NEW 2016 Open and Interdepartmental Assistant Principal in Civil Service competition.

noodler

Starblue wrote: »

Pretty sure I messed my interview up today - any ideas when they're likely to run the competition again? Can't believe I'll have to do those bloody tests again 😱

Was 18 months last time.

quad_red

I did mine today. Not very hopeful. Panel didn't seem very engaged but maybe that's the way with these assembly line PAS ones.

One thing that's always been drummed into me at interviews is to ask questions. But it's kind of hard to do that when all the job information is so generic and the panel themselves have no idea what department you could end up in.

So asked rather dull questions on how long before the panel was decided and how long it would be active for etc.

tea and coffee

I'd imagine that the next competition will start early autumn 2018 as this competition's panel will expire on 31st Oct 2018

Starblue

I felt the same Quad-red; generic, staid questions that didn't deviate from the script and little understanding of my previous roles. It was very disheartening after getting so far

Rosiebeans81

Starblue wrote: »

Pretty sure I messed my interview up today - any ideas when they're likely to run the competition again? Can't believe I'll have to do those bloody tests again 😱

I feel the same . Totally think I messed it up😟

quad_red

Starblue wrote: »

I felt the same Quad-red; generic, staid questions that didn't deviate from the script and little understanding of my previous roles. It was very disheartening after getting so far

I concur with understanding of role etc. but I didn't think there was much of a script. They jumped around allot (but not in a good engaging way).

Did they stick to the core four competencies in the order they were on the form for you? If anything I'd say that's a good sign. You must have been giving them what they wanted.

Starblue

I hope you're right! Obviously there are a few different boards so that probably explains why some are straight competencies and others not. Mine was just formulaic I felt although yeah they did go through the competencies in sequence if that can be interpreted positively Just didn't sense any particular interest or enthusiasm

gics

Has anyone been interviewed yet who is a newly promoted HEO? I'm wondering how you felt the panel looked on that? I'm not holing out much hope given that I am still in probation for the HEO role. I think they will look at it as too much too soon

tea and coffee

On this one, the board is broadly the same. Certainly the same chairperson, no? Isn't is good to have generic (easy??) questions?? Rather than overly challenging?

Starblue

There are four or five different boards, your message board just has yours but the number should be on it

Starblue

Maybe generic is ok but just from my own experience challenging is a better indicator of success! Obviously hope this is not the case here

gics

Starblue wrote: »

Maybe generic is ok but just from my own experience challenging is a better indicator of success! Obviously hope this is not the case here

I would agree with that, normally challenging means they think you have it in your and are trying to help you show it. Easy means they are passing themselves

Rosiebeans81

Anyone any idea how many would be likely to be on the final panel

luckyboy

Rosiebeans81 wrote: »

Anyone any idea how many would be likely to be on the final panel

If last time is anything to go by, 161 were interviewed in the first batch, of whom 90 were placed on the panel. That's just under 56%. Of those 90, 72 were already serving civil servants and 18 were external candidates.

LucyLou2017

Does anyone know the liklihood of further interview batches?

quad_red

luckyboy wrote: »

If last time is anything to go by, 161 were interviewed in the first batch, of whom 90 were placed on the panel. That's just under 56%. Of those 90, 72 were already serving civil servants and 18 were external candidates.

Eighteen were external candidates?

What a load of balls.

The_Conductor

quad_red wrote: »

Eighteen were external candidates?

What a load of balls.

You can't really say that- unless you know the ratio of pre-existing civil servants to external candidates at the outset. Keep in mind DPER were very unhappy that such a high proportion of civil servants featured on the open panel- it could very well be that 18 external candidates to 72 internal candidates- a neat 1:4 ratio- might actually be a fair and accurate reflection of the ratio of applicants at the outset- but of course we just don't know.

martian1980

luckyboy wrote: »

If last time is anything to go by, 161 were interviewed in the first batch, of whom 90 were placed on the panel. That's just under 56%. Of those 90, 72 were already serving civil servants and 18 were external candidates.

The 56% pass rate is partially accounted for by the e-tray exercise though, is it?

luckyboy

martian1980 wrote: »

The 56% pass rate is partially accounted for by the e-tray exercise though, is it?

Yes, it would have been. Those 161 candidates still had to pass both the e-tray and the final interview, so a 56% candidate-to-panel rate is actually not bad in that light.

Arcade_Tryer

The_Conductor wrote: »

You can't really say that- unless you know the ratio of pre-existing civil servants to external candidates at the outset. Keep in mind DPER were very unhappy that such a high proportion of civil servants featured on the open panel- it could very well be that 18 external candidates to 72 internal candidates- a neat 1:4 ratio- might actually be a fair and accurate reflection of the ratio of applicants at the outset- but of course we just don't know.

Why, out of interest?

noodler

The_Conductor wrote: »

You can't really say that- unless you know the ratio of pre-existing civil servants to external candidates at the outset. Keep in mind DPER were very unhappy that such a high proportion of civil servants featured on the open panel- it could very well be that 18 external candidates to 72 internal candidates- a neat 1:4 ratio- might actually be a fair and accurate reflection of the ratio of applicants at the outset- but of course we just don't know.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say dper.

But anyway, I'd fully expect AOs and HEOs to make up the majority of successful applicants.

They are the ones doing the job and reporting to APs for years on a daily basis so no surprise they can reflect this well in an interview.

Arcade_Tryer

noodler wrote: »

I'm not sure what you mean when you say dper.

Department of Public Expenditure and Deform Reform I presume?

Saracen11

Of those who have done the interview - did you find that they asked you an open question about each competency (allow you to pick example and run through) or did they specifically pick something out of your form and ask you about that for the competency?

TaurenDruid

@Saracen11 A bit of both. The first one I was asked (analysis & decision making in my case) was about the ok example from the form but I had a much better backup one I wanted to use, so I deflected it onto that. The next competency was a more open question.

@luckyboy Thanks for clarifying that - I'd gotten really worried seeing only a 56% pass rate, but yeah, that f'n etray wiped out a load of people last time who otherwise would have been on the panel.

noodler

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

Department of Public Expenditure and Deform Reform I presume?

Familar with the acronym alright.

gics

Did anyone get asked at the end of the interview were they happy with how the interview went? To me that's prempting an appeal so means a fail :-(

eoinola

gics wrote: »

Did anyone get asked at the end of the interview were they happy with how the interview went? To me that's prempting an appeal so means a fail :-(

i think you are being a little bit too pessimistic, i wouldnt worry about that at all. Its small talk.

From what i can see is the boards and their chairs are varying massively which is more annoying to be honest.

gics

Suppose you never really know how it's went. So much to cover in such a short time period

quad_red

I had serious sweaty flashbacks over the weekend. I really screwed the pooch on a few questions and only looking back on it now do I realise how badly I did.

All I can say is a serious learning experience. Only thing I'm a bit bummed at is a slightly less than optimal day for those bloody online tests next time mightn't get me to this level again for another go.

gics

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Definitely good experience of all else fails

duffer247

gics wrote: »

Did anyone get asked at the end of the interview were they happy with how the interview went? To me that's prempting an appeal so means a fail :-(

That's standard, and no reflection on how you did or didn't do

ZolaGood

Did anyone get asked to discuss the 2 questions at the end Of their form or their personal statement or was it all concentrated on the competencies? I wasn't last time so wondering if I should waste my limited time!

ZolaGood

Did anyone get asked to discuss the 2 questions at the end Of their form or their personal statement or was it all concentrated on the competencies? I wasn't last time so wondering if I should waste my limited time!

timaru89

ZolaGood wrote: »

Did anyone get asked to discuss the 2 questions at the end Of their form or their personal statement or was it all concentrated on the competencies? I wasn't last time so wondering if I should waste my limited time!

Just the competencies for me. They did ask to intoduce myself so part of the personal statement in there.

The Slow One

They didn't discuss them overtly but one or two details included on the personal statement were incorporated into questions about my previous work experience. Have a quick glance at the personal statement and other information and you will think of the kind of questions they might ask based on the information but no need to go through it more than once.

Good luck

dee75

Had my interview today. Found it challenging alright! They kept firing questions at me. Not sure what to make of it. Got impression they liked me as a person but weren't blown away by me as a candidate.

Ah well fingers crossed anyway.

Good luck to anyone still left to go.

Does anyone know when results are likely? Brain was too fried after to remember to ask the board.

salomon

dee75 wrote: »

Had my interview today. Found it challenging alright! They kept firing questions at me. Not sure what to make of it. Got impression they liked me as a person but weren't blown away by me as a candidate.

Ah well fingers crossed anyway.

Good luck to anyone still left to go.

Does anyone know when results are likely? Brain was too fried after to remember to ask the board.

Had mine yesterday. Think I made a total hames of it. Nice people on the panel but I just couldn't think straight

dee75

salomon wrote: »

Had mine yesterday. Think I made a total hames of it. Nice people on the panel but I just couldn't think straight

Yeah that was basically my view when I came out. I wish I'd had more interview practice. It's 12 years since I had an interview before this!

salomon

dee75 wrote: »

Yeah that was basically my view when I came out. I wish I'd had more interview practice. It's 12 years since I had an interview before this!

I had my HEO interview 6 months ago but I was a lot more relaxed and I kind felt on the back foot having just started as HEO last week.

Of course I thought of all the proper answers the minute I left the room

sligo_dave

salomon wrote: »

I had my HEO interview 6 months ago but I was a lot more relaxed and I kind felt on the back foot having just started as HEO last week.

Of course I thought of all the proper answers the minute I left the room

Did they reference that you are not a heo very long or make any remarks regarding the step up to ap level? I got that in my interview, they seemed to almost imply I hadn't sufficient experience in civil service, even though I was in the open stream of the process.

dee75

sligo_dave wrote: »

Did they reference that you are not a heo very long or make any remarks regarding the step up to ap level? I got that in my interview, they seemed to almost imply I hadn't sufficient experience in civil service, even though I was in the open stream of the process.

I'm an external candidate and I thought they were trying to imply to me that I should be setting my sights a lot lower than AP for my first step in to the civil service. And I'm a solicitor with 9 years experience, with 6 of those at management level.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I'm feeling a little bit deflated after it all. I suppose that's what comes of really wanting something!!!

And then I can't help hoping that they were just testing my mettle and commitment with the questions being thrown at me. Who knows!

noodler

sligo_dave wrote: »

Did they reference that you are not a heo very long or make any remarks regarding the step up to ap level? I got that in my interview, they seemed to almost imply I hadn't sufficient experience in civil service, even though I was in the open stream of the process.

The thing about this is, you can make competitions Open.

But it really shouldn't be a shock if people who report to APs on a daily basis and have worked in Departments for years are deemed better equipped to be APs.

salomon

sligo_dave wrote: »

Did they reference that you are not a heo very long or make any remarks regarding the step up to ap level? I got that in my interview, they seemed to almost imply I hadn't sufficient experience in civil service, even though I was in the open stream of the process.

I did get that alright. The other issue I faced was that I don't have a team per se as I'm more policy so had to try and use the amount of people I work with to get things done. Wouldn't be confident at all

eoinola

i did the AP interview for the last comp just last Dec - it was very straightforward and i passed it with very good scores (unfortunately i failed the etray badly!!)

Roll on to March and i did the interview on Monday for the AP - same job, same role, same everything except the interview was completely different in terms of the structure and questions asked. Far Far more challenging and probed a lot in terms of my views on certain issues i.e. democracy at local government level. Their questions were long and asked for a lot of different information. I am not overly confident.

Whats frustrating is the complete difference in terms of the two interviews i did for the SAME role.

dee75

Rang PAS and while they hope to have results of interviews out next week it could be the following week.

Best of luck to everyone.

Winterspring

dee75 wrote: »

Rang PAS and while they hope to have results of interviews out next week it could be the following week.

Best of luck to everyone.

That is pretty quick. Fingers and toes crossed and good luck to anyone still to go tomorrow.

Veledan22

Any one else asked for examples from when they were in a specific role, instead of getting an open question on the competencies?

dee75

Veledan22 wrote: »

Any one else asked for examples from when they were in a specific role, instead of getting an open question on the competencies?

Yes. I was asked open questions on competencies and also then asked very detailed questions about my current and previous roles and looking for specifics about how many people I managed in each.

I was also asked what I thought would be most difficult thing I might face as an "external" person going into a department.

Plus another dozen or more general questions that I can't even remember now! I think one was about where the public sector requires reform and another about how the public sector should deal with all the upcoming challenges Ireland is facing.

Rosiebeans81

dee75 wrote: »

Yes. I was asked open questions on competencies and also then asked very detailed questions about my current and previous roles and looking for specifics about how many people I managed in each.

I was also asked what I thought would be most difficult thing I might face as an "external" person going into a department.

Plus another dozen or more general questions that I can't even remember now! I think one was about where the public sector requires reform and another about how the public sector should deal with all the upcoming challenges Ireland is facing.

Sounds like I had the same panel as you . Almost identical To what I was asked

tea and coffee

Rosie and Dee, are you both "outside " candidates I. e not currently civil service