The role of a Clerical Officer includes providing comprehensive general administrative and clerical support to a section or department. Clerical Officers works as part of a team to meet work goals and objectives and to deliver quality services to internal and external customers. Irish Civil Service Clerical Officers assist Senior Officers / Managers with clerical work in a government department. Clerical Officers work in all departments in Ireland and provide vital input to their team through a range of general office duties. 

The duties may be varied depending on the nature of work carried out by the employing government department. The following reflects some typical duties you may be required to undertake (Source: Public Appointments Service)

• General clerical work e.g. filing, photocopying, answering/making telephone calls, dealing with emails, reception desk duties, etc. under the supervision of a designated manager;
• Supporting line-managers and colleagues;
• Working as part of a team in delivering services;
• Communicating and dealing with the public/customers e.g. responding to queries and providing information face-to-face, by telephone or via email

Who recruits Clerical Officers in Ireland?

Clerical Officers are recruited by a variety of organisations but one of the largest Clerical Officer recruitment competitions is carried out by the Civil Service. These national Civil Service competitions recruit administrative staff into various government departments in the Public Service. The PAS (Public Appointments Service) is the centralised recruiter for the Civil Service. They run competitions to establish panels of suitably qualified individuals from which various vacancies may be filled. They have advertised in various places including the main recruitment pages of the national newspapers as well as on social media and their own website www.publicjobs.ie

How do I apply and what happens then? 

When a Civil Service recruitment campaign is launched for Clerical Officers, applications are made through the Public Appointments Service website www.publicjobs.ie. After applying you will be given information about the selection stages. The first of these stages can comprise of an online questionnaire and assessment tests. These assessment tests can include; numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and clerical checking. Later stages will usually require attendance at a test/interview venue. See here to learn more about the stages of the Recruitment Process 

It's highly competitive

Clerical Officers national competitions attract a very high number of applicants, with thousands applying in every campaign. Preparation is therefore vital in order to give yourself the best chance of succeeding in these competitions. It is not enough to meet the minimum standard, you must maximise your scores in order to move through this highly competitive recruitment competition. 

Clerical Officer Aptitude Tests and Interviews 

If you apply for Clerical Officer positions in the Civil Service as part of national competitions or for various other Clerical Officer recruitment competitions generally you will be required to undertake assessments and an interview as part of the selection process. These assessments can come in the form of an Assessment Questionnaire or Verbal and Numerical Reasoning Tests. You will also be required to do an interview and the most common form of interview used is a Competency-Based Interview.

Career Services Preparation Course 

Here at Career Services we specialise in preparing candidates for the selections tests and interviews used in Clerical Officer recruitment. We have helped tens of thousands of candidates succeed at their psychometric tests and interviews over the years. Whilst generally focused on the national recruitment campaigns carried out by the Civil Service our course is and has been excellent preparation for various other clerical competitions including ones with the HSE and smaller regional county council competitions, as well as others. There are a number of formats of Clerical Tests that are used frequently in Ireland and our course covers the most commonly used ones of these as well as the Competency Based Interview.

Our course has everything you need to succeed at the selection stages of various Clerical Officer recruitment competitions. Find out more about how our course can help you achieve your goal of securing a clerical officer position below.