2020 Executive Officer Civil Service

EO2019

Was there much flexibility in the time you had to do the exam or was it a set time allocated to you?

newbie18892

EO2019 wrote: »

Was there much flexibility in the time you had to do the exam or was it a set time allocated to you?

I had to select a time between 2 and 4pm on a certain day and the exam ran for an hour.

EO2019

Thanks hopefully that flexibility will be there with this too if they do it that way. Life a lot more rigid for me at the moment.

dfx-

newbie18892 wrote: »

I recently did an exam for another campaign PAS was running. This was done online through Examity. It had to be conducted at a certain time and they monitored me through my webcam and mic and I had to screen share. I imagine this will be similar

zoom connection test beforehand, a room scan at the time and needed to upload your identity document and security questions too.

It was a lot of process..

Aleece2020

newbie18892 wrote: »

I recently did an exam for another campaign PAS was running. This was done online through Examity. It had to be conducted at a certain time and they monitored me through my webcam and mic and I had to screen share. I imagine this will be similar

I believe that I did the same one as you. They ran the same procedure for me. I applied for it months back and thought it'd never happen.

That being said I'm not confident about that exam or the personality test for the EO competition either after doing so bad on the CO exam. Honestly starting to think I'll be unemployed for the rest of my days.

Green farmer

Aleece2020 wrote: »

Honestly starting to think I'll be unemployed for the rest of my days.

Alot of us in the same( or similiar) boats here. Keep trying. All you need is for one to come right !!!

Dublintigger

Mike Foxtrot wrote: »

Yes, there is a bit of confusion in this thread.

This thread is for the general service at Executive Officer level in the Civil Service ran by the public appointments service. While civil and public service bodies may run separate or specialist campaign at EO grade, please check if there are separate threads or be clear about the campaign your referring to if different.

For this campaign

Stage 1a was completed on the 25 August @ 1pm, results are still pending.

If successful, the next stage is "Stage 1b" which will include a verbal and numerical reasoning tests.

Stage 2 is not yet confirmed however it will likely involve a E-tray exercise/simulation.

Thank you for the clarification

flazio

Question for previous applicants. Does a candidates political preference ever come into consideration at any stage of the application process? Would a candidate known to support government party A over opposition party B have a better chance of landing the job?

MFPM

flazio wrote: »

Question for previous applicants. Does a candidates political preference ever come into consideration at any stage of the application process? Would a candidate known to support government party A over opposition party B have a better chance of landing the job?

If you're successful EOs are not permitted to be politically aligned (publicly I should say) as far as I know, you're certainly not permitted to be politically active.

They don't hold political opinions against you in the recruitment process, you won't be penalised irrespective of who you support.

MrsBean

flazio wrote: »

Question for previous applicants. Does a candidates political preference ever come into consideration at any stage of the application process? Would a candidate known to support government party A over opposition party B have a better chance of landing the job?

Absolutely not. You would be expected to be impartial and non-partisan in a how you conduct yourself at work. Whoever you vote for is your own private business but it has nothing to do with being a civil servant. There are codes of conduct surrounding civil servants and public political activity - civil servants above Clerical Officer grade are debarred from political activity.

Bobby2004

AngryLips wrote: »

Did a aptitude test over the weekend for EO in state body. It might not be the same for this competition, but thought I'd share my experience:
- The test is adaptive. That means the more questions you get right, the more difficult the subsequent questions become until you start getting them wrong, at which point they become easier.
- The above means that no two candidates are presented with the same set of questions.
- The time limits are very short, you really only have barely enough time to answer the question.
- At the end you get a report that tells you, in very broad terms, how you did compared to the average.

Just did the tests for that position. Was below average in both. Suppose does not help doin tests late at night but found it very rushed. Don't like that aspect of tests.

Lagunasecastig

Civil Servants of any grade are not debarred from political activity, where do you pull this horse **** from?

AngryLips

Bobby2004 wrote: »

Just did the tests for that position. Was below average in both. Suppose does not help doin tests late at night but found it very rushed. Don't like that aspect of tests.

Did you see they have another EO panel open? Maybe you should try to apply for that one and hope for a better result?

MrsBean

Lagunasecastig wrote: »

Civil Servants of any grade are not debarred from political activity, where do you pull this horse **** from?

I pulled this horse**** from the codes of standards and behaviour that I was given by HR when I became a civil servant.

https://www.sipo.ie/acts-and-codes/codes-of-conduct/civil-servants/Civil-Service-Code-of-Standards.pdf

https://hr.per.gov.ie/policy/ethics-and-standards/codes-of-conduct/#civil%20servants%20and%20politics

5.1 Restrictions have traditionally been imposed on civil servants engaging in political activity to ensure public confidence in the political impartiality of the Civil Service. This section restates the existing restrictions.

(d) All civil servants above clerical level are totally debarred from engaging in any form of political activity.

MFPM

Lagunasecastig wrote: »

Civil Servants of any grade are not debarred from political activity, where do you pull this horse **** from?

They are once you rise above CO, does that mean none are involved in politics, of course not but formally it's not permitted.

MFPM

MrsBean wrote: »

I pulled this horse**** from the codes of standards and behaviour that I was given by HR when I became a civil servant.

https://www.sipo.ie/acts-and-codes/codes-of-conduct/civil-servants/Civil-Service-Code-of-Standards.pdf

https://hr.per.gov.ie/policy/ethics-and-standards/codes-of-conduct/#civil%20servants%20and%20politics

I wonder if Lagunasecastig will now counter with where he/she got their 'horse****'?

doc22

Lagunasecastig wrote: »

Civil Servants of any grade are not debarred from political activity, where do you pull this horse **** from?

https://circulars.gov.ie/pdf/circular/finance/2009/09.pdf :rolleyes:

rostalof

MrsBean wrote: »

I pulled this horse**** from the codes of standards and behaviour that I was given by HR when I became a civil servant.

https://www.sipo.ie/acts-and-codes/codes-of-conduct/civil-servants/Civil-Service-Code-of-Standards.pdf

https://hr.per.gov.ie/policy/ethics-and-standards/codes-of-conduct/#civil%20servants%20and%20politics

I've reminded a few colleagues of this on numerous occasions.

Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour
Section 5.3
Civil servants in category (d) may not engage in public debate (e.g. letter writing to newspapers, contributions to television
or radio programmes, etc.) on politics, except if required to do so as part of their official duties.

In case you're in any doubt, this includes Facebook rants about the government of the day and any political party or their members. Civil servants must be and must be seen to be impartial for obvious reasons. I would class myself as quite a political person but I never publicly air my political opinions for this reason.

I also find it a little strange that somebody applying for an EO position would ask if a particular political affiliation would detract from or enhance your chances of being appointed to such a position. If that were the case they'd need to clear out large swathes of the civil service each time a new party went into government.

furrybones

AngryLips wrote: »

Did you see they have another EO panel open? Maybe you should try to apply for that one and hope for a better result?

Is this Dublin only?

Dothehustle

MrsBean wrote: »

I pulled this horse**** from the codes of standards and behaviour that I was given by HR when I became a civil servant.

https://www.sipo.ie/acts-and-codes/codes-of-conduct/civil-servants/Civil-Service-Code-of-Standards.pdf

https://hr.per.gov.ie/policy/ethics-and-standards/codes-of-conduct/#civil%20servants%20and%20politics

Yep this includes giving the media your opinion current government policy's.

Samuel T. Cogley

I know of a lad who has remained as a CO so he can continue his political machinations. He's progressing slowly but surely.

Nekarsulm

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

I know of a lad who has remained as a CO so he can continue his political machinations. He's progressing slowly but surely.

If he remains a CO, the only "progressing slow but surely" he is doing is his annual increments...

Samuel T. Cogley

Nekarsulm wrote: »

If he remains a CO, the only "progressing slow but surely" he is doing is his annual increments...

Slowly but surely in political career. Probably pays him more now than the CO work :pac:

Ek1313

Any signs of the results yet?

AngryLips

furrybones wrote: »

Is this Dublin only?

Sorry no, it was in relation to a different EO competition, not the civil service one that's the subject of this thread.

Dublintigger

AngryLips wrote: »

Did you see they have another EO panel open? Maybe you should try to apply for that one and hope for a better result?

Really? Where and with who?

GMurdoch

Ek1313 wrote: »

Any signs of the results yet?

Only guess work but from 2019 campaign it was test close 11th Feb results 21st Feb, so maybe Friday. 🀞

Bobby2004

Dublintigger wrote: »

Really? Where and with who?

Transport authority. It's Dublin based. On public jobs.

IwishIknew2020

Anyone know do you get penalised points for wrong answers in the numerical assessment?

cw67irl

IwishIknew2020 wrote: »

Anyone know do you get penalised points for wrong answers in the numerical assessment?

I think all sections have negative marking to stop people flying through the last minures randomly clicking answers to finish the test.. the key is to work as carefully and quickly as possible without randomly guessing