How to get a job as AO or staff officer in a county council

lansjd

Hi all,
I hope someone could have some tips on how I can get a position as Administrative officer, Staff Officer in a county council?
I have some skills from another sector, not related to local government exactly but some are definitely transferable like project management.
I dont have senior management or staff management experience but not sure how to get it in my current role/sector.

I really want to change to the county council or civil service as I think I would enjoy it and it offers better pay and stable conditions compared to where I currently work.

I'm especially interested in Dublin CC, or surrounding commuter counties, or South East (Wexford, Waterford).

I hope somebody can give me advice
THANKS!

uck51js9zml2yt

You apply when the ad is posted

lansjd

Thanks for the reply, I am familiar with the application process at least from the starting phase, I meant more the skills and experience that they are looking for and if I have any chance of getting a job.

I'm in a different sector, I have generalist skills as a project manager but for a specific type of rural development/community project. I am not an IT or systems project manager.

Just wondering if anybody knows what I could do to improve my CV to get this type of job in County Council (Admin Officer or Staff officer). Or if I just dont have anything at all to offer.

Also - are local govt jobs very based on "who you know"?

FluffPiece

No they are not based on who you know. It's a very transparent process these days and so much work involved in setting them up.

One thing to note is if you don't have any public sector experience at all, you will start at the 1st point of the scale for the relevant role. Private experience does not count towards incremental points.

You will need to be able to show an interview board clear experience of management roles as well as detailed knowledge of local government policies / practises. You will always be up against tough competition for these roles from people working their way up the career path from within the council as well and they may have junior management experience.

Your project management experience would be a help for a staff officer competition, but most likely not enough for the AO grade as you have no staff management experience. Half the battle would be getting shortlisted for an interview without any relevant experience.

lansjd

Thanks so much Fluffpiece for your reply, very helpful.
Regarding junior or senior management experience, well I can only try to go upwards where I am I suppose...although snowball in hell I'm afraid in my current job. If anybody has ideas on how to get management experience without actually currently being a manager, please let me know!

And secondly, any inventive ideas on how I could get that detailed knowledge of local gov policies and practices without currently working in public service? ideally something I could put on the CV...again, thoughts most welcome.

finally, would it be ridiculous or mad frustrating to apply for roles lower on the scale and aim to work my way up? like Clerical Officer or something? that would be a financial hit for us (and probably morale too), but if i thought I could go up in a few years it might be worth it... would that be mad?

thanks again, hope you can help

FluffPiece

If you are willing to take a huge hit, you don't need much in the way of experience / qualifications to get in as a clerical officer. But it's a big drop down to circa 24k starting point and you will have to start there unless you have public sector experience that you can carry across. 10 years in a private company don't mean diddly squat when it comes to payscales.

Once in as a clerical officer, you will need to have 2 years served before able to go for assistant staff officer / staff officer etc unless it's an open competition. Plus some LA's don't like staff going from a grade 3 -> grade 5. It happens but kinda frowned upon by some of the higher ups who think you must go through the grades. Personally I think it should be best candidate goes through but I have heard stories.

Assistant staff officers start off on a better payscale but competition is quite high for these roles.

As for getting the knowledge on the policies etc, it should be available on the websites of each local authority. Search for corporate plan and look up the councillors. Attend council meetings when they are on and take a note on how they conduct themselves, what they discuss. Learn the roles of the councillors and the executives and what groups they sit on etc.

lansjd

thanks again for the useful advice. I will do as you say...
got a rejection - not even interview - for AO in COCO. The email even had some feedback, which I felt was not accurate (but then I am a bit biased ha!)

"It is not demonstrated in your application form that you have satisfactory experience in administrative procedures, including adequate practical experience in work of an executive nature, office organisation and control of staff, for your application to be progressed to the next stage of the competition."

There is still hope for my staff officer COCO application though!

Even so, I definitely have some work to do to improve my application form because I have plenty admin experience, office organisation...a little bit on staff control..maybe where I fell down.

thanks again for all the help

FluffPiece

Sorry to hear, but I wouldn't be overly surprised either. Not a dig at you, but to get in as an AO, I'm sure it's more preferable to have public sector experience pretty much most of the way up the management scales or to be so outstanding in what you can bring that you would blow a lot of the competition out of the water. Most, if not all, of your competition would be senior staff officers and other AO's from other local authorities all vying for the same competition. Then the people doing the shortlisting would all have been in the public sector most / all their working lives working through the local authorities.

You could always contact the AO or SEO in the HR department for a more detailed breakdown on where you fell down in their expectations and they may be willing to provide a bit more info. They won't hang themselves either tho so it may just be a reiteration of the previous correspondence.

FluffPiece

If you can afford the drop in pay, defo look at the Staff Officer competitions. A lot less experience required as it's more of junior management. Probably even more competition for places so still difficult to get shortlisted but your experience should hopefully see you through the shortlisting stage.

loudymacloud

There is a current Ad up for both Staff Officer and Senior Staff Officer in Fingal CC. Closing Date this Friday

redone1982

Am I right in saying those jobs for Fingal are for current public sector employees?

ELM327

redone1982 wrote: »

Am I right in saying those jobs for Fingal are for current public sector employees?

Yes

AngryLips

ELM327 wrote: »

Yes

Are you sure? I think the reference to 'confined competition' is just stipulating that if you're applying from within the public sector you can't come in from a clerical officer role unless you've served at least two years in that position. There's other parts of the document suggesting that it's open to outside applicants.



Does anyone know what a staff office or assistant staff office is? The job description is kind of vague - is it purely people management?

FarmerBob

loudymacloud wrote: »

There is a current Ad up for both Staff Officer and Senior Staff Officer in Fingal CC. Closing Date this Friday

These roles are advertised again currently..