New 2021 Assistant Principal in the Civil Service

FenFlynn · 24-09-2021 10:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117935098#Comment_117935098

I’ll send it to you if you pm me an email address, for some reason I can’t send you a pm

Flappidyflap · 25-09-2021 8:27am

I got the message FenFlynn thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to send me on the info!!

irumudikkilli · 25-09-2021 3:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934890#Comment_117934890

Congrats and best of luck in both competitions!

Curious on how the psychologists at PAS designed this cut-off: Assume someone from the 160 does not make it in Stage 2/Stage 3/Stage 4 of this competition, but they would nevertheless qualify for the AP Higher Stage 1?

Ravelleman · 26-09-2021 10:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934890#Comment_117934890

These are typically roles in D/Taoiseach and the treasury departments of Finance and PER. In theory, it is a higher grade than AP Standard, whereas for HEO/AO and below the Higher pay scale is not considered a higher grade.

I don't think that there was a competition in 2020. I was invited to take part in the competition stemming from the 2018 AP Standard competition but did not have the necessary two years of experience in the Civil Service at that point. I have always thought that it was a strange and convoluted process. I wonder if there will be a circular for those of us who were appointed in the 2020 competition or before.

redmgar · 26-09-2021 10:40am

The Management experience question does not mention giving a specific example unlike the other two. Are people giving a specific example?

FenFlynn · 26-09-2021 10:44am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940743#Comment_117940743

I got an email from HR last week regarding this AP Higher competition, didn't really look at the details though. I presume you can now apply because you are existing AP. Check out publicjob to see if it's advertised there.

FenFlynn · 26-09-2021 10:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940759#Comment_117940759

I didn't prepare a STAR example for this question, now I feel I should have. I also didn't give a specific one for Q1, rather a more generic account of managing stakeholders and showing leadership in one big project, the more I think about it the more I feel I've completely missed the main point. Too late to change now, as I've half learnt it off already. Will see what happens.

redmgar · 26-09-2021 11:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940775#Comment_117940775

The leadership question mentions a specific example whereas the management question does not.

Judethomas · 26-09-2021 12:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117937740#Comment_117937740

Thanks irumud. I presumed it would be top 160 after all the stages have been completed but not so. @Ravelleman Thanks for info. AP Higher posts are Dublin-based then I guess. The email I received from Public Jobs said existing APs with 2yrs experience can apply for AP Higher this time but you may need a link from PJ to apply. The closing date is 14/10.

Has anyone outside of Dublin been invited to stage 2 yet?

TaurenDruid · 26-09-2021 7:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117891358#Comment_117891358

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117893314#Comment_117893314

Don't give up! It took me multiple attempts going for the AP - open panel, specialist, and specific roles - and also the local authority equivalent (SEO) before finally getting there. It was as frustrating as all hell - passing one stage only to fail another; passing the one I'd failed previously but failing the one I'd passed; acing the Situational Judgement every time until the time I just completely failed it; etc. But each time out I learned some more, got better with my examples, got better at focussing on the competency-based nature of the later stages, etc, but eventually I got there.

FenFlynn · 27-09-2021 11:07am

Just done mine. Best of luck to everyone else yet to complete.

Sonru is easy to use, I spoke to far too fast, had a review back all seems to sound fine.

sheepgobahhh · 27-09-2021 12:35pm

Just did mine. The practice interview was just like the real thing and you can watch your interview afterwards. Very happy with the interface.

Best of luck to everyone!

osullic · 27-09-2021 8:20pm

Just did the recording. Not confident, slipped up on my words and ended up saying “am” a couple of times.

fangler · 27-09-2021 9:51pm

Apologies if this question has already been answered.

Are the three streams (Open, Inter Dep and Irish language) completely seperate? What I mean by this is that if someone gets called for the Irish language stream to Stage 2 but doesn't progress to Stage 3, can they still be called for the other streams (provided they meet the qualifying standard, of course)?

lucat · 27-09-2021 10:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918610#Comment_117918610

I made the mistake of talking about an issue I dealt with while managing a project team. It's a great example, if I do say so myself and HR have told me to keep using it after I got feedback from internal competitions. But when I did the Sonru interview I was failed and failed badly because my example "only showed management but not leadership."

The reality is that it's the subjective opinion of whoever is reading/watching the reply, and you don't know who that person is. They could think your example shows leadership because you did or changed xyz for your team or they could think it shows you could be a troublemaker because you did or changed xyz for your team. You can't tell. My advice would be not to overthink it or second-guess yourself.

PhoenixParker · 27-09-2021 10:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117947470#Comment_117947470

If you fail stage 2/34 you're gone for all 3 competitions. Failing means not meeting the qualifying standard eg 43/100 in the verbal analysis.

If you meet the qualifying standard you might still progress at any point until the panel ends.

Ahshurlookit · 28-09-2021 8:10am

I think the Irish stream is separate. You could fail an Irish language test but that doesn't remove you from the open or the interdepartmental.

Rainbowstar · 28-09-2021 10:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117947514#Comment_117947514

Well I think this shows that giving an example for this question is not what they want as I said.

It's important not to get bogged down in examples even if they're good. You have to look at the bigger picture.

This is not management and delivery of results competency, it's your management experience.

If you only give one example you're under-selling yourself in my opinion.

TaurenDruid · 28-09-2021 10:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117948622#Comment_117948622

This is not management and delivery of results competency, it's your management experience.

If you only give one example you're under-selling yourself in my opinion.

This. You can't demonstrate "management experience" with details of just one project you worked on; but you can absolutely include it in a list of things that demonstrate your extensive management experience; and you can then use it again as your main example at the interview, for either the leadership or management and delivery of results competencies, whichever is more appropriate.

crinkley · 28-09-2021 11:12am

well done, ran out of time on two unlike my last time but fixed my mistake from last year as others have pointed out here and used multiple managerial experience instead of going with the one great example that got me through previous comps. I'm going to guess Friday 22 October for the results, purely based on that its the Friday of a bank holiday

EO19 · 28-09-2021 11:54am

Hi everyone, I just noticed that the PAS portal is down for maintenance between 5-8pm today! The link for tests is in our emails anyways, just thought I'd say it in case anyone got a fright when they logged on to do interview!

Yenwod · 28-09-2021 2:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117947105#Comment_117947105

To be fair, I think that just would make you sound more natural and that you're not just reading from a script

taraalex · 28-09-2021 4:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117935462#Comment_117935462

Hi, may I ask you please if you can send it to my also? I would appreciate that very much. Thanks in advance x

helpisneeded45 · 28-09-2021 9:27pm

Hi,

its the 11th hour and having scored well on the aptitude tests before I failed the video interview. I’ve scored ok this time

but am dreading the interview. I generally interview well and regularly present to large audiences but the format and previous failure has made me nervous. I’ve scripted responses but am struggling with them

and am considering reading them to the camera… has anyone else done this or any thoughts on it

thanks

Diddlydoe90 · 28-09-2021 9:45pm

Just submitted the video interview. Hoping for the best here as I failed the SJT last time. Does anyone know from previous competitions how long the results of the video interview generally take?

Best of luck to all

TaurenDruid · 28-09-2021 11:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951798#Comment_117951798

Are you talking about the recorded video interview on Sonru, or the actual interview if you get through to that?

If the former, then yes, by all means, have your script visible to the side of the camera and read off your answer, while being as "natural" as you can be. If you look back through the 2020 competition thread, you'll see a lot of people mention doing that or similar, and they passed. Basically if you have a PC with webcam, or even a PC/laptop but are doing the recording itself on a phone (not something I'd recommend), there's nothing to stop you having the prepared answer open in Word and scrolling along as you go through the answer.

For this stage, PAS are still supposed to be marking you on the content of what you're saying, not on your presentation skills.

Meadow1013 · 29-09-2021 7:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951917#Comment_117951917

I searched last year's competition thread and it was a month in 2020.

lucat · 01-10-2021 5:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117948622#Comment_117948622

Yes that's true. But whatever about management, it's hard to talk about your leadership experience without giving examples.

timetime21 · 02-10-2021 3:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117964140#Comment_117964140

I went through the entire thread from last year looking for answers on the video interviews. The majority of those who got through did a short overview at the start of some of their experience and then did one bigger example.

I think there’s a few ways to approach it!

FenFlynn · 11-10-2021 12:34pm

Any chance we hear this week? Or perhaps it's end of the month at least

New 2021 Assistant Principal in the Civil Service

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