NICS aptitude test - what to wear?

thriftyminx13

I imagine that there will be a lot more people being assessed if the number of applicants was so high. I'll not hold my breath but it is my best shot since i am rubbish at interviews.

managed to blag a stayover at my aunts closer to the stormont hotel since i live about a good hour and a half away. why are these things never held more centrally in a geographical way for those of us who don't live in belfast?

vincennes_2

Most of the posts are based in Belfast, so you would need to get prepared for the eventuality of travelling 1h30 each way every day. Unless you intend to move to Belfast. I know quite a few people who travel from Strabane, Dungannon and Omagh every day. It is a long day and I feel privileged to be able to work to my workplace.
Good luck, anyway. I am not good at interviews and the external board was my ticket to get promotion.
Regarding the assessment centre, I was put in a group of 4 with 2 of them, very assured candidates who constantly talked. I knew I could not compete but made sure to be the one re-capping as we went along and summarising the decisions taken. Also, I praised them as they came up with ideas: I came out of there feeling I had failed but it turned out to be one of my best marks.
One tip on the in-tray exercise: some of the documents are interrelated, so have a quick look through all of them before starting to write down your answers.

thriftyminx13

countdown on for Monday. apart from asking the fab moneysavers any other tips for revising. not sure if you really can for these assessment centres! wish me luck!

thriftyminx13

yeah i know...breathe....except i went and stressed and got a cold sore!!!! now i feel rubbish with flu like symptoms and the last thing i want to do is try and make a good impression!!

Golden_Anemone

Good luck thriftyminx13. Remember everyone will be nervous.

Make it as stress free as possible - get there in plenty of time, wear something you feel good in - even if it's amazing underwear that only you will know you're wearing. Be yourself, it's too long a day to pretend for.
Believe in yourself. You'll be great. :T

thriftyminx13

awh I thought I was doing ok until i wrote my answers on the booklet that said don't write your answers here. Just panicked and didn't see it. So not sure they'll even mark me for it. But to be fair to me it did look like I had to write on the blank space at the bottom!

What I find strange is the number of civil servants that were there. surely that must show them that the way they fill internal posts is a bit strange if people like me, in the civil service can pass the external aptitude test for staff officer grade but who are maybe not great at interviews?

Everyone was really nice and I have no idea how I did, depends on the written marks........

thriftyminx13

Oh yes over 1900 applied and 96 went to assessment centre.

think we'll hear around mid-may either way. Some people were saying it can take 6 months to get placed. Well I just hope I did well in the written eek.

NAR

thriftyminx13 wrote: »

awh I thought I was doing ok until i wrote my answers on the booklet that said don't write your answers here. Just panicked and didn't see it. So not sure they'll even mark me for it. But to be fair to be it did look like I had to write on the blank space at the bottom!

Sounds like you didn't read everything properly before proceeding, which is the instruction. You will be penalised for this.

What I find strange is the number of civil servants that were there. surely that must show them that the way they fill internal posts is a bit strange if people like me, in the civil service can pass the external aptitude test for staff officer grade but who are maybe not great at interviews?

Promotion boards are few and far between nowadays. So this competition gives those qualified an alternative route up the grades. Internal candidates are more likely to do better on the like of the in-tray task, because of their Civil Service office experience.

NAR

culchied wrote: »

Personally I think the internal promotion board system is highly flawed and widely abused.

I would agree that this used to be the case but think that the competence based interview, which is currently used, is much fairer (though not perfect!).

thriftyminx13

Yeah as I said it was my error with regards to the additional sheets although to be fair to myself the question sheet was not without its design faults and the girl reading the instructions was in a hurry.

As it stands it was my fault.

But as someone who has done the competence based interviews they definitely aren't fair or a true reflection of skills and experience. I think that there should be some intergration of the two methods.