Clerical Positions in the Civil and Public Service

paul 27

I am a tco at the minute in per and we were told that there are 300 places to be filled in the next two years as some one who is in the mid 300 and passed the interview feeling happy and hoping about40 people turn down the jobs!

Donald73

Got through too, am absolutely delighted. I hope to get called sooner rather than later, can't wait to get back working. Hopefully all the offices put in requests for staff and we all get set on. Fab to find out today and not have to wait another week!

darthinvader

Did anyone not get through??????

jimba

One poster didn't unfortunately. Back two pages.

I'd love to know our relative new position on the panel.

dooey_01

shalalala wrote: »

Well I got an unsuccessful email! Dont know if that is unsuccessful for the airport too or just the co

sorry to hear that hun....airport might be different! how did ya find interview?

gerbilgranny

Congrats to all who got good news.

Unfortunately my family member wasn't one of the fortunate ones.

And I am not impressed! This young woman has a degree, has worked for two summers as a TCO, in two different departments, including one placement which ended a few weeks back. The people in that department were very keen to get her back on a permanent basis. Now, I know you'd expect me to say this, seeing as I'm the mother of the individual - but I don't see her through rose-tinted specs at all. I just know that she would be very capable as a CO. She's good with people and has cop-on. She was asked a question about mailmerge in the interview, and she said she'd never done it. Perhaps that cost her a few points - but it's ironic, given that she spent a summer working as a TCO in Revenue, where they don't often to mailmerge, but they do far more complicated tasks.

So for those who did get through - well done indeed.

Penguin100

gerbilgranny wrote: »

Congrats to all who got good news.

Unfortunately my family member wasn't one of the fortunate ones.

And I am not impressed! This young woman has a degree, has worked for two summers as a TCO, in two different departments, including one placement which ended a few weeks back. The people in that department were very keen to get her back on a permanent basis. Now, I know you'd expect me to say this, seeing as I'm the mother of the individual - but I don't see her through rose-tinted specs at all. I just know that she would be very capable as a CO. She's good with people and has cop-on. She was asked a question about mailmerge in the interview, and she said she'd never done it. Perhaps that cost her a few points - but it's ironic, given that she spent a summer working as a TCO in Revenue, where they don't often to mailmerge, but they do far more complicated tasks.

So for those who did get through - well done indeed.

Sorry to hear about your daughter, it does seem strange when she has the experience.

I have not worked outside the home in 16 years, well I have done voluntary work but haven't has a paid job as such. I was asked about using Word and I was honest and said I can do the basics on it. They asked me about tables etc and I said that I wasn't going to lie and tell them I could do them but I am sure if I was left for an hour or two, I would figure it out.

Seems like it depends on the interview panel as some appeared to be tougher than others.

gordongekko

gerbilgranny wrote: »

Congrats to all who got good news.

Unfortunately my family member wasn't one of the fortunate ones.

And I am not impressed! This young woman has a degree, has worked for two summers as a TCO, in two different departments, including one placement which ended a few weeks back. The people in that department were very keen to get her back on a permanent basis. Now, I know you'd expect me to say this, seeing as I'm the mother of the individual - but I don't see her through rose-tinted specs at all. I just know that she would be very capable as a CO. She's good with people and has cop-on. She was asked a question about mailmerge in the interview, and she said she'd never done it. Perhaps that cost her a few points - but it's ironic, given that she spent a summer working as a TCO in Revenue, where they don't often to mailmerge, but they do far more complicated tasks.

So for those who did get through - well done indeed.

They probably felt she was over qualified. She should apply for the graduate roles and she how she gets on.

gerbilgranny

Penguin100 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your daughter, it does seem strange when she has the experience.

I have not worked outside the home in 16 years, well I have done voluntary work but haven't has a paid job as such. I was asked about using Word and I was honest and said I can do the basics on it. They asked me about tables etc and I said that I wasn't going to lie and tell them I could do them but I am sure if I was left for an hour or two, I would figure it out.

Seems like it depends on the interview panel as some appeared to be tougher than others.

Well, I'm delighted that you got through. So much depends on attitude, and having worked inside the home for 16 years, no doubt you've acquired much experience and many many 'transferable skills'. In my experience, people coming into the workforce after a 'break' tend to have a great attitude and are a real asset to their employer.

citizen_bob

gerbilgranny wrote: »

Congrats to all who got good news.

Unfortunately my family member wasn't one of the fortunate ones.

Got through myself, too! Whilst I'm glad, I've felt there is a worrying randomness to the whole process - I know people probably much more capable than myself, who never got past the first round.

However, well done to anyone successful - hope a suitable place comes up soon.

cocaholic

gerbilgranny wrote: »

Congrats to all who got good news.

Unfortunately my family member wasn't one of the fortunate ones.

And I am not impressed! This young woman has a degree, has worked for two summers as a TCO, in two different departments, including one placement which ended a few weeks back. The people in that department were very keen to get her back on a permanent basis. Now, I know you'd expect me to say this, seeing as I'm the mother of the individual - but I don't see her through rose-tinted specs at all. I just know that she would be very capable as a CO. She's good with people and has cop-on. She was asked a question about mailmerge in the interview, and she said she'd never done it. Perhaps that cost her a few points - but it's ironic, given that she spent a summer working as a TCO in Revenue, where they don't often to mailmerge, but they do far more complicated tasks.

So for those who did get through - well done indeed.

Not necessarily, I was a TCO in Revenue and worked constantly with mailmerge everyday (probably depends with the section you're in). On a side point, things like mailmerge are very easy to use and for any office environment, people should be proficient with Microsoft Office suite, databases and applications.

Most at CO level don't have college or university degrees, so your daughter could have be seen to be over-qualified/educated in that sense.

The_Conductor

cocaholic wrote: »

Not necessarily, I was a TCO in Revenue and worked constantly with mailmerge everyday (probably depends with the section you're in). On a side point, things like mailmerge are very easy to use and for any office environment, people should be proficient with Microsoft Office suite, databases and applications.

Most at CO level don't have college or university degrees, so your daughter could have be seen to be over-qualified/educated in that sense.

I've COs working with me- who use mail merges extensively- sometimes on a massive scale (we recently had a 10,000 recipient mailshot). I'm not really sure why the ability to use mail merge is even getting mentioned here to be honest- its just part of using office........ Similarly- being able to setup a basic Access database- or do pivot tables etc in Excel- are all just part of using office....... ??

Catuohy89

I don't think the mail merge would be make or break for her interview.

It's unfortunate she didn't get through. Just a thought what she answered when she was asked why she want the job perhaps they thought she wouldn't stay with the job that with her qualification she might find something else I dunno. I hope she finds something else.

nukie1978

cocaholic wrote: »

Most at CO level don't have college or university degrees, so your daughter could have be seen to be over-qualified/educated in that sense.

No. Most COs don't have degrees, but they're not unusual by any means.

Of the four people I know (including myself) who were successful at interview, three of us have degrees, and two of us have masters. I was asked about using my masters (in business and management) in the future, and I was clear that I wanted to get to a position where it could be applied, and that I applied for the ongoing AO competition. Being overqualified is not a disability in this competition. Neither is youth or age, going by the age range of people I know who passed the interview.

The interview is all about the competencies. It's relatively easy to prepare for with a bit of research and getting your competency examples together. But fail to prepare: prepare to fail.

The One Doctor

nukie1978 wrote: »

The interview is all about the competencies. It's relatively easy to prepare for with a bit of research and getting your competency examples together. But fail to prepare: prepare to fail.

I agree, I did some prep for the interview and felt it stood to me.

dooey_01

how would flexitime work for the immigration posts 4 days on 3 off? would it still apply?

Avada

dooey_01 wrote: »

how would flexitime work for the immigration posts 4 days on 3 off? would it still apply?

I don't think flexitime applies to immigration job as it is a rostered position.

The_Conductor

Random_Name wrote: »

I don't think flexitime applies to immigration job as it is a rostered position.

Same as the port positions- wonder will they use this as an opportunity to bring shift in at the ports?

dooey_01

The_Conductor wrote: »

Same as the port positions- wonder will they use this as an opportunity to bring shift in at the ports?

Do port staff currently get flexi? Is it going the route of rostering elsewhere? Might be no harm in some depts

cee_jay

gerbilgranny wrote: »

She was asked a question about mailmerge in the interview, and she said she'd never done it. Perhaps that cost her a few points - but it's ironic, given that she spent a summer working as a TCO in Revenue, where they don't often to mailmerge, but they do far more complicated tasks.

So for those who did get through - well done indeed.

Penguin100 wrote: »

I was asked about using Word and I was honest and said I can do the basics on it. They asked me about tables etc and I said that I wasn't going to lie and tell them I could do them but I am sure if I was left for an hour or two, I would figure it out.

gerbilgranny, if your daughter was asked about mailmerge and just answered she had never done it, it may be one area where she fell down.
Penguin100 was also asked about functionality in an Office program, and even though she also hadn't used it, she expanded her answer further to say she would figure it out. This would show an eagerness to learn/self improvement.

For civil service interviews, you must demonstrate you have the competencies required for the role - merely having a degree or having worked in the role previously cannot demonstrate this by itself.

The competency framework is available here: https://www.publicjobs.ie/publicjobs/client/toolkit/docs/a4_foldout.pdf
If you look at the Clerical Officer role, the Cluster area "Personal", the competencies are "Self Awareness, Development & Confidence", "Flexibility & Change Orientation" & "Initiative" which Penguin100 would have demonstrated with her answer. Answering "I have never used it" would not demonstrate these competencies.
Hope that helps.

swht

I'm fairly hopeful that I'll get an immigration control officer position. I could do with the extra 25% even if the shift work isn't ideal. Anyone know how bank holidays work, it wasn't very clear in the job description. If you're working do you get double time and a days leave and if you're schedueled to be off on the bank holiday do you get an extra days leave? (as far as I know this is how it works in the HSE)

jimba

Has anyone tried contacting PAS to see if they are willing to disclose our final position on the panel?

Hopefully this thread will remain alive so we can update eachother as jobs become available.

I'm placed in the mid 200s so am hopeful of a job in the next year. Congrats to everyone who made it through too!
It was a tough route to get here.

DuchessduJour

I was in the mid 400s so I'm not holding out much hope of actually getting a job out of this :pac: Interesting experience though, and quite unlike anything I've ever done before!

I've applied for the graduate AO positions as well, hoping I'd rank better in those aptitude tests as I really fell down with the clerical accuracy test here (barely exceeded the qualifying standard at both the supervised and unsupervised tests!) but did well in the verbal and numerical reasoning.

Congrats to everyone who made the panel, and commiserations to anyone who didn't! Here's hoping there are some job offers coming up for people in the next little while

The_Conductor

Don't rule yourself out- even if you're placed in the hundreds- there are a ridiculously large number of retirements on the cards for 2015- keep in mind COs/EOs/HEOs didn't avail of the incentivised retirement schemes- as pension levels wouldn't have justified it. 2015 onwards- is going to see large scale retirements at the lower levels..........

The One Doctor

Thanks TC, that makes me feel a bit more hopeful, even at 421!

eroc79

Do ye think they might start going through some of the other regions now that the results for Dublin candidates are out?

Starry12

Does anyone know if they have contacted the referees yet? Or does that happen as vacancies arise?

jimba

I would imagine contacting the referees would be one of the final things to be done prior to the formal invitation to contract.

dooey_01

jimba wrote: »

I would imagine contacting the referees would be one of the final things to be done prior to the formal invitation to contract.

They would hardly send emails saying you were successful and will be contacted when your place is reached had they not done this.

Meathlass

dooey_01 wrote: »

They would hardly send emails saying you were successful and will be contacted when your place is reached had they not done this.

No, they won't contact referees until they are about to offer you a position, if they get to your place on the panel which there is no guarantee they will.