NEW 2018 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

Starlight321

Killer K wrote: »

There are many on here who found the interview tough but to their surprise they ended up passing it. You never know until the result is out.

i found the interview quite different from what i expected. Loads of questions so difficult to keep control of what you want to talk about. The time flew in. Also specialist knowledge was mentioned as a competency although this was not included on the application form( unlike previous competitions)

Veledan22

Starlight321 wrote: »

i found the interview quite different from what i expected. Loads of questions so difficult to keep control of what you want to talk about. The time flew in. Also specialist knowledge was mentioned as a competency although this was not included on the application form( unlike previous competitions)

Did they give you a chance to give your examples?

Starlight321

Veledan22 wrote: »

Did they give you a chance to give your examples?

yes they did. I got time for 1 in each section but didn't have time for second one !

Claireclucka

Starlight321 wrote: »

yes they did. I got time for 1 in each section but didn't have time for second one !

Did you get to into the examples in depth or did they keep firing questions throughout? Any curveball questions?

Starlight321

Claireclucka wrote: »

Did you get to into the examples in depth or did they keep firing questions throughout? Any curveball questions?

No curveball questions but loads of details asked for in examples

Beanzy

Carmona83 wrote: »

Nothing yet

Hi - I got notification that I would get an official response to my request for review of my E-Tray by 1st May.

Claireclucka

Heading in this afternoon for interview 😬😬😬😬. Nervous but dying to have it over with as well. Good luck everyone

SPHarry

Claireclucka wrote: »

Heading in this afternoon for interview 😬😬😬😬. Nervous but dying to have it over with as well. Good luck everyone

Best of luck!! Remember to have your examples of the competencies at the ready and you’ll do grand.

They seem to have ground to a halt with placements though - does anyone know where they are? I contacted them early March and they told me they would be contacting me in ‘a couple of weeks’ to start clearance, but I’ve heard nothing yet. I’m high on the Open panel for batch 1.2

Sy Snootles

SPHarry wrote: »

Best of luck!! Remember to have your examples of the competencies at the ready and you’ll do grand.

They seem to have ground to a halt with placements though - does anyone know where they are? I contacted them early March and they told me they would be contacting me in ‘a couple of weeks’ to start clearance, but I’ve heard nothing yet. I’m high on the Open panel for batch 1.1.

They're in the process of placing me, and I'm 66 Open and 49 Inter-D. They haven't told me which panel my place has come up on though. And it's nearly 2 weeks since they asked my current Department for references, so it's not exactly a quick process..

dee75

Claireclucka wrote: »

Heading in this afternoon for interview 😬😬😬😬. Nervous but dying to have it over with as well. Good luck everyone

Best of luck!!!

allisgrand

Sy Snootles wrote: »

They're in the process of placing me, and I'm 66 Open and 49 Inter-D. They haven't told me which panel my place has come up on though. And it's nearly 2 weeks since they asked my current Department for references, so it's not exactly a quick process..

i'm 50 on interD and they contacted HR last thursday. I assumed the place is on the inter D. so now waiting for news.

Sy Snootles

allisgrand wrote: »

i'm 50 on interD and they contacted HR last thursday. I assumed the place is on the inter D. so now waiting for news.

Race you..?

SPHarry

Do they do the Garda clearance before contacting my HR, do you know - I’m not currently in the civil service. I’m wondering if I will need to hand in my month’s notice once the call comes through or if I should wait until the Garda clearance is done, in case that takes forever!

SFC1895

Had my interview this evening. Very fair tbh. Thrown off a little by 2 late questions. Hopefully did enough to make the panel.

Best of luck to all.

Killer K

SPHarry wrote: »

Do they do the Garda clearance before contacting my HR, do you know - I’m not currently in the civil service. I’m wondering if I will need to hand in my month’s notice once the call comes through or if I should wait until the Garda clearance is done, in case that takes forever!

They generally do Garda clearance first afaik and then seek completion of references. All going to plan you then get messaged through PAS account with name of department your are being assigned to and the HR from there contact you looking to agree a start date. I wouldn't be handing in my notice until that stage.

clio15

Hi everyone, have my interview on Monday for 2 regional counties, finding it hard to know what to prepare as only really had internal interviews before! gonna just prepare the general normal interview questions and hope for the best!

Claireclucka

clio15 wrote: »

Hi everyone, have my interview on Monday for 2 regional counties, finding it hard to know what to prepare as only really had internal interviews before! gonna just prepare the general normal interview questions and hope for the best!

Know your competencies inside out and be ready to interlink them into your answers and talk about how you approach work like leadership, prioritization etc. Know your work and education history and take something from each role that you can apply to the role of AP. Be clear on how you deliver and promote good customer service x

Veledan22

Sorry if this was asked/answered before but did anyone bring a copy of their application form in with them for the interview?

clio15

thanks a million thats a great help! I think I am finding it hard to be motivated because have no idea how many jobs are in my selected counties and probably not much chance of getting a job . Will post after my interview on Monday !

tigger123

Veledan22 wrote: »

Sorry if this was asked/answered before but did anyone bring a copy of their application form in with them for the interview?

I've done it in the past, and am of two minds about whether it's any benefit really or not.

The form is so dense with text that to start scanning through it while you're trying to answer competencies would be quite tricky (and I'm speaking from experience here).

I'm not sure if I would this time if I get that far, but do whatever you feel most comfortable with. Ideally you should probably be that familiar with the content of your form that you can talk freely about it.

It's a personal choice.

Handy11

I’ve just gone into clearance:

Low 50s InterD
Low 70s Open

They don’t say which.

Sy Snootles

Handy11 wrote: »

I’ve just gone into clearance:

Low 50s InterD
Low 70s Open

They don’t say which.

Probably Open. I'm 66 on it and have been offered a place in Education from the Open.

tea and coffee

Sy Snootles wrote: »

Probably Open. I'm 66 on it and have been offered a place in Education from the Open.

It's never clear. I was never offered anything by PAS. I got a call from my new dept saying I was starting with them. Never got anything at all from PAS after being told I was on the panel back in December. So I never had the choice to turn down the interd and take my chance with the open.

Veledan22

tea and coffee wrote: »

It's never clear. I was never offered anything by PAS. I got a call from my new dept saying I was starting with them. Never got anything at all from PAS after being told I was on the panel back in December. So I never had the choice to turn down the interd and take my chance with the open.

I thought that you were supposed to be given the option of turning down your first offer?

The_Conductor

Veledan22 wrote: »

I thought that you were supposed to be given the option of turning down your first offer?

Not on the Interdepartmental I don't think- at least thats how it seems to work on other grades unfortunately.

Sy Snootles

The_Conductor wrote: »

Not on the Interdepartmental I don't think- at least thats how it seems to work on other grades unfortunately.

PAS told me if I turned down the Open, I'd get the next place on the Inter-D.

Tristram

How deep are the panels for the first batch? I wonder if almost everyone has received an offer and they will be moving on to 1.2 soon?

Veledan22

Tristram wrote: »

How deep are the panels for the first batch? I wonder if almost everyone has received an offer and they will be moving on to 1.2 soon?

I think the highest that was posted here was in the 50s on the interdepartmental and in the 70s on the open.

APcomp

Tristram wrote: »

How deep are the panels for the first batch? I wonder if almost everyone has received an offer and they will be moving on to 1.2 soon?

I was told by PAS yesterday that there are only 3 left on the open 1.1 before they start on 1.2.

Veledan22

APcomp wrote: »

I was told by PAS yesterday that there are only 3 left on the open 1.1 before they start on 1.2.

Hopefully the appointments will pick up a bit of pace again. I think 1.2 is a slightly smaller panel than 1.1, 50s on the Open was the highest OOM posted here as far as I can remember (completely open to correction though ).