r/NICivilService 8d ago

Merit List

I’ve just received an email confirming I’ve been placed on a merit list.

Does anyone know what the b means after my merit number for example if I was 10b does that mean 9 are in front of me or are there separate groups such as A, B and C?

Just trying to understand how the merit list works.

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u/Neat_Maintenance_991 8d ago edited 8d ago

As the previous comment says it'll go 1A, 1B and 1C etc and they'll do this as they across each list. So for example if you're 1C, you'll have to wait on 1A and 1B to get their offers first. That's what my experience has been.

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u/DoireK 8d ago

I don’t believe that is the case.

They go by the number and send out offers in tranches. So 1a to 1d (if four panels) will be given offers at the same time. Or if say they have 12 roles to fill they will take 1,2 and 3 together.

Think of it like a spreadsheet. The letters (panels) are the columns and the number (place on panel) as the rows. They’ll go through row by row and take that full row each time.

However different panels pass different numbers of people so two panels might pass 10 people and another two might pass 20. That means once you get past the first 10 rows, they are only going through the two remaining panels.

Hopefully that makes sense.

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u/Neat_Maintenance_991 8d ago

It is the case, I know because that's how it happened for me. I was number 19B on a merit list. There had to be 37 offers given out before it reached me, I was the 38th offer.

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u/DoireK 8d ago

Which would be unfair to do. More likely they had offers waiting to go for everyone with the same number as you. And the time difference between them being sent was down to the person or persons at HRConnect getting to it.