NEW 2020 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

Cheeseplant

Mbwb wrote: »

Yes, everyone on the panel has been called, I was assigned late April

Congrats

wow so they are waiting on the next batch of interviewees then. Do you know how many were on your panel? They must only have regional panels at the mo

derailed

Had interview this morning. Board very nice and helpful but complete car crash from my point of view. Despite all preparations and going through to this stage feeling good yesterday ended up not getting a minutes sleep last night and concentration all over the place. Couldn't hit any high notes or connect with board and proved to be a long and gruelling 45 minutes as a result. So disappointing after such a long process. Best of luck again to all remaining in this competition.

Awkwardstroke

Sorry to hear that....with important interviews its difficult to keep the nerves under control & to give the best account of yourself.

Yet you never know, I'm not sure what % of people interviewed make it to been offered positions, yet maybe you might be pleasantly surprised with an offer at the end of this.

Betty123.

Has anybody had IT issues with the etray exercise? Can I use government pc / laptop? thank you

derailed

Betty123. wrote: »

Has anybody had IT issues with the etray exercise? Can I use government pc / laptop? thank you

Government pc/laptops should both work.

derailed

Awkwardstroke wrote: »

Sorry to hear that....with important interviews its difficult to keep the nerves under control & to give the best account of yourself.

Yet you never know, I'm not sure what % of people interviewed make it to been offered positions, yet maybe you might be pleasantly surprised with an offer at the end of this.

Thanks awkwardstroke. Sleep deprivation was the big factor leading to complete lack of concentration. Would love to be proved wrong but 100% sure of a less than positive outcome this time around.

Betty123.

Sorry to hear that you don't believe you did a good interview @derailed....but wait and see!!

Mbwb

Cheeseplant wrote: »

Congrats

wow so they are waiting on the next batch of interviewees then. Do you know how many were on your panel? They must only have regional panels at the mo

Thanks, I think there were about 30 on the panel, but this was the Dublin panel, can't comment on regional panels.

Mbwb

Betty123. wrote: »

Has anybody had IT issues with the etray exercise? Can I use government pc / laptop? thank you

Its safer to use your own laptop, government pc/laptops have firewalls and can cause problems, it states this in the AP info booklet.

Mbwb

derailed wrote: »

Had interview this morning. Board very nice and helpful but complete car crash from my point of view. Despite all preparations and going through to this stage feeling good yesterday ended up not getting a minutes sleep last night and concentration all over the place. Couldn't hit any high notes or connect with board and proved to be a long and gruelling 45 minutes as a result. So disappointing after such a long process. Best of luck again to all remaining in this competition.

Sorry to hear this, it is nerve racking and hard to focus, especially when you are sleep deprived but sometimes you do better than you think. Fingers crossed this is the case for you.

DOM85

Can anyone recommend any sites with good practice etrays. I’ve never done one before. Thanks.

starringme

derailed wrote: »

Had interview this morning. Board very nice and helpful but complete car crash from my point of view. Despite all preparations and going through to this stage feeling good yesterday ended up not getting a minutes sleep last night and concentration all over the place. Couldn't hit any high notes or connect with board and proved to be a long and gruelling 45 minutes as a result. So disappointing after such a long process. Best of luck again to all remaining in this competition.

Completely agree - sound board but managed to forget my strongest competency, was thrown by the competency format, which I don't remember now, and was actually surprised by the PAS rep appearing at the end because I didn't remember a third interviewer!

Will blush when I write out my personal FB later

Awkwardstroke

What’s FB?

starringme wrote: »

Completely agree - sound board but managed to forget my strongest competency, was thrown by the competency format, which I don't remember now, and was actually surprised by the PAS rep appearing at the end because I didn't remember a third interviewer!

Will blush when I write out my personal FB later

derailed

starringme wrote: »

Completely agree - sound board but managed to forget my strongest competency, was thrown by the competency format, which I don't remember now, and was actually surprised by the PAS rep appearing at the end because I didn't remember a third interviewer!

Will blush when I write out my personal FB later

Can totally relate to that- nice board but the competency format threw me and being asked about a secondary example located elsewhere on original application form under leadership at start of interview didn't allow me to talk about my strongest example and knew 10 minutes in that I was on a severe downward spiral as far as that competency and the rest of the interview went. The remaining 30 minutes then felt like an eternity- so excruciating.

starringme

Awkwardstroke wrote: »

What’s FB?

Feedback of things to do/not do in case I ever get another interview!


Anyone know if today is the last day of interviews? It'd be v unfair if some people were given a second weekend to prep imo.

Cheeseplant

there are some interviews tomorrow too.

Butterfly06

Had my interview yesterday, like others have said, a very nice board.
managed to get across some good concrete examples but a considerable amount of push back from them.
not a total train crash but am expecting not to make the cut for leadership - i am quite junior so have no problem settling into my role of HEO for another few years.
best of luck to everyone, what's for us wont pass us by!

Findlk

I completed the eTray yesterday. Think as everyone says it is intense. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready for giving feedback after. Does anyone know if that is used as part of the score?

derailed

Findlk wrote: »

I completed the eTray yesterday. Think as everyone says it is intense. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready for giving feedback after. Does anyone know if that is used as part of the score?

As long as you have your etray exercise submitted there is nothing else to be concerned about it deceptive and all as the feedback looks immediately after finishing the assignment.

Awkwardstroke

What’s involved in the etray exercise? And is there practice examples?

Findlk wrote: »

I completed the eTray yesterday. Think as everyone says it is intense. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready for giving feedback after. Does anyone know if that is used as part of the score?

derailed

Awkwardstroke wrote: »

What’s involved in the etray exercise? And is there practice examples?

The e-tray exercise is set out to evaluate and test how well you:

Efficiently use your time/resources
Prioritise your workload
Identify, investigate and address key issues
Anticipate and resolve problems
Delegate and liaise with others


At the start you will receive background information about the imaginary scenario to help build a clearer picture and to give you context with your role (essentially you will be taking up a position whereby the previous incumbent has suddenly left and you have tasks to complete before you start the role and will be then on a weeks leave). You will have time to read this before entering the exercise where the 90 minute clockdown starts.

Best idea once you then enter the timing part of the etray exercise is to quickly familiarise yourself with who is on your team and then introduce yourself to them in one mail to save you having to do that for every mail going forward. The team overview email will tell you about the strengths and weaknesses of your reports which should inform you in terms of who to delegate tasks to if needed throughout the etray exercise. Then read all the mails in your inbox (about 14-15) before deciding on what constitutes as being a priority or not. Then work down through them and making a decision on what you need to action yourself or delegate as appropriate.

Make sure to try and schedule meetings going forward without taking up too much time. Like everyone else so far it is next to impossible to get everything done or completed correctly but all about quality not quantity at the end of the day. You could maybe look up the providers website www.psionline.com/talent to see if anything available in terms of test examples.

Cheeseplant

Did the etray torture earlier. Very hard to say how it went. I feel I may have lacked decisions on some issues and forgot to answer an important email. I also batted off another important issue as there was not enough time to absorb the info and make recommendations. I basically said as much in my email! Don't think I'd do any better with it if I was to re sit it now with benefit of hindsight!

starringme

Findlk wrote: »

I completed the eTray yesterday. Think as everyone says it is intense. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready for giving feedback after. Does anyone know if that is used as part of the score?

I was in a similar boat, it's tiring. I gave a very honest evaluation of myself explaining why I'd sent certain mails which may be perceived as errors in judgment. Ironically I ran out of time not in the test but in the feedback and got cut off mid-sentence.
Then I immediately worried that it was TMI but communication was my highest score so I wonder if it actually helped me.

machalla

Just to say interviews are running till Friday in this batch apparently and results two weeks after that unless I misheard.

machalla

starringme wrote: »

I was in a similar boat, it's tiring. I gave a very honest evaluation of myself explaining why I'd sent certain mails which may be perceived as errors in judgment. Ironically I ran out of time not in the test but in the feedback and got cut off mid-sentence.
Then I immediately worried that it was TMI but communication was my highest score so I wonder if it actually helped me.

I don't believe feedback counts towards any of it. Just a commercial information gathering excercise.

starringme

machalla wrote: »

Just to say interviews are running till Friday in this batch apparently and results two weeks after that unless I misheard.

Two weeks for results seems excessive, where did you hear that?

machalla

starringme wrote: »

Two weeks for results seems excessive, where did you hear that?

The PAS representative at the interview. As mentioned I may have misheard that though. I thought that was relatively quick but I've never been through the process before.

Karlos77

Just Completed e tray thought it wasnt too bad

starringme

machalla wrote: »

. I thought that was relatively quick but I've never been through the process before.

Thanks- I suppose I mean based on the current galactic rate that every stage is moving at but it may just have been a PFO.

machalla wrote: »

I don't believe feedback counts towards any of it. Just a commercial information gathering excercise.

I agree it probably doesn't count for marks but don't see how it would function as a commercial information gathering exercise. If it were, I think the information wouldn't go to the assesors but to PAS anonymously.

In any case I think it's a good chance to show the leadership/management sub competency of self reflection.

Awkwardstroke

I also did it in the last hour or so...pretty unrealistic scenario IMHO and had my brain frazzled at the end of it.

Karlos77 wrote: »

Just Completed e tray thought it wasnt too bad