Interdepartmental HEO

gestappo · 03-03-2022 2:27pm #1

Has anyone got the link to this? It was advertised in my Dept but I can't see it on Publicjobs??

SomeSayKos · 03-03-2022 2:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058235714/interdepartmental-heo

The circular is up on gov.ie but I don't think PAS have formally announced the compeition yet

gestappo · 03-03-2022 2:53pm

i found it for anyone interested

Higher Executive Officer 2022 | Department of Public Expenditure and Return - publicjobs.ie

BhoyRayzor · 03-03-2022 7:06pm

I presume that 2 years service is still required, can't see any mention of it.

Question 13, why would they need to enquire about your age

Rikand · 03-03-2022 7:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118727652#Comment_118727652

To make sure you're not 104 years of age

-edit-

And there was mention of the 2 years service on the email attachment we received in work

Rikand · 03-03-2022 7:24pm

Only just getting over the agony of missing out on an internal HEO comp, might as well heap more agony on myself.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends

Undercover · 03-03-2022 7:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118727724#Comment_118727724

The more you do it, the better your chances. Check back to the last competition and see where you fell down. I failed the AO on two competencies in 2019 before acing the HEO two months later. Best of luck 👍

gestappo · 04-03-2022 8:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118727724#Comment_118727724

It's all experience, as i've been told!

Internal HEO closing date just gone so of course I'll have to apply for this too - like you glutton for punishment

Wonderstruck · 04-03-2022 12:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118727665#Comment_118727665

Because of retirement ages I'd say.

Speaking of retirements they must clearly through the roof in Dublin if they're advertising HEO yet again.

Rikand · 06-03-2022 5:09pm

Change thread title to :: Interdepartmental HEO 2022 ( Serving Civil Servants Only )

Just to make it stand out a bit more ? :)

gestappo · 07-03-2022 10:14am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118741555#Comment_118741555

How do I do this!?

Rikand · 07-03-2022 12:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118744477#Comment_118744477

No idea if it's possible in new boards, but a forum mod should be able to do it. You used to be able to draw attention to the mods by reporting a post, but I reported the post 2 days ago and nobody changed it yet so I guess the reporting feature might not be working yet

Dubjane · 08-03-2022 1:19pm

Guys my question 1 is blank on the application form, can someone send whats supposed to be in it please

itsallabit · 09-03-2022 12:22pm

Basically telling you, your responses may be used for short listing and to provide your best examples. Tick box under it guessing thats to confirm your in agreement and you’ve read it.

Dubjane · 09-03-2022 2:53pm

Cheers, I wasn't sure if I had deleted it by mistake!

WerdnaBe · 13-03-2022 10:42am

Hi All, good luck from the outset. I notice that questions 3, 4, and 5 can easily be answered using the STAR method. However, question 2 seems as if that's not what they are looking for. I am planning to do as they ask and just give the brief summary while not necessarily using the STAR method for question 2. I wonder what way others have read into this?

cvb03 · 13-03-2022 3:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118777746#Comment_118777746

Hello, I am giving a brief overview of the task, including the size and composition of the team. I am not necessarily using the STAR method for this competency. I have all of the 3 other competencies complete and am happy with them however finding question 2 hard to narrow down. I am hoping it's enough to be shortlisted for an interview. Best of luck with it.

Sartre · 13-03-2022 4:20pm

Is shortlisting based on the application? I thought they did tests for interdepartmental heo competitions?

Also how are people defining a "project" for the purposes of the project management question? I have been part of several AP-led projects in which I played crucial roles but feel like I have never really managed a project myself.

cvb03 · 13-03-2022 5:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118779480#Comment_118779480

It states in the circular that shortlisting may be based on the application forms if:

Candidates should note that it is possible for the number of applications received to exceed the number required to fill existing and future vacancies. While you may meet the eligibility requirements of the competition, if the numbers applying for the positions are such that it would not be practical to interview everyone, the Public Appointments Service may decide that a number only will be called to interview. In this respect, the Public Appointments Service provides for the employment of a shortlisting process to select a group for interview who, based on an examination of the application forms, appear to be the most suitable for the position. This is not to suggest that other candidates are necessarily unsuitable, or incapable of undertaking the job, rather that there are some candidates who are, prima facie, better qualified and/or have more relevant experience.

My 'project' is more of a piece of work I carried out. You could emphasize the crucial leadership roles you took responsibility for in order for the project to be successful/unsuccessful whatever the outcome was.

ConsRoxMySox · 13-03-2022 7:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118779480#Comment_118779480

I doubt it will be - for the 2020 inter-d we had to do the same questions, and then the next step was the tests which were proctored remotely. I failed the management test for those, so I'm not sure if they were used later on. For my internal HEO interview we had to fill out a similar form and they narrowed us down based on a video interview - doing it by application seems like too much work for them. The answers I gave on the internal form were the basis of my HEO interview, so definitely be mindful about that picking the examples. One of my examples was too technical I think so they failed me on that compentency.

I've done some stuff on the financial end in my department, so going with that for project managment. Only answer I'm keeping from my 2020 application since I know it works from my internal interview!!!

14-03-2022 9:26am

Not sure I like the new formatting for the application form. Gonna make it harder for anyone to read over it.

eroc79 · 14-03-2022 8:12pm

How much employment history are people including? Previous applications asked for everything back to leaving school, including any gaps.

Sophia Petrillo · 16-03-2022 7:25am

Good updates.

Rikand · 21-03-2022 3:58pm

For question 2, leadership examples. Does it mean 500 words for each leadership example, or 500 words for the whole competency ?

It says (all responses 500 words), so that's not clear when it comes to this particular competency imo

eroc79 · 21-03-2022 6:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118814847#Comment_118814847

Once you start typing you'll see the number of words left. As far as I can see, each box only takes 500 words total

Rikand · 21-03-2022 9:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118815621#Comment_118815621

When I start typing it shows how many characters are left and it shows the total number of words I have typed. But good to know that the boxes only let you fill in 500 words. 400 is the most I have in any box at the moment

eimaj18 · 22-03-2022 3:06pm

Does anyone know if you need to put EVERY employment from when you left school/college? I know some of the applications call for that, but I can't see where this specifies it. It's getting very tedious putting them all in! Public Jobs should really store this stuff in your account. I've been copying and pasting from other applications. Yawn! Ha ha ha.

Thanks in advance.

super1290 · 22-03-2022 10:03pm

when starting to input employment history is it most recent first and add from there. or your earliest employment and add from there. it doesnt indicate which way to start inputting.

dwasol · 23-03-2022 9:28am

was about to ask the same ^

eimaj18 · 23-03-2022 9:57am

I just popped my most recent one in first. When finished, it asks if you want to put in more, and when you do, it adds them underneath, so it would make sense to put in your next most recent and so on. It's actually more intuitive than that old PDF form, so that's good. At the end, it gives you the option to jiggle them around if needs be, with Move Up and Move Down buttons as far as I know.

mrtweed · 23-03-2022 10:55pm

Is everyone using the majority of the word count for the employment history?

Rikand · 23-03-2022 11:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118826742#Comment_118826742

Hitting about 300+ for all the more recent ones anyway. Few lines describing my general work and then a couple of paragraphs detailing things I'm proud of that I think will be good options for my application.

It's hard to know exactly what they want, but I suppose the more words you put in, the more marks you should be able to get for shortlisting

Skweefie · 24-03-2022 11:09am

FYI after you submit the application you can still 'update' it. Just in case you are running out of time towards deadline time. Good luck!

eimaj18 · 24-03-2022 1:46pm

I just popped mine in. Phew. I had copied my examples to Word to edit down to 500 words. I did in each example, one was 499 and then when I copied it back to the form, it said 504 words! This happened in each of them - very annoying. I left it though. It had taken me so long to edit it, I couldn't remove another word!! gah

Best of luck everyone!

24-03-2022 2:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118829095#Comment_118829095

I had that happen too. I figured out though it was because I had a number of - in it. It counted them as words when Word didn't

Ck18 · 24-03-2022 2:57pm

Anyone idea of timeline of next stages?

and what the next stages are?

Jenda · 24-03-2022 8:07pm

They haven't said.

eimaj18 · 25-03-2022 10:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118829607#Comment_118829607

From my experience, there may be shortlisting (only happened once) from our form, depending on numbers. Then usually they'll take the first batch to psychometric testing, when that stage is over, it could be interview - am not so sure since Covid though.(There may be another stage that I've forgotten about too!) If you're in the first batch and do well all the way through the competition, it will take a couple of months I'd say.

eroc79 · 28-03-2022 9:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118833232#Comment_118833232

the last one of these had no short listing from the application form. After the online tests, if you were high enough you were invited to the one way interview. There were 3 questions that you had 3 minutes each to answer. One was a key question that you had to pass or that was the end of the road for HEO dreams :)

ceiteachmac · 28-03-2022 9:57am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118845735#Comment_118845735

Can you recall the questions?

heffo1 · 28-03-2022 10:36am

Does anyone remember which type of tests for stage 1, ie: is it situational judgement, verbal/ numerical or all of the above? I would like to get practicing if I could!

tgdaly · 28-03-2022 10:40am

Stage one taking place at the end of April, more info to come in mid-April

eimaj18 · 28-03-2022 1:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118846158#Comment_118846158

As far as I know, it's the numerical and verbal. There was also a Situational Judgement (Management Scenarios). We will get practice materials but yeah no harm in practicing. I found the Assessment Day website https://www.assessmentday.co.uk/ good. I paid for a subscription for a month and shared it with my friend.

Sennie · 30-03-2022 7:43pm

Does anyone know what the below is about?

Candidates who require reaosnable accomodations, we ask that you submit a psychologist/medical report be to ASU@publicjobs.ie by the 7th April 2022 if you have not already done so

MrsBean · 30-03-2022 8:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118858273#Comment_118858273

If you have a physical, sensory or intellectual disability, autism or a mental health condition, you can inform PAS by that date and they will make reasonable accommodations to tailor the competition so that you have equal opportunity to apply for the job.

Shutuplaura · 31-03-2022 9:40pm

I miss the two years service by a few days. How strict are they with that? Everyone in work tells me I should apply anyway..so I put in the application form anyway to see what happens but I'd really like to know if this application has a hope of success. It will be worthwhile from a practice point of view anyway, but still. I tried emailing the PAS but they gave me no help whatsoever.

Also, with these tests, is it known which company is the service provider for them? I assume this makes a difference based on a conversation I had with someone in work recently, but I cannot see anything about this in the literature they have sent out. I got through the aptitude tests on the AP competition last year but didn't for the AO, which really disappointed me, so I'd like to get some more familiarity with the process.

eimaj18 · 01-04-2022 7:14am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863649#Comment_118863649

Can't answer you on the strictness of service, sorry. But I know the last HEO was Sova for the verbal and numerical and I think it was SHL for the Management Scenarios (will check when I'm in work, cos I wrote it down the other day). Yes, I'm practicing already. I always do quite well in the aptitude tests, purely because of practice, but the interview is where I fall down. :-( When they're sending out the invite to the aptitude test stage they'll name the provider and give us practice tests, but worth doing some now, even from Google.

Augme · 01-04-2022 7:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863649#Comment_118863649

I'd be surprised if you are given any leeway in the two years service.

jaykay2 · 01-04-2022 8:01am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863649#Comment_118863649

Sorry to say this but I think they are very strict with these things. The days of bending the rules in promotion competitions are over. Everything has to be done by the book with no wriggle room.

I really hope you manage to get through but I wouldn't put money on it.

I'm a serving HEO who previously worked in a competitions section when I was a CO.

EllieKelly123 · 01-04-2022 11:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118845965#Comment_118845965

There were four. The first was an introduction of yourself. The key question was your team leadership skills, if you didn't pass that, you didn't go any further. The other two were judgement, analysis, and decision making and management and delivery of results.

Ck18 · 01-04-2022 3:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863649#Comment_118863649

No leeway at all.. you might have only missed it by 3 days but then the next person has only missed it by 3 days more than you and then it spirals. Give a concession to one and give to all.

it would still be good experience but personally I wouldn’t do the whole interview etc , pass and then when they check everything you won’t go on the panel.

Interdepartmental HEO

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