NEW 2020 Assistant Principal Officer Competition

boris232

TaurenDruid wrote: »

We'd have no way of knowing that? They're AP positions, so generally based in civil service buildings, most of which will be in Dublin 2, some in Dublin 1 - Baggot Street to Marlborough Street to the Four Courts to Dublin Castle. And with some further outside the city centre, more likely if you were assigned to an agency.

Thanks for that - was just asking to those that were successful where their general placement was - the only ones that have those stats would be PAS and they don't subscribe to Boards

WeeBay

Hi all - Been following this thread for a good while now, picked up a lot of useful information and tips along the way. Thanks! Coming from the private sector so wondering about the situation for regional interviews and placements. I chose Limerick for work location. Scored 131 in the initial aptitude tests, placed 99 on the order of merit. Passed the video interview in November and e-tray test back in December 2020. I've heard nothing since then. I emailed PAS but they obviously don't have an idea of when I may be called for an interview, depends on vacancies, etc. Just wanted to check if anyone else had put down Limerick and has already done an interview/been placed on a panel? Cheers

Kennyrach

derailed wrote: »

Its just the etray and if you get through that you progress to the final stage interview. You do not need to repeat the original aptitude tests anymore.

Wow that's great news... Will have to start practicing after the video round is done. Thanks

derailed

Ravelleman wrote: »

Congratulations. Interviews are rarely as bad as they seem and in Civil Service competitions they are one of many factors. Even if you find yourself on the back foot, the weight of experience, tangible achievements and properly engaging with the questions, despite wanting to talk about something else, will shine through.

Totally agree. Had 2 weeks to reflect on interview and more positives came through as time passed on which included experience, getting highlights of career across in 40 minutes and engagement with questions with no significant blanks or pauses. Came on back of a strong internal AP interview which on hindsight was not as challenging as this semi structured competency based version hence early self criticism.

Just a few other points. From my experience and that of several other candidates I know of the opening 5 minutes is led by the Chair who will talk through your application and career followed by an intro where you highlight the areas of experience you are most proud of followed by the four key competency areas asked by the other board members in order with supplementary questions. The specialist knowledge competency is generally examined throughout along with drive and commitment. During interview I was also asked about challenges for managers, underperformance, things I might have done differently and prioritisation as a manager in terms of future hybrid working models. Appreciate though these types of questions can vary from board to board but format broadly the same.

Awkwardstroke

Excellent guidance and handy info for those facing the last stage of this process.

One question, in earlier stages (video interview &?the Etray) there was just a pass/fail process yet I am curious as to what % of final interview candidates get on a AP panel? Any insights or rumours on this would be great.

derailed wrote: »

Totally agree. Had 2 weeks to reflect on interview and more positives came through as time passed on which included experience, getting highlights of career across in 40 minutes and engagement with questions with no significant blanks or pauses. Came on back of a strong internal AP interview which on hindsight was not as challenging as this semi structured competency based version hence early self criticism.

Just a few other points. From my experience and that of several other candidates I know of the opening 5 minutes is led by the Chair who will talk through your application and career followed by an intro where you highlight the areas of experience you are most proud of followed by the four key competency areas asked by the other board members in order with supplementary questions. The specialist knowledge competency is generally examined throughout along with drive and commitment. During interview I was also asked about challenges for managers, underperformance, things I might have done differently and prioritisation as a manager in terms of future hybrid working models. Appreciate though these types of questions can vary from board to board but format broadly the same.

derailed

Awkwardstroke wrote: »

Excellent guidance and handy info for those facing the last stage of this process.

One question, in earlier stages (video interview &?the Etray) there was just a pass/fail process yet I am curious as to what % of final interview candidates get on a AP panel? Any insights or rumours on this would be great.

Up until this batch outside of this forum, I know of 8 candidates who reached final interview stage with 6 being placed on a final panel and getting an eventual posting with 2 others falling short on the analysis/decision making area so if that is a measurement to a degree, the success rate is 75%.

Awkwardstroke

Thanks a lot l, sounds like they have a qualifying Mark (rather than a %). Not a exact science yet looks likely.

derailed wrote: »

Up until this batch outside of this forum, I know of 8 candidates who reached final interview stage with 6 being placed on a final panel and getting an eventual posting with 2 others falling short on the analysis/decision making area so if that is a measurement to a degree, the success rate is 75%.

DaveM74

Hi, passed the e-tray a few months ago at this stage and am still waiting on an interview. Anyone know if there have been any interviews for Cork / Waterford?

Nekro Man

Video interview done today, can't see myself wanting to watch it back any time soon :pac:

The Student

Nekro Man wrote: »

Video interview done today, can't see myself wanting to watch it back any time soon :pac:

Same here. Best of luck with it.

Nekro Man

The Student wrote: »

Same here. Best of luck with it.

And you.

Didn't think they'd get to me, my OoM wasn't great from the first round but I'll throw my hat back Into the ring

The Student

Nekro Man wrote: »

And you.

Didn't think they'd get to me, my OoM wasn't great from the first round but I'll throw my hat back Into the ring

This is my first ever attempt at this so everything about it is completely new to me. My scores were not great from initial test.

All we can do is try.

PJKileen

I'm preparing my video questions now. I feel Ive an awful lot of repetition - Is this just me or do I need to go back to drawing board?

machalla

PJKileen wrote: »

I'm preparing my video questions now. I feel Ive an awful lot of repetition - Is this just me or do I need to go back to drawing board?

I claim no great expertise on this, just that I got through it with a reasonable result that was good enough to get me to the next phase.

I used a different example for each question and also mentioned some of my previous management roles. Ultimately in both the video interviews and etray you are looking to reach the qualifying scores. Only the interview seems to count for your final result.

Try to ensure you are answering the questions you are asked, which seems obvious but you can go off topic easily. Take a look at the AP competencies and try to match those as best you can.

I would script a response tightly to meet the time limit (3 minutes per question). Mine were all readable in around 2:30-2:45. I practiced reading these out loud multiple times, recorded myself doing so using camera under windows 10 also.

Most people can read approximately 120 words per minute so the script needs to be tight and kept to with no stumbles. If you hit 400 words you are going a little long. Always allow a few seconds if you have an issue or lose your place.

I treated it as a presentation, with the opportunity to read it off the screen using free autocue software. So at all times I was looking at the camera, speaking reasonably naturally.

Having read through it multiple times, I modified any sections that were difficult to talk through and used more natural language to prevent any verbal stumbles.

I hope some of that is helpful and best of luck. Don't get overly nervous about it in any case. Practice and it will feel more natural on the day.

caarp

bph1505 wrote: »

Went through each positions (7) and stuck to indicating
1. Position and what work needed to be managed
2. Budget ie what your spending or monitoring
3. Staff levels ie reporting to you and not unimportant who you were reporting to.
You will find very little spare time out of three minutes to get into too much detail.
Be factual. They want to know you have experience.

Hi bph1505, it's a bit late in the day now but was wondering how you got on with the competition? Did you pass the video stage? MTIA.

crinkley

Just getting ready to do my interview questions, I notice that questions 1 and 3 ask for an overview and give one specific example. I'm struggling with time and getting everything in, were peoples overview very high level or did you simply use the one example they ask for to meet the competencies

Chomper57

Thanks for the active posts here, it was very useful. I’ve placed low in the panel for Dublin and Kildare. I have a couple of queries that I haven’t seen on this forum yet.
Can I ask if you get a single or double option for each county, ie to u can hear where you might be placed before you accept the offer?
Any idea how long before they start moving those of us from the last batch into clearance?
Best of luck to everyone still in the process, keep going it was my third attempt.

machalla

crinkley wrote: »

Just getting ready to do my interview questions, I notice that questions 1 and 3 ask for an overview and give one specific example. I'm struggling with time and getting everything in, were peoples overview very high level or did you simply use the one example they ask for to meet the competencies

All my opinion here but it worked for me.

High level. Fit in the key points of what you did. You don't need to explain everything. If you have additional time you can fit in more if appropriate. Do not make the mistake of running out of time.

Think of this as template for your interview. You won't get that much more time to talk about anything in that either.

Aim for 2:30 talking time. Better to finish up early than still be talking when the time runs out.

Longfordgal

Hi all, just completed my video shortlisting interview this evening , I feel it went ok I guess. I wonder if we pass this stage, are we given a new OOM then before the next stage?
And also, any ideas on expected wait time for results folks? (2 to 3 weeks im kinda thinking)
Thanks in advance & good luck all

Kennyrach

Just finished video interview phew it wasn't too bad. Using the fantastic tips from here I prepped script on laptop and then recorded on my phone. I finished in time bar question 2 but what I didn't say was already covered before the time ran out. I think I did enough in the narrative I gave. Thanks for the tips, tricks and invaluable advice from here and the very best of luck to everyone.

crinkley

just finished mine too with 2 secs, and 8 ecs on the last two questions to spare, I'm sure I talked 100mph. I also love the option to review your interview, ah that sounds like complete torture!!

Kennyrach

Just finished video interview phew it wasn't too bad. Using the fantastic tips from here I prepped script on laptop and then recorded on my phone. I finished in time bar question 2 but what I didn't say was already covered before the time ran out. I think I did enough in the narrative I gave. Thanks for the tips, tricks and invaluable advice from here and the very best of luck to everyone.

derailed

Longfordgal wrote: »

Hi all, just completed my video shortlisting interview this evening , I feel it went ok I guess. I wonder if we pass this stage, are we given a new OOM then before the next stage?
And also, any ideas on expected wait time for results folks? (2 to 3 weeks im kinda thinking)
Thanks in advance & good luck all

If you pass this stage (by scoring at least 41 which is the pass mark for each of the three questions) you will be progressed to the next stage (etray) automatically without any position on the order of merit. Expect about a 2 week wait for the Video Shortlisting results due to the numbers of candidates involved and the need for boards to assess all recordings. The competition will more than likely move swiftly from then on with a small number of days before you are notified of the etray with a 1 week window to complete. In my experience that was the case and then received 1 weeks notice of the final interview a day after receiving my etray result which arrived 12 days after completing that exercise.

derailed

Kennyrach wrote: »

Just finished video interview phew it wasn't too bad. Using the fantastic tips from here I prepped script on laptop and then recorded on my phone. I finished in time bar question 2 but what I didn't say was already covered before the time ran out. I think I did enough in the narrative I gave. Thanks for the tips, tricks and invaluable advice from here and the very best of luck to everyone.

That seems to be enough as if you manage to cover the key points particularly highlighting experience and results/outcomes within 3 minutes that should easily get you over the line. I generally went for that approach with career overviews followed by the STAR Method.

derailed

crinkley wrote: »

just finished mine too with 2 secs, and 8 ecs on the last two questions to spare, I'm sure I talked 100mph. I also love the option to review your interview, ah that sounds like complete torture!!

You can review all your recordings on the SONRU App. If you find it is not too cringeworthy and you can look at them again- it is a very good sign

Like you I pretty much broke all speed limits getting everything covered along the way.

mariagirl

hi, if successful at getting through video interviews, how much notice and practice time do we get to do the e tray..thanks

derailed

mariagirl wrote: »

hi, if successful at getting through video interviews, how much notice and practice time do we get to do the e tray..thanks

I was notified of video shortlisting result on April 16th, then received etray familiarisation material on April 20th with a four day window to complete the exercise between April 26th and 29th. Then received etray result on May 11th before interview on the following week and final results on June 2nd. All moves quickly but for Stage 3 etray you will have up to a week to become acquainted with the process and definitely look at some of the previous posts on this thread for guidance.

caarp

Just finished the video exercise too. Absolutely no idea tbh, so will just have to wait and see. I just wanted to thank everyone on here for all of your help, tips and advise. It's great to have such support going through these stages, especially since most of us are more than likely working remotely. Great community spirit

Rainbowstar

Just finished video interview.
Didn't learn it off thanks to tips here which made it easier.
Whether I pass now or not is a whole other question!!!
The info booklet clearly states it's not "your performance in front of a camera" being judged so that said it all to me.
Content over memorised script.
Best of luck to all.

mariagirl

derailed wrote: »

I was notified of video shortlisting result on April 16th, then received etray familiarisation material on April 20th with a four day window to complete the exercise between April 26th and 29th. Then received etray result on May 11th before interview on the following week and final results on June 2nd. All moves quickly but for Stage 3 etray you will have up to a week to become acquainted with the process and definitely look at some of the previous posts on this thread for guidance.

Thank you!