2017 Local authority SEO competition

passinginterest

Moggaman wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. Dishing out hundreds of jobs without looking at applications ... scandalous.

That's a bit disingenuous. They won't dish out jobs without looking at the applications. The interview will be based on the application form and the competencies, it would be hard to succeed in the interview if the application doesn't match the job applied for, after that, in the event someone does manage to spoof the interview the qualifications will be checked before the job offer is finalised, along with references.

It's not an ideal system and it's an evolving one. I know for the current interdepartmental HEO competition PAS has said they will be reviewing applications before calling to interview, that's as a result of recent competitions where at interview stage it was very evident that some of those who got through were in no way qualified for the job.

I'd imagine there's much smaller numbers applying for specialist jobs like engineers and PAS are at least taking the position that it would be a very small cohort who would just chance their arm applying without at least genuinely thinking they have the experience and qualifications necessary.

Kevin1974

Has any got an answer from PAS as to when the SEE interviews are going to be held and how may they are going to interview - are they going to take the same approach as the SE competition and interview the top100?

Moggaman

passinginterest wrote: »

That's a bit disingenuous. They won't dish out jobs without looking at the applications. The interview will be based on the application form and the competencies, it would be hard to succeed in the interview if the application doesn't match the job applied for, after that, in the event someone does manage to spoof the interview the qualifications will be checked before the job offer is finalised, along with references.

It's not an ideal system and it's an evolving one. I know for the current interdepartmental HEO competition PAS has said they will be reviewing applications before calling to interview, that's as a result of recent competitions where at interview stage it was very evident that some of those who got through were in no way qualified for the job.

I'd imagine there's much smaller numbers applying for specialist jobs like engineers and PAS are at least taking the position that it would be a very small cohort who would just chance their arm applying without at least genuinely thinking they have the experience and qualifications necessary.

Your right .. I am ...frustration!

Rebel83

Hi there - 1st time poster so be gentle with me

I spotted above that some posters mentioned the next stage for SEO won't be until 2017, has anyone had confirmation of that from PAS?

Also, I'm assuming the order of merit is where you placed nationally not Regionally- would that be a reasonable assumption? Does anyone know how long it takes between interview & offer stage?

I know the probationary period is 12 months, I presume the same applies to maternity leave, you'd need to be there at least 12 months before you could get paid mat leave? Feels crazy asking the question but it's taking so long since they were advertised in May & if it's another 4/5 months before even starting (if I manage to survive the process) then it has the potential to become a factor for us.

I'm an external candidate so not sure exactly how these things work & have full benefits where I am now, but would really love this opportunity- the timing is just really awkward ��

ECO_Mental

Rebel83 wrote: »

I know the probationary period is 12 months, I presume the same applies to maternity leave, you'd need to be there at least 12 months before you could get paid mat leave? Feels crazy asking the question but it's taking so long since they were advertised in May & if it's another 4/5 months before even starting (if I manage to survive the process) then it has the potential to become a factor for us.

No probs, if you get in no worries there is no waiting time for mat leave. I've seen women taken on as a temp for maternity cover and they then go on mat leave themselves.....

Regarding the probationary period, unless you actually murder your boss or a member of staff or you are caught stuffing your pockets with cash from the petty cash you will sail through that also

Rebel83

Haha - thanks for making me giggle. Pretty sure murdering my boss wouldn't be on the cards!

In terms of maternity leave, I know I'd be entitled to the leave, it's just whether they would offer full pay - many private sector employers don't top up your salary if you've less than 12 months service - hopefully it wouldn't be the case in the Local Authority. It seems mad to be thinking about maternity leave from a role I haven't started, but I didn't expect the process would take so long when I applied back in May & it's hopefully something on the agenda for us in 2018 but would be tough with only statutory pay!

ECO_Mental

You will get full pay, 99.99% sure of that. That's the one thing about the PS it's family friendly, you might get more money in the private sector but for flexitime worksharing termtime etc you cannot beat it

Rebel83

ECO_Mental wrote: »

You will get full pay, 99.99% sure of that. That's the one thing about the PS it's family friendly, you might get more money in the private sector but for flexitime worksharing termtime etc you cannot beat it

Thanks - better work/life balance is definitely a key factor!

Does anyone know re the placing - is the order or merit nationally or regionally? Hoping it's nationally which will make me a little higher regionally.

Reputable Rog

Rebel83 wrote: »

Thanks - better work/life balance is definitely a key factor!

Does anyone know re the placing - is the order or merit nationally or regionally? Hoping it's nationally which will make me a little higher regionally.

It's nationally.

CaJoCo

Does anyone know when stage 3 of the SEO competition will be? And whether (fingers crossed) job offers can be deferred to allow for notice periods or to complete courses?

gazzer

I finally got a reply from PAS after the initial email I sent them 6 weeks ago. In that email I was objecting to being not selected for Stage 3 due to the fact that I got a couple of thousand lower in my Verbal reasoning score in Stage 2 but yet was still way above the qualifying mark.

It took PAS 6 weeks to come back to me with the following response.

"We have consulted with our assessment services unit regarding your request for further information regarding a figure for scores outside the expected scoring range.

We cannot disclose this figure, marking schemes, or any other information in respect to the mechanics of the assessments as this would compromise the integrity and fairness of the assessments"

I would love to go further legally but I suspect it is too late due to the lateness of the PAS response

CaJoCo

Was this for the SEE or SEO competition?

gazzer wrote: »

I finally got a reply from PAS after the initial email I sent them 6 weeks ago. In that email I was objecting to being not selected for Stage 3 due to the fact that I got a couple of thousand lower in my Verbal reasoning score in Stage 2 but yet was still way above the qualifying mark.

It took PAS 6 weeks to come back to me with the following response.

"We have consulted with our assessment services unit regarding your request for further information regarding a figure for scores outside the expected scoring range.

We cannot disclose this figure, marking schemes, or any other information in respect to the mechanics of the assessments as this would compromise the integrity and fairness of the assessments"

I would love to go further legally but I suspect it is too late due to the lateness of the PAS response

ECO_Mental

gazzer wrote: »

.
.
We cannot disclose this figure, marking schemes, or any other information in respect to the mechanics of the assessments as this would compromise the integrity and fairness of the assessments[/B]"

I w

WTF.....biggest load of garbage I have heard in a long time. Big massive secret :mad: how the hell do we know it's fair. Comedy show this competition, they want to take all subjectivity and and work away from the PAS in actually reading a CV

prettyboy81

Some nothing information I got yesterday below, I asked about order of merit based on the regions we have chosen.

"There is no further breakdown to issue after Stage 2. You are given your order of merit based only on your performance at the various tests. There is no regional breakdown at this stage.

We are still in the planning stage for this campaign and the number to be called forward and what the next stage will be is still to be finalised. As per the result message it is intended to invite a number of candidates, based on the order of merit, to Stage 3 (Shortlisting/Interview)"

gazzer

CaJoCo wrote: »

Was this for the SEE or SEO competition?

It was for the SEO

Nerd Queen

Anyone heard any updates? In the top 10 so anxiously awaiting info!

The Megaphone

Nerd Queen wrote: »

In the top 10

If you haven't heard anything then I doubt anyone else has!

Very impressive result by the way - well done!

Nerd Queen

The Megaphone wrote: »

If you haven't heard anything then I doubt anyone else has!

Very impressive result by the way - well done!

Thank you :-)! I was hoping somebody had heard something on the grapevine! If nothing else this competition has taught me patience hahaha

prettyboy81

We will need to rename this thread the 2017 into 2018 SEO Comp. No decisions by PAS from the limited information communicated by them would indicate no progress until early 2018. The grapevine is dehydrated for this competition.

Great placement "Nerd Queen" Top 10.

ECO_Mental

Just got word of the Senior Engineer panel and one of the dudes who came within the top 5 (and is being offered a job) was an assistant engineer only about a year ago. Hes in his early thirties also....fair play to him

But this asks the question what happened to the "8 years satisfactory relevant experience including a period of not less than six years satisfactory experience in the direction and supervision of major engineering work"

Now I don't know how you can get that experience only after 10 years out of college??? It is obvious now that the PAS don't care about your experience or can you do the job but if you hit the management buzz words and tick that box in the interview you will get the gig. :(:eek::o

listermint

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Just got word of the Senior Engineer panel and one of the dudes who came within the top 5 (and is being offered a job) was an assistant engineer only about a year ago. Hes in his early thirties also....fair play to him

But this asks the question what happened to the "8 years satisfactory relevant experience including a period of not less than six years satisfactory experience in the direction and supervision of major engineering work"

Now I don't know how you can get that experience only after 10 years out of college??? It is obvious now that the PAS don't care about your experience or can you do the job but if you hit the management buzz words and tick that box in the interview you will get the gig. :(:eek::o

Early 30s ? That means they could have 17 years of working experience under their belt. So im confused what you are getting at without actual information......

ECO_Mental

listermint wrote: »

Early 30s ? That means they could have 17 years of working experience under their belt. So im confused what you are getting at without actual information......

So they went to university when they were 14??? if you work back and say they are 35 which is mid 30's......

My point is that in the time you leave college to when you start either on site or in an office there is going to be 4/5 years being the pup working a level to making the tea. Then another 4/5 years being maybe a section engineer looking after a small bridge on a site. That doesn't qualify as 6 years at least of direction and supervision of major engineering work.

Now this person could have gone straight into being the project manager of a multi million euro job out of college but I don't think so! My point is that the PAS took the lazy easy way out with this competition. They called people for interview based on a couple of 12 minute online tests and never even looked at at CV's.

Who do you think would be better for a job? Someone who has a proven record of of delivering major projects OR someone who practiced like hell for the online test and did great but no proven record of actually delivering projects but got to the interview stage?

cocoman

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Just got word of the Senior Engineer panel and one of the dudes who came within the top 5 (and is being offered a job) was an assistant engineer only about a year ago. Hes in his early thirties also....fair play to him

But this asks the question what happened to the "8 years satisfactory relevant experience including a period of not less than six years satisfactory experience in the direction and supervision of major engineering work"

Now I don't know how you can get that experience only after 10 years out of college??? It is obvious now that the PAS don't care about your experience or can you do the job but if you hit the management buzz words and tick that box in the interview you will get the gig. :(:eek::o

Does the PAS even assess application forms to see if minimum quals are met?? The guy mentioned above who got a SE position probably had a SEE as a reference and now he might be their boss!!!

Nerd Queen

So the SE panel has been announced? I wonder which comp they will pick next to run whether it is SEO or one of the others.

ECO_Mental

cocoman wrote: »

Does the PAS even assess application forms to see if minimum quals are met?? The guy mentioned above who got a SE position probably had a SEE as a reference and now he might be their boss!!!

Thats my point they don't care what experience you have, they dont want to do hard work and actually read applications. They want a process that isn't subjective hence the calling for interview on 12min tests. What happens to the SEE's who have been working delivering projects for 10-15 years who mightn't be the fastest on the computer and failed the tests or position in the 300's. As everybody knows you dont make decisions in seconds.

Dont want to focus on one case but this person started this year as an Assistant Eng but got SEE in the last comp so he was an SEE for about 6months when the application went in.

monreaghlad

Is anyone aware of any vacancies in any of the regions for SE's or more importantly has any of the LA's requested SE's from the PAS?

Nerd Queen

I believe that SEO will be the next competition done and that information hopefully will go out in January.

prettyboy81

Nerd Queen wrote: »

I believe that SEO will be the next competition done and that information hopefully will go out in January.

Is this information from a reliable source or just speculation? Just always hard to second guess public jobs.

Nerd Queen

prettyboy81 wrote: »

Is this information from a reliable source or just speculation? Just always hard to second guess public jobs.

From a reliable source but no promises were made that it would definitely be January.

Fingers crossed we’ll hear something in Jan. Its been a long auld wait from submitting the applications at the end of May.

prettyboy81

Nerd Queen wrote: »

From a reliable source but no promises were made that it would definitely be January.

Fingers crossed we’ll hear something in Jan. Its been a long auld wait from submitting the applications at the end of May.

Long wait is an understatement. They should have really allowed us to update our forms in between the aptitude results & December ahead of them possibly shortlisting, etc.

The gap of 8/9 months is very relevant and should be addressed with up to date applicant forms.