Immigration Control Officer - Dublin Airport

The Veteran

12 hours is tough but the roster is designed to maximize time off and weekends off bearing in mind it is a 24 x 7 service.

If you are looking for a typical civil service job .... ie slow moving with minimal responsibilities and flexi clock etc then this is the wrong job for you.

If you want to do something important and meaningful well that’s a different story.

For example when the civil service shut down for the February\March snow; the men and women of the BMU were on duty. Loads stayed in a hotel for 3 days and some walked to work!

Bamboozle1982

Giving up 3 days of your life to stay in a hotel for work and not seeing family etc is hardly a selling point. How were the officers compensated? Was a message not issued to all civil servants to stay away from work for safety reasons? Is the safety of immigration officers not as important as other clerical officers?
From what I have heard staff are under pressure (abuse from passengers etc, heavy workload) and work far far harder than regular co’s for no extra money. The extra take home pay is in the form of a shift allowance but nothing extra for work itself.
Taking annual leave is an ordeal with teams understaffed and unlike regular co’s there is no flexi leave, term time etc. I don’t see what benefits they receive? Sunday allowance? Other allowances? grade reclassified as EO scale or at least somewhere between CO and SO?
The airport is getting busier and with that conditions for staff in all sectors seems to be deteriorating, all pawns and units to boost DAA profits

revenent

Bamboozle1982 wrote: »

Giving up 3 days of your life to stay in a hotel for work and not seeing family etc is hardly a selling point. How were the officers compensated? Was a message not issued to all civil servants to stay away from work for safety reasons? Is the safety of immigration officers not as important as other clerical officers?
From what I have heard staff are under pressure (abuse from passengers etc, heavy workload) and work far far harder than regular co’s for no extra money. The extra take home pay is in the form of a shift allowance but nothing extra for work itself.
Taking annual leave is an ordeal with teams understaffed and unlike regular co’s there is no flexi leave, term time etc. I don’t see what benefits they receive? Sunday allowance? Other allowances? grade reclassified as EO scale or at least somewhere between CO and SO?
The airport is getting busier and with that conditions for staff in all sectors seems to be deteriorating, all pawns and units to boost DAA profits

This is the most relevant message on here recently. Yes the work is important and yes it can be rewarding. But people should not go into this job with rose tinted glasses. Staff are under paid, underappreciated and left to manage with terrible conditions. Less staff on roster yet more flights added daily and higher ups assume same care can be taken with passengers.
Staff are considered "frontline"in regards to airport duing the storm yet not when pay/conditions put onto account.

oooosk

revenent wrote: »

This is the most relevant message on here recently. Yes the work is important and yes it can be rewarding. But people should not go into this job with rose tinted glasses. Staff are under paid, underappreciated and left to manage with terrible conditions. Less staff on roster yet more flights added daily and higher ups assume same care can be taken with passengers.
Staff are considered "frontline"in regards to airport duing the storm yet not when pay/conditions put onto account.

Underpaid? At nearly 50k p/a at the top of the CO scale when you include allowance and bank holiday pay? Come off it.

revenent

oooosk wrote: »

Underpaid? At nearly 50k p/a at the top of the CO scale when you include allowance and bank holiday pay? Come off it.

Come off what? A new start officer is at the bottom of the CO scale, 25% shift allowance for a frontline job where people are making EO decisions. Nice and easy to throw a civil servents earning too much comment.

Terrible conditions?

revenent

revenent wrote: »

This is the most relevant message on here recently. Yes the work is important and yes it can be rewarding. But people should not go into this job with rose tinted glasses. Staff are under paid, underappreciated and left to manage with terrible conditions. Less staff on roster yet more flights added daily and higher ups assume same care can be taken with 6passengers.
Staff are considered "frontline"in regards to airport duing the storm yet not when pay/conditions put onto account.

What are the terrible conditions?

The Veteran

People who work in BMU know my views on pay and conditions.

On the 3 days in a hotel comment, I was making the point that if you want a handy number with the flexi and all of that then this is not the job for you.

Remember the jobs advertised were immigration officer jobs not traditional office based clerical jobs.

If frontline isn’t understood then it’s the wrong job for you.

The group who started in January 2015 and the other groups who joined in 2015 have seen a lot promoted to EO; far quicker than would be normal; supervisors have done well too. There are COs on €50k there and EOs on €62k plus; both before overtime. Yes, a new starter will touch €30k year one and on a personal level I think it’s too low. Why is it this way? Ask the Unions!

gelsthe

Invitations out for interviews starting September 16th... Got email yesterday

kravmaga

Has anyone attended the interviews this week? What did they think.

kravmaga

kravmaga wrote: »

Has anyone attended the interviews this week? What did they think.

I found mine tuff but fair. As few spanners thrown at me not what I was expecting. 50/50 chance of getting it but will be gutted if I don't.

gelsthe

kravmaga wrote:

Has anyone attended the interviews this week? What did they think.

I had mine also. Quite fair tbh but be sure to read the pre interview stuff that was in the email, it's a great guide to what they'll ask just have examples ready for them.... interviews again next week so another long wait no doubt

italodisco

The Veteran wrote: »

12 hours is tough but the roster is designed to maximize time off and weekends off bearing in mind it is a 24 x 7 service.

If you are looking for a typical civil service job .... ie slow moving with minimal responsibilities and flexi clock etc then this is the wrong job for you.

If you want to do something important and meaningful well that’s a different story.

For example when the civil service shut down for the February\March snow; the men and women of the BMU were on duty. Loads stayed in a hotel for 3 days and some walked to work!

Another ill informed poster, I'm a civil servant in an office based role, flat out, plenty of responsibility, projects, variation and challenge.

Absolutely love it, very similar to my time in the private sector.

You should reword your post to 'typical job in the HSE' LOL

italodisco

italodisco wrote: »

Another ill informed poster, I'm a civil servant in an office based role, flat out, plenty of responsibility, projects, variation and challenge.

Absolutely love it, very similar to my time in the private sector.

You should reword your post to 'typical job in the HSE' LOL

To add, Clerical officers in my department play a big role in assisting the government in saving considerable amounts of money that would be otherwise misspent.

They don't sit in a box all day scanning passports and staring at people.

Passport control does not exactly require much brain function, think about that when you try tarnish 'civil servants' in general as useless drains on the tax payer!

Oh how high that horse must be

revenent

italodisco wrote: »

To add, Clerical officers in my department play a big role in assisting the government in saving considerable amounts of money that would be otherwise misspent.

They don't sit in a box all day scanning passports and staring at people.

Passport control does not exactly require much brain function, think about that when you try tarnish 'civil servants' in general as useless drains on the tax payer!

Oh how high that horse must be

Considering you are giving out over a poster throwing everone in the same lot, while in a reply to your own post doing the same to us in immigration shows you own and ride the highest horse here. Try not to bad mouth a service you obviously have no information on.
Immigration in Ireland is a complicated, ever changing beast and the upcoming brexit challenges only makes it that much harder.
Best regards a "brainless immigration officer"

Sup08

italodisco wrote: »

Another ill informed poster, I'm a civil servant in an office based role, flat out, plenty of responsibility, projects, variation and challenge.

Absolutely love it, very similar to my time in the private sector.

You should reword your post to 'typical job in the HSE' LOL

For the record, The Veteran might also be serving civil servant and they may also be a much higher grade than HEO. From their posts in this and other threads, they seem to have experience across the board, including the immigration function and management.

Be gas if they were actually your boss, just sayin :eek:

revenent

Sup08 wrote: »

For the record, The Veteran might also be serving civil servant and they may also be a much higher grade than HEO. From their posts in this and other threads, they seem to have experience across the board, including the immigration function and management.

Be gas if they were actually your boss, just sayin :eek:

They are at least two grades higher from last time I noted it. Would be quality if they were alright!

italodisco

Sup08 wrote: »

For the record, The Veteran might also be serving civil servant and they may also be a much higher grade than HEO. From their posts in this and other threads, they seem to have experience across the board, including the immigration function and management.

Be gas if they were actually your boss, just sayin :eek:

It would be great if they were my boss, I'm sure they'd share my opinion regarding my defense against the civil servant 'boring handy job' stereotype.

spongiform

Sup08 wrote: »

For the record, The Veteran might also be serving civil servant and they may also be a much higher grade than HEO. From their posts in this and other threads, they seem to have experience across the board, including the immigration function and management.

Be gas if they were actually your boss, just sayin :eek:

God, I feel like I know you. Pretty sure I wish I didn't though.

The person in question has a new job in a new department which (like most departments) does not tolerate the kind of behaviour which is normal in Justice, and hasn't had forced resignations of 2 x Ministers and Secretaries General in a short span. Or any tribunals. His reputation, I'm given to understand, both preceded and followed him, and certainly the rumour mill had very interesting things to say about the precise manner of his moving to his new department.

All of which might go some way to explain why he's still posting regularly on boards on topics which relate to a job he left about half a year ago, and nothing related to his new job.

It might look like I'm posting anonymously, but I put plenty on the record during my time at the airport- things worked out pretty well for me, plus I have a rare combination of a clear conscience and a good memory. There's nothing I did while I worked at the airport that I'm hoping stays buried, and that's not true of everyone who's worked in the BMU. Because as any good civil servant knows, what's on the record stays on the record.

revenent

Best of luck to those starting soon and on Wednesday!

Any ideas on how many are starting?

revenent

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Any ideas on how many are starting?

6 or 7

Hardly seems worth their while training such a small group. With the amount of training involved I thought they would call a bigger batch.

Stephen Strange

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hardly seems worth their while training such a small group. With the amount of training involved I thought they would call a bigger batch.

It was a group that had been previously interviewed, rather than people that had been recently interviewed.

wangchung

it is going to very difficult for new people joining .The morale currently is very low and management are not interested in how staff feel or their opinions; they don't engage with staff .It is a very difficult time out at the airport for the immigration staff

NiMatihLiom

wangchung wrote: »

it is going to very difficult for new people joining .The morale currently is very low and management are not interested in how staff feel or their opinions; they don't engage with staff .It is a very difficult time out at the airport for the immigration staff

Couldn’t agree more. And it will only be getting worse. Numerous people leaving in the new year, the new recruits won’t be enough to fill the vacated positions, never mind make up the numbers needed for the summer schedule. Management couldn’t care less, there’s a serious disconnect between the people on the ground and those in charge. The fact people would rather move laterally in the cs than stay with the BMU should be a wake up call for them!

NiMatihLiom

NiMatihLiom wrote: »

Couldn’t agree more. And it will only be getting worse. Numerous people leaving in the new year, the new recruits won’t be enough to fill the vacated positions, never mind make up the numbers needed for the summer schedule. Management couldn’t care less, there’s a serious disconnect between the people on the ground and those in charge. The fact people would rather move laterally in the cs than stay with the BMU should be a wake up call for them!

Jesus lads talk about the glass being half empty. You should be looking forward to new staff being recruited in the new year, a little less of the doom & gloom! Management will never consult with the workers when making decisions or changing policy to think any different is naive. I don't know if you actually work in the BMU or just trying to turn people off or whether the 2 of you are actually 1. It doesn't matter, this job isn't for everyone so maybe you should move laterally.

NiMatihLiom

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Jesus lads talk about the glass being half empty. You should be looking forward to new staff being recruited in the new year, a little less of the doom & gloom! Management will never consult with the workers when making decisions or changing policy to think any different is naive. I don't know if you actually work in the BMU or just trying to turn people off or whether the 2 of you are actually 1. It doesn't matter, this job isn't for everyone so maybe you should move laterally.

Being more positive etc won’t solve retention problems, make understaffing any better. I agree, it isn’t the job for everyone, maybe you won’t like it yourself, but you won’t know until you do it? The job itself can be very interesting and I certainly like my job, in theory, but the lack of facilities, staff and support is a serious drain on motivation. I don’t want to turn anyone off, but I know I would’ve preferred to know more before I started.

NiMatihLiom

NiMatihLiom wrote: »

Being more positive etc won’t solve retention problems, make understaffing any better. I agree, it isn’t the job for everyone, maybe you won’t like it yourself, but you won’t know until you do it? The job itself can be very interesting and I certainly like my job, in theory, but the lack of facilities, staff and support is a serious drain on motivation. I don’t want to turn anyone off, but I know I would’ve preferred to know more before I started.

Yes. There doesn't seem to be much on the job information regarding this position, bar this forum. Which is a hit and miss at the best of times. Maybe people don't put enough thought into the shifts and how long they are and also working every second weekend before they sign up then regret it down the line.

wangchung

NiMatihLiom wrote: »

Being more positive etc won’t solve retention problems, make understaffing any better. I agree, it isn’t the job for everyone, maybe you won’t like it yourself, but you won’t know until you do it? The job itself can be very interesting and I certainly like my job, in theory, but the lack of facilities, staff and support is a serious drain on motivation. I don’t want to turn anyone off, but I know I would’ve preferred to know more before I started.

agreed: They have stated that staff loss/movement is a common occurrence across all the Civil Service and they don't see it being any different for the ICOs so they have said they cant see the argument for retaining staff there. They are trying to keep costs to a minimum so that is why there is no investment in the immigration service nor will there be. Unless they deal with the problem now, there are going to be huge problems out at the airport next year with longer passenger and staff leaving /going out with stress