in Dublin on Thursday morning. Anyone that's had an interview today or in the next day or two would be really brilliant if you could throw us a few pointers about questions etc.

Happy to hear I've a 1 in 4 chance....need a break at this stage!:)

Domscard

lolabelle wrote: »

I've also called for field supervisor interview in Dublin on Thursday morning. Anyone that's had an interview today or in the next day or two would be really brilliant if you could throw us a few pointers about questions etc.

Happy to hear I've a 1 in 4 chance....need a break at this stage!:)

My interview is this afternoon :eek: If I can remember any of the questions afterwards I will post them here. There are so many different boards though and unless it's a standardised interview the questions I'm asked may be totally different elsewhere.
I'm pretty confident that my experience and abilities more than fit the bill - though a bit less confident that I can regurgitate information at an interview in a manner that suits the panel. Que sera - I can only do my best

lolabelle

Domscard wrote: »

My interview is this afternoon :eek: If I can remember any of the questions afterwards I will post them here. There are so many different boards though and unless it's a standardised interview the questions I'm asked may be totally different elsewhere.
I'm pretty confident that my experience and abilities more than fit the bill - though a bit less confident that I can regurgitate information at an interview in a manner that suits the panel. Que sera - I can only do my best

Ah thank you and best of luck - you'll do great I'm sure. I've done tons of interviews recently and the main thing I've found is to be able to give concrete examples of what you've done in the past that applies to the job. My mum did the field supervisor role years ago and her advice was to show them you can troubleshoot (if your staff run into trouble), you can deal with tricky situations (people being afraid to fill in the form/being angry at questions that are being asked etc.), organisation and able to motivate and encourage staff.

And sure once you do you're best you'll be great. Lots of luck!!:)

Cute Hoor

Best of luck to everybody up before the stewards today.

schmann

please let us all know how ye got on today anyone? interview is next week..... yikes!! is it tough?

Domscard

Happy enough with my interview - tough but fair. Questions revolved around the following:

• My education
• My relevant work history - how I believed it applied to the FS job
• The role of the FS as I saw it and how I met the criteria (specifically)
• My experience of training groups
• Experience/knowledge of research
• Home suitability, especially storage and dedicated work space
• Map reading basics
• What the census is all about and why have one
• Recruitment stages for enumerators & experience of recruitment generally
• Anticipated problems of the job and my approaches to solving same (based on what I'd done in other jobs)
• How I personally support and motivate as a manager

If people read the FS booklet and consult the Census site they will have no bother IMO - BUT you must be able to link this to past experience/education - in other words, situational examples. As I said before, this is just one interview board of many, so yours may be different.
I'd be interested to hear how other people got/get on - a lot of people reading this thread but not a lot of contributors :rolleyes:

seanie63

I have to say Domscard, my interview was very very similar to yours. I actually could have written your post with very few changes.

I agree, that if you read up the information booklet you should have no bother really and obviously tie in your previous experience to the role of Field supervisor.

I was asked specific questions about the date of the Census and what the CSO actually do. Thankfully I had read the booklet inside out and was able to answer questions no bother. found it tough as alot of the questions were rapid fire so I had to think on my feet. I feel I was prepared enough for it though and fingers crossed I did enough to impress.

For anybody going , two things, know your CV inside out and make sure you read the information booklet beforehand. Good luck

alexsmum

my interview is not til next thurs so am grateful for the tips. i will obviously comment on my own one after but i'd say i'm nearly one of the last at that stage. i don't have the info booklet so i must ring todaay for a copy

Domscard

I agree with you, seanie63 - this is one interview where you will not get by on a wing and a prayer. Coming up with situational examples relevant to the criteria is next to impossible without preparation and thought beforehand. A few of my questions began with "Tell us about a time when you ..." and if you haven't already planned these in advance, you're likely to trip over your own tongue as your brain tries to catch up
It seems we won't know where we are on the panel until mid December - nice Xmas present for some of us, hopefully

Domscard

alexsmum wrote: »

my interview is not til next thurs so am grateful for the tips. i will obviously comment on my own one after but i'd say i'm nearly one of the last at that stage. i don't have the info booklet so i must ring todaay for a copy

The interviews are continuing for 2 weeks - they started on Monday so you have a wee advantage maybe
If you want a copy of the booklet, PM me your email address and I'll send it on

narky

Thanks for all the info folks. Mine is not till next Wednesday so I've got time to prepare for it and all the info you've given will be a great help. It sound like a detailed enough interview

alexsmum

Domscard wrote: »

The interviews are continuing for 2 weeks - they started on Monday so you have a wee advantage maybe
If you want a copy of the booklet, PM me your email address and I'll send it on

ah thanks domscard but they emailed it onto me straightaway this morning. hope we all get some good news!

lolabelle

Thanks a mil for all the interview feedback, this is so helpful. Mine is tomorrow morning so will post after it too.

schmann

Thanks lads for letting us know how you got on. Most helpful.
Just one question. Was there any mention of the Irish language and knowledge or proficiency with it?

Domscard

schmann wrote: »

Thanks lads for letting us know how you got on. Most helpful.
Just one question. Was there any mention of the Irish language and knowledge or proficiency with it?

Not at my interview, but I didn't claim a good knowledge of Irish on my application. Felt it was better to be safe than sorry, even though I have a basic familiarity and a 'get by' working knowledge. However, I reckoned an interview through Irish itself would have been a step too far for me
I had the feeling though that my panel were prepared to ask questions in/about Irish so if you said you were proficient, be prepared!

alexsmum

how long did the interview last approximately if you can remember? just have to sort childcare. thx

Domscard

alexsmum wrote: »

how long did the interview last approximately if you can remember? just have to sort childcare. thx

About 30 minutes - but give yourself a bit of extra time in case you have to wait a while if the person before you is a chatter (like me ) The poor guy after me was pacing the floor when I left.

JonnyK

Hey all,

Had interview today. They are very nice, mine was in Wicklow town.

Most questions related to my experience in recruitment, training and staff supervision. Hardly surprising since that is what the job entails!

I am an archaeologist and one of the interviewers seemed more interested in asking questions about archaeology than this position - he had a real interest in it. Don't know if that's a good ar bad thing for me to be honest!

My advice like others have said is to know your own CV backwards and to be able to relate it the role in hand. Be familiar with the Information Booklet.

I had ticked 'good' for Irish but it was never commented upon even though I have worked as a substitute primary school teacher.

I also wasn't asked about what th Census was, why it is conducted and the role of the CSO. Be confident about your own work history and give examples about how they relate to this position.

I want to thanks those thatposted before me. It's great to know that people are still helping each other out (the competition!) even in these poxy times.

Best of luck to all.

lolabelle

Hi Everyone,

Just to let ye know what I was asked at the interview yesterday. Much the same as previous posts and the interview lasted about 35 mins. Some specific questions I can remember.....

1. What are the roles of the FS pre and post census as well as the other staff.

2. The went into a lot of detail on the recruitment process and having sat on previous panels how I would have scored people etc.

3. Experience in training people, on the job training as well as formal training before beginning the post.

4. What problems I anticipated there could be in carrying out the census next year.

5. How you manage people who are off-site and what problems you can expect from this and how to overcome this.

6. If one of your staff couldn't deliver any forms because people weren't home at the time and was a week behind, how would you handle this and what would you do?

7. How you deal with a member of the public who is refusing to fill in the form.

8. Why I think I'm a good fit for the post and what would I be bringing to it.

Hope this helps people over the next week and best of luck to everyone!