Principal Officer competition 2019

VillageIdiot71

Grey AP wrote: »

And panel one appears to be up to number 53 out of 65, so expect panel two to start in late March or April. Good luck to everyone being interviewed.

I know there's some ambiguity in how they describe where they are (as they'd seem to tell me previously that they were effectively at number 55), but just to say what they've told me today suggests there are only 7 people left on the existing panel for Dublin appointments.

Which, however we're to make sense of such things, presumably means another four offers have been made in recent weeks - which might mean they are up to 57 on your count.

Grey AP

It's an ongoing difficulty with panels. I once suggested they simply put up a table with the panel numbers, and columns for offer made, clearance completed and appointed - it's anonymous but clear.

I think I must have been given the total number of people left, rather than those for Dublin, so good news in a trying week. Cheers.

everycloud

Grey AP wrote: »

Quick question, as assumptions can be tragically wrong. There are five competencies but the application form covered three areas only. Were you asked about all five or just the three areas on the application? I can't see anywhere in the documents that clarifies this.

Echoing Grey AP's worry that assumptions can be tragically wrong, can I ask those of you from 'Batch 1' who completed the interviews one (very long) year ago, if the board asked about only 5 competencies during the interview? The Info Booklet for the Batch 2 interviews this week lists 6 competency areas...

Xofpod

everycloud wrote: »

Echoing Grey AP's worry that assumptions can be tragically wrong, can I ask those of you from 'Batch 1' who completed the interviews one (very long) year ago, if the board asked about only 5 competencies during the interview? The Info Booklet for the Batch 2 interviews this week lists 6 competency areas...

5 competencies covered, in 5 separate question "sections" (i.e. may contain multiple follow-up questions on the same topic). There are 6 competencies in the framework but one (specialist knowledge and self-development?) is meant to be demonstrated throughout the other 5 sections rather than as a stand-alone question itself.

Grey AP

You can be asked about any of the five, it is up to the interview board. They went off-piste with me, mostly I think because there was a bit of time at the end, so it is a good idea to expect this and have the extra bases covered, even if not to the extent of your worked examples.

ShellyMCD

Had my interview- found it very tough. Not very hopeful. It was a good experience though. The results should be out quick enough if it’s just interviews- or maybe that’s just wishful thinking?! Thanks for all the advice on this forum.

froggiegirls

Had mine today as well. I thought it went ok and will be disappointed if I don’t get thru . It’s hard to tell tho

ShellyMCD wrote: »

Had my interview- found it very tough. Not very hopeful. It was a good experience though. The results should be out quick enough if it’s just interviews- or maybe that’s just wishful thinking?! Thanks for all the advice on this forum.

Nocrac

I found it very tough as well. I was very nervous. Definitely didn't present my full range. Didn't get stuck on questions but didn't answer some properly.

froggiegirls

I get really nervous at interviews too so I was skulling rescue remedy . I actually think it helped

Nocrac wrote: »

I found it very tough as well. I was very nervous. Definitely didn't present my full range. Didn't get stuck on questions but didn't answer some properly.

Grey AP

If it's any comfort, I came out of my interview thinking it was a car crash. By that night, after a couple of cleansing and reflective ales, I'd scaled back to thinking it was a dog's dinner. It turned out, though, that I did better in the interview than the presentation, which I'd been pretty pleased with.

Belfry2018

Did mine today also. Very hard to tell. Not as tough as the internal PO though. Best of luck and here’s hoping they are out quick.

karlitob

If you don’t mind, could those who were interviewed kindly put up the questions they were asked - or at least the parts that you remember.

I’m fine on my answers, just get frazzled by the questions. Be good to get a sense.

Thanks all. And well done for getting so far!

Sarc

Guess you miss the point of a competition so!!!

froggiegirls

Anyone any idea of when the results of stage 3 are likely to be out ?

ShellyMCD

No idea. Imagine it can’t take much longer than a week to process and issue results, so this coming Friday at the latest is my guess.

froggiegirls

Let’s hope we get good news !

ShellyMCD wrote: »

No idea. Imagine it can’t take much longer than a week to process and issue results, so this coming Friday at the latest is my guess.

Tr1ckieD1ckie

ShellyMCD wrote: »

No idea. Imagine it can’t take much longer than a week to process and issue results, so this coming Friday at the latest is my guess.

Took about a week last time- if memory serves PAS like emails on Friday afternoons!

Best of luck to everyone in the 2nd round
TD

froggiegirls

That’s because people can’t start hassling them with queries. Lol

quote="Tr1ckieD1ckie;116204689"]Took about a week last time- if memory serves PAS like emails on Friday afternoons!

Best of luck to everyone in the 2nd round
TD[/quote]

froggiegirls

Results are out!

duffer247

Tr1ckieD1ckie wrote: »

Took about a week last time- if memory serves PAS like emails on Friday afternoons!

Best of luck to everyone in the 2nd round
TD

Results are out!

ShellyMCD

That was quick. Still one more stage to go!

froggiegirls

Any idea when the next stage will be ?

ShellyMCD

No idea. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

froggiegirls

Agreed, hopefully they will send out the familiarization stuff soon

ShellyMCD wrote: »

No idea. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

duffer247

froggiegirls wrote: »

Agreed, hopefully they will send out the familiarization stuff soon

Taking a long time for familiarisation stuff and a date for presentation - presume no one else has heard anything?

Grey AP

Possibly waiting for panel one to end - still a small number to go. Also, they are knee-deep in EO and AO comps and interviews at the moment.

ShellyMCD

duffer247 wrote: »

Taking a long time for familiarisation stuff and a date for presentation - presume no one else has heard anything?

No word yet.

Maybenever

no word yet either

froggiegirls

I mailed them and they said they couldn’t say when the derails would be put. Said it’s hard to organise everyone’s schedule with covid

ShellyMCD wrote: »

No word yet.

ShellyMCD

Thanks for letting us know.

froggiegirls

So frustrating that we haven’t even gotten the familiarisation material yet . If they dint hurry up then it will be likely April before the presentations take place

ShellyMCD

Could still happen by the end of March. At least I hope so! Nothing we can do though. Just wait it out. I hope the panel is in place until next Jan. I’ve read on this board that it’s October, which wouldn’t give any panel formed from this very long to be drawn from.

Grey AP

ShellyMCD wrote: »

Could still happen by the end of March. At least I hope so! Nothing we can do though. Just wait it out. I hope the panel is in place until next Jan. I’ve read on this board that it’s October, which wouldn’t give any panel formed from this very long to be drawn from.

PO 2019 is intended to be a two year comp and they don't usually close a panel from one comp until the panel from the new comp is ready. Also, running comps is an expensive process, so there is reluctance to close a panel early, and PAS gets flak for running out of candidates when there are vacancies so they don't like a big gap between one panel and the next. Given all that, I think it is likely that, if PAS starts a new PO competition in September/October (with stage one in November, stage 2 December, interviews in January and a panel shortly after), the second panel from this comp should go until November at least.

froggiegirls

Any chance they might cancel the presentations and just use the interview to determine the panel ?

Maybenever

froggiegirls wrote: »

Any chance they might cancel the presentations and just use the interview to determine the panel ?

I'd say highly unlikely, in the interests of fairness etc. But hey, what do I know.

Maybenever

Aaaand there we go lol

froggiegirls

Dates for presentations out

Nocrac

It will be great to have it done. I wonder how many have been called through to this stage? Are you all happy with your interview scores? I did OK though would have scored higher in previous PO comp interviews.

froggiegirls

Not sure how many called through . I’m happy with my scores. First time I’ve gotten this far

Nocrac wrote: »

It will be great to have it done. I wonder how many have been called through to this stage? Are you all happy with your interview scores? I did OK though would have scored higher in previous PO comp interviews.

everycloud

Nocrac wrote: »

It will be great to have it done. I wonder how many have been called through to this stage? Are you all happy with your interview scores? I did OK though would have scored higher in previous PO comp interviews.

I was wondering how many got through too... My interview scores were much lower than I got in an internal competition last year even though I felt it went ok. Surprisingly low in some competencies but with the near-constant interruptions, I probably waffled too much :-|

Perhaps they've put all who were interviewed through to the presentation and will use a combo of scores from both for a panel or 15-20 given how little time is left until a new comp is announced?

froggiegirls

I reckon they will have put all those who reached the qualifying marks through to the presentation and will combine the scores to get the order of merit

everycloud wrote: »

I was wondering how many got through too... My interview scores were much lower than I got in an internal competition last year even though I felt it went ok. Surprisingly low in some competencies but with the near-constant interruptions, I probably waffled too much :-|

Perhaps they've put all who were interviewed through to the presentation and will use a combo of scores from both for a panel or 15-20 given how little time is left until a new comp is announced?

Belfry2018

Yes I’m aware of some people who didn’t qualify to the last stage! I think someone said 50 got through to the final interview stage so there could be up to 45 that got through to this stage. Maybe they will combine scores although I think I read that the presentation would be starting all over! Not sure where I read that but will check PAS messages.

froggiegirls

I doubt that. When I did it a couple of years ago the scores were combined to give order of merit

Belfry2018 wrote: »

Yes I’m aware of some people who didn’t qualify to the last stage! I think someone said 50 got through to the final interview stage so there could be up to 45 that got through to this stage. Maybe they will combine scores although I think I read that the presentation would be starting all over! Not sure where I read that but will check PAS messages.

duffer247

Nocrac wrote: »

It will be great to have it done. I wonder how many have been called through to this stage? Are you all happy with your interview scores? I did OK though would have scored higher in previous PO comp interviews.

Happy with my scores, however in the absence of an average score across those that participated all you can do is compare is against the minimum pass mark of 41 and max of 100. Its all releative I guess, my lowest score across the competencies was 73, so I'm pleased with that.:)

Belfry2018

froggiegirls wrote: »

I doubt that. When I did it a couple of years ago the scores were combined to give order of merit

Hopefully that’s the case. I heard from AHCPS that there is 65 on the existing panel. 53 have been placed with 5 in clearance. So they will get through the remaking 7 very quickly. Apparently over half went to Health of the first batch!

ShellyMCD

]Hopefully that’s the case. I heard from AHCPS that there is 65 on the existing panel. 53 have been placed with 5 in clearance. So they will get through the remaking 7 very quickly. Apparently over half went to Health of the first batch![/quote]

That’s good to know. Thanks

ShellyMCD

Is there any information on how many failed the presentation last time? Curious if more people failed the interview or the presentation exercise last year.

Grey AP

Finally coming up to my number - no offer yet, but nearly there. I thought I'd be retiring on this thread.

It's been a very long time since I got promoted to AP and I don't recall any form of vetting back then for existing civil servants. PAS won't tell me what is involved until a vacancy comes up, so can anyone tell me what paperwork is required if you are already a civil servant? Thanks in advance.

terminatorX1

As far as I know the level of clearance depends where you are being assigned. e.g. if you were being assigned to a "sensitive" area in Justice or Revenue you may need an extra level of clearance - this takes a bit longer than "standard" clearance.

Regardless of the level you probably only need to submit a copy of photo ID and proof of address - if they don't have it already.

ShellyMCD

That’s great news. Hopefully you’ll hear soon. It’s a number of years since my last promotion. I don’t think I had to fill out any forms. They contacted HR in the Department I worked in who contacted my then boss for a reference and I think that was it.