NEW 2020 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

dee75

Could I ask for some guidance please!

Q.1 and Q.3 both mention giving one specific example that best demonstrates your skills in this area.

Q.2 doesn't mention giving a specific example and reads to me that I should give a broad summary of my years of experience managing teams, budgets, etc. Is that how those of you who've done this in earlier batches treated it?

lucat

dee75 wrote: »

I was thinking it was more likely Q.2

Sorry in the application form that was Q1 so I got confused. But yes, it's Q2 now.

lucat

dee75 wrote: »

Could I ask for some guidance please!

Q.1 and Q.3 both mention giving one specific example that best demonstrates your skills in this area.

Q.2 doesn't mention giving a specific example and reads to me that I should give a broad summary of my years of experience managing teams, budgets, etc. Is that how those of you who've done this in earlier batches treated it?

That's my reading of it too but I still intend to give an example. I'll do the broad overview as the 'intro'.

granturismo

Silly question for Stage 2. I got the email from publicjobs with a link to create an account to use a computer - if I start creating that account, does that lead me directly into the video interview or can I create the account, log out and record the video at a later stage.

griffid

granturismo wrote: »

Silly question for Stage 2. I got the email from publicjobs with a link to create an account to use a computer - if I start creating that account, does that lead me directly into the video interview or can I create the account, log out and record the video at a later stage.

You can create the anoint but you do not have to do the videos straight away. You can log back in when you’re ready.

Mbwb

dee75 wrote: »

Could I ask for some guidance please!

Q.1 and Q.3 both mention giving one specific example that best demonstrates your skills in this area.

Q.2 doesn't mention giving a specific example and reads to me that I should give a broad summary of my years of experience managing teams, budgets, etc. Is that how those of you who've done this in earlier batches treated it?

Give a summary at the start & then a specific example using STAR for all 3 of the questions would be my advice (that’s what I did & I scored 65 in each of the questions). Good luck!

griffid

Mbwb wrote: »

Give a summary at the start & then a specific example using STAR for all 3 of the questions would be my advice (that’s what I did & I scored 65 in each of the questions). Good luck!

Probably a stupid question but what’s the scoring system? Like is it out of 100? Do you have to meet a minimum score? That’s once you get past that ONE dreaded question... I don’t recall seeing it in the info sent out but I have to admit to not reading it all...

Mbwb

griffid wrote: »

Probably a stupid question but what’s the scoring system? Like is it out of 100? Do you have to meet a minimum score? That’s once you get past that ONE dreaded question... I don’t recall seeing it in the info sent out but I have to admit to not reading it all...

If I remember correctly it was out of 100, and the pass score was 41.

Edit: each question was 100 & you need 41 to pass each competency

CLS23

Hi what’s is the next stage after video interviews
Thanks 😊

Mbwb

CLS23 wrote: »

Hi what’s is the next stage after video interviews
Thanks 😊

The etray.

Shero1985

Really stupid question, sorry, but what is the attire for the "pre-recorded" interview? Are you expected to wear shirt, tie, suit do you think?!

griffid

I wore tracksuit bottoms (cos they'd never see) and a nice top like I'd have worn in the office.

PhoenixParker

Shero1985 wrote: »

Really stupid question, sorry, but what is the attire for the "pre-recorded" interview? Are you expected to wear shirt, tie, suit do you think?!

Point 5 on pg 7 of the familiarisation says that "communication, influencing and presentation skills" will be assessed but aren't the focus.

I interpreted that as you can lose marks for looking like crap so I went for neat, high necked, dark coloured top with no visible stains. I didn't go for shirt or collar but I'm female so there's a little more flexibility. If I was male and had one to hand I'd go for a shirt anyway, might skip the tie.

Cheeseplant

folks just checking.. the window close tomorrow midnight; correct? I'm so paranoid about missing it but absolutely can't attempt it until tomorrow.

PhoenixParker

Cheeseplant wrote: »

folks just checking.. the window close tomorrow midnight; correct? I'm so paranoid about missing it but absolutely can't attempt it until tomorrow.

11.59pm on Tuesday 23rd March

griffid

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Point 5 on pg 7 of the familiarisation says that "communication, influencing and presentation skills" will be assessed but aren't the focus.

I interpreted that as you can lose marks for looking like crap so I went for neat, high necked, dark coloured top with no visible stains. I didn't go for shirt or collar but I'm female so there's a little more flexibility. If I was male and had one to hand I'd go for a shirt anyway, might skip the tie.

That’s me out of it so - my presentation was TERRIBLE

Cheeseplant

PhoenixParker wrote: »

11.59pm on Tuesday 23rd March

yes I read this too, thanks I'm always a bit concerned that it's midnight the night before I think these things close. This of course is no reflection on my ability for the position for which I am applying

Cheeseplant

griffid wrote: »

That’s me out of it so - my presentation was TERRIBLE

oh dear, sorry you don't feel it went well, but judging from some of the posters here I really don't think you can tell until the results come out!
Did you read a script (my intention) or recite a learned statement?

lucat

Aaagh I timed out before I could get to the end of the most important question, Q2! I missed the 'outcome/result' part entirely! Don't know why that happened because when I recorded myself I was at 2:58 for the whole thing.

griffid

Cheeseplant wrote: »

oh dear, sorry you don't feel it went well, but judging from some of the posters here I really don't think you can tell until the results come out!
Did you read a script (my intention) or recite a learned statement?

I read a script. But I found I got very nervous all of a sudden (I’d had firewall problems that flustered me) and because it’s a 3 minute monologue you don’t get the opportunity to exchange a few meaningless niceties and the conversational dynamic of question and answer that would normally help settle the nerves. It was a case of plough on with the voice cracking and shaking.

Cheeseplant

griffid wrote: »

I read a script. But I found I got very nervous all of a sudden (I’d had firewall problems that flustered me) and because it’s a 3 minute monologue you don’t get the opportunity to exchange a few meaningless niceties and the conversational dynamic of question and answer that would normally help settle the nerves. It was a case of plough on with the voice cracking and shaking.

I'll be the same myself tomorrow. I hope you fare better than you think. Lots of people on the thread seem to have done well when they think it's gone badly. Fingers crossed for you
I'll be reading myself, and it definitely does look like I'm reading but I'm afraid I'll miss something if I do it from memory!

Cheeseplant

lucat wrote: »

Aaagh I timed out before I could get to the end of the most important question, Q2! I missed the 'outcome/result' part entirely! Don't know why that happened because when I recorded myself I was at 2:58 for the whole thing.

Oh no, mine are all v close (actually the management one is still over 3 min) and I'm assuming I'll be faster on the day with nerves! But on your experience maybe not!

griffid

Cheeseplant wrote: »

I'll be the same myself tomorrow. I hope you fare better than you think. Lots of people on the thread seem to have done well when they think it's gone badly. Fingers crossed for you
I'll be reading myself, and it definitely does look like I'm reading but I'm afraid I'll miss something if I do it from memory!

I decided that they gave us time to prepare for a reason and they won’t be surprised by script reading.

Best of luck to you! Hopefully “meet you” here at the eTray stage!!!!

Cheeseplant

griffid wrote: »

I decided that they gave us time to prepare for a reason and they won’t be surprised by script reading.

Best of luck to you! Hopefully “meet you” here at the eTray stage!!!!

thanks. I hope so too! such a long road these competitions!

lucat

Cheeseplant wrote: »

Oh no, mine are all v close (actually the management one is still over 3 min) and I'm assuming I'll be faster on the day with nerves! But on your experience maybe not!

I think you speak slower to emphasise/clarify important parts, at least that's the mistake I made. Try to cut down on the intro.

caarp

Best of luck to those doing interviews this week. What is the OOM that they are calling from for this batch?

dee75

lucat wrote: »

Aaagh I timed out before I could get to the end of the most important question, Q2! I missed the 'outcome/result' part entirely! Don't know why that happened because when I recorded myself I was at 2:58 for the whole thing.

I did same on Q2 - missed the final line of my outcome summary. Spotted I was running out of time and started talking really fast but not fast enough obviously. So they'll get a hyper speed, cut-off finish from me.

Q.1 I finished 15 seconds early but I couldn't see the blasted stop button 'cos my laptop screen was covered with scraps of paper with my "script"!

And I thought I had them all timed to perfection. Oh well, done and dusted. Now we wait and see.

Good luck to everyone still to do it.

lucat

dee75 wrote: »

I did same on Q2 - missed the final line of my outcome summary. Spotted I was running out of time and started talking really fast but not fast enough obviously. So they'll get a hyper speed, cut-off finish from me.

Q.1 I finished 15 seconds early but I couldn't see the blasted stop button 'cos my laptop screen was covered with scraps of paper with my "script"!

And I thought I had them all timed to perfection. Oh well, done and dusted. Now we wait and see.

Good luck to everyone still to do it.

I'd say I'm out of it now that my Q2 wasn't perfect. But yes, best of luck to everyone else!

Cheeseplant

caarp wrote: »

Best of luck to those doing interviews this week. What is the OOM that they are calling from for this batch?

seems to be about 107-114 as as far as I can tell

sunny7700

I contacted PAS and they said they had call from 106 oom for certain regions to stage 2(they didnt specify the regions).

So not sure if there are individuals in regions with a score above 106 that have yet to be called to stage 2 because of the region they selected.