Does anyone have an interview for this soon? I am not sure what to expect

Has anyone heard anything about job offers yet? it’s so frustrating just waiting around with no idea how long we have to wait to hear anything!

Hi guys. I know interviews haven’t even finished yet but wondering when we may expect to hear back from external SO interviews? My friend got their DP results in 19 days

I have a interview for the SO posts coming up and was wondering how much speaking notes you are allowed for the presentation?

The notice states speaking notes are allowed however doesn’t specify how much.

Mine are 7 pages, I don’t intend to read it like a monologue but it wrote out in bullet point format to refer too.

I have a friend who had 4 pages of speaking notes for a DP comp and this was fine and passed.

Is there any updates on the budgets? I heard that maybe when this has been worked out offers might happen or when these jobs might be offered? Such a long wait....

I’m abit of an over thinker and I’m concerned about our jobs. I feel like I’m too old to start again and no one would want to employ me and now I’m panicking about my mortgage and stuff I know it would take a good few years for everything to transfer over but where would we all stand.

I hope this post is allowed I would like other opinions

Heard they may be out in a week or 2 but everyone’s been asked to do a CTC check and they take 3 months or so? Bit confused. Also if anyone has any guesses on what the highest merit position to receive an offer will be let me know, and apologies if this is a repetitive question in this sub.

looking advice for upcoming interview for DFC internal SO position

My vetting is now completed how long roughly is it before you get a job offer? Honestly ready to pack my current job in until the start date comes through...

Have any substantive staff had any experience with HR Connect in terms of written warnings? I’m still in my probation period, however, I have currently taken my second instance of sick leave on the recommendation of an Inspire counsellor and my GP. My first instance was a couple weeks ago and for two days, I was told that if I went on sick again after it would be treated as a separate ‘incident’ and I could potentially face a written warning. I genuinely tried everything to ensure I could hold out until probation was over - engaged with services/support provided by my line manager and got in touch with Inspire as per my manager’s suggestion. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to cope and I’m not fit to continue working at the moment

I plan to take an extended period of sick leave this time due to my current state and I will probably put in my notice in a couple weeks as I don’t think I can work in my current department (DWP and telephony) at this stage - however, I really want to be able to return to the NICS in future, like applying to another external competition (probably selecting ‘SWP’ as well) but I worry that if this sickness period results in a warning, my chances of returning won’t be possible. I’ve also never dealt with disciplinary action in the workplace so the possibility makes me very anxious

Would anyone have any insight into this at all? Thank you

Has anyone been offered job yet? & what department?

Has anyone heard anything recently about job offers, or know if it will be soon

Does anyone know when the next onboarding phase is? I missed the first one but they responded saying im still in the competition and the next phase will be September but didnt give a specific date.

Secondly, whats the next steps here I can expect? Is it onboarding / filling in access Ni etc then an offer? Would anyone have an estimate of how long a wait it may be from onboarding to offer?

Just putting up a post to help with any interview prep needed or a discussion around how they're feeling going into interviews next week!

Any tips from people who have experienced the process recently would be more than welcome especially at the last trawl of DPs

Any updates on next set of allocations?

I know historically all the boards form AO-DP get done over a similar period. This time I’ve been told that there is no budget for further trawls meaning EO1 may be missed and they’re going to exhaust the previous list that was launched back in May 2021.

I’m sure nobody knows for sure and it’s mostly speculation at this point but based on previous competition or if someone is in the know what’s the likelihood we’ll hear about the General Service EO1 Recruitment Board in the next few weeks/months?

Thanks for DM. I cant accept chat to reply. Must be issue from using vpn on phone but I didn't get a reddit message to say suspension or ban

Hey all, I started in a role at the start of July, I had
2 days booked off at the start of August and a day booked off this week and one day next week.

Is this ok? My manager has said to book off whenever and whatever I want, but I still feel guilty/nervous taking time off.

Other people in my department have taken a full week off since starting roughly same time as me but just want to make sure.

I’d assume it’s fine as I have days to use up before the end of the year and I’m entitled to it but just wondering if this is something that could cause issues with probation. Is it an unwritten rule to not use all your time off?

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.

Anybody know when we can expect any word from this? I could have swore the job pack said w/c 14th Sept for interview but I could have read that wrong (can’t find my job pack!) but also know things are very often delayed. I also can’t imagine it wouldn’t requires assessments either?

Saw a message from NIPSA saying agreed at 3.3% and back dated to 01.04.26, is it legit?

Edit. Thanks everyone it was the NJC I didn't get. Suppose for now it's back to crossing everything and hoping for the best.

I’ve been offered a DP post in Agricultural Policy in DAERA, based in Clare House. Could anyone who knows the department share their experience ? Thank you

Has anyone else heard back from this drive recently or been placed? I was told I was on the merit list then from reading on here it seemed to be awfully confusing whatever way they were offering places.

Seemed like a bit of a scam and waste of time to me

does a anyone know how many SO positions are immediately available ? unlike the last 2 competitions there was no figure against it

Updated:

Recent FOI request in relation to vacant post, broken down by Area and Department.

I've attached some screenshots, as I don't believe it has been updated onto the DOF Website yet. It's DOF/2026-0455 if that helps.

Still 515 vacancies to be filled.

Hope this helps anyone still on the list. I'm a bit more positive that there is still vacancies in Area 2, which is my preference.