FAQ

If you have forgotten your username or password, please click on the link forgot my username or password and follow the on screen instructions.

If you have any difficulty logging on following this, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you are contacting us for assistance with your account, please have your email address, date of birth and PPS number to hand.

1.2. I am trying to reset my password, but the system is not accepting my security question?

Please note that the answer to your security question is CASE SENSITVE. If the answer is, for example, your PPS Number or your mother’s maiden name, please try entering it in an alternative format (e.g. in all lowercase if you entered it with uppercase letters, etc). When setting the answer to your security question, please take into account surnames with apostrophes, spaces or multiple uppercase letters.

Click on the 'Job Search' tab on the homepage of www.publicjobs.ie (see below); enter a Key Word (or Words) for the position in the “Keywords” field (you don’t need to enter a Job Category or Subcategory) and this should return any active Job Advertisements that contain the Key Word(s).

If you are encountering difficulties downloading or opening the Detailed PDF form;

Check that Adobe is set as your default PDF reader. It may be that you have not got Adobe 7.0.5 (or higher) set as your default PDF reader. In your settings menu, manually set Adobe as your default PDF reader. This should solve the problem.

If it does not, and you are using the “Google Chrome” web browser, try the following:

If, when you attempt to download the PDF application form, you are seeing a white page containing the message 'please wait...’ you may be encountering an issue with Chrome. Whilst Chrome will download and save the PDF application form, it does not open PDF’s using Adobe, it tries to open PDFs as a tab within the web browser, causing the PDF to crash.

To work around this issue, please follow these steps;

1. Ensure Adobe has been set as your default PDF Reader.
2. Shut Chrome down temporarily.
3. Navigate to the “Downloads” folder on your computer. The PDF application form will have saved to this location.
4. Double click on the PDF application form icon and Adobe should open it (alternatively, right click on the PDF application form icon and select “Open With” from the drop down menu, then select “Adobe”).

To a lesser extent this problem sometimes occurs with IE and Firefox, but the above steps will also resolve it for those browsers.

When entering your Candidate ID number into the application form, please ensure that you are typing it in carefully and correctly.

1.6. What is a Candidate Number?

As your Candidate ID is generated when you register on www.publicjobs.ie. It can be found in the personal details page of your www.publicjobs.ie profile. This is a unique number linked to your profile. You can quote this number when interacting with our office. You also must enter this number on your detailed application form. This must be entered correctly, or you will be unable to move on.

1. Log in to your Public Jobs account.
2. Once you have logged in successfully you will be brought to your candidate portal. Click “My Job Alerts” on the left side of the page.
3. Scroll down to “Create Job Alert”.
4. Fill in the section that states “Assign a Name to this Job Alert”. You can choose any name for the alert, but it must be a singular word containing no special characters (e.g., Clerical).
5. Select a category from the “Job Category” drop-down menu (e.g., “Administrative”).
6. Once you have selected a category, the relevant sub-categories will be available in the “Job Sub-Category” drop-down menu. (e.g., for “Administrative”, the following sub-categories are available: “Clerical”, “General Administration”, “Other” “PA”)
7. Click “Add Alert” to complete the process.

You can repeat this for any job categories and sub-categories in which you may be interested.

Yes! If you are interested in a particular campaign (e.g., Garda Trainee, Mature Nursing assessment, Clerical Officer etc.), but it does not appear in our Job Search function, it means that the specific campaign is not accepting applications at present. Therefore, we would recommend you follow the above steps to set up a job alert- by setting up a job alert, you will be notified via email when the campaign is next advertised. For example, the job alert for the Garda Trainee campaign would be under the job category “Security/Emergency Services” and the subcategory “Garda”; the job alert for the Mature Nursing Assessment would be under the job category “Medical” and the subcategory “Nurse/Nurse Management”.

When you apply for a role with the Public Appointments Service, you must first register an account with us on publicjobs.ie, in order to submit your application and receive communication from the recruitment team. For this reason, you should ensure that you include your personal email address instead of your work email to ensure you receive updates on your application from recruitment.

A summary of the stages of the recruitment process for any particular recruitment competition, along with provisional dates, is outlined in the information booklet for that competition. Different stages of the recruitment process may include some or all the following: online testing, in-house testing, shortlisting, preliminary interview, presentations, main interview etc. More details on our recruitment process can be found on Our Recruitment Process page.

This can vary depending on the volume of applications received and the number of stages within the recruitment process for the role or competition you have applied for. Assessment stages will be outlined in the ‘Information Booklet’ of the role you are applying for, so please refer to this for guidance. If the role you are applying for is part of a large volume campaign, for example Clerical Officer or Executive Officer, a panel of successful candidates is formed after final interview stage. This can mean there is a longer wait time to be called for interview depending on your ‘Order of Merit’ (OOM), which is the ranking number you receive from the online testing that is carried out at stage 1 of the competition. Normally our large volume campaigns are nationwide, so depending on the number of vacancies across Ireland, you may have to wait a little longer to be called forward at each stage. Once your OOM is reached for a particular stage of the competition, the recruitment team will update you via your ‘Message Board’ to invite you forward to participate in the next stage of the recruitment process.

Unless requested, a CV is not required as supporting documentation to your application form. All information required to process your application will be requested on your application form. Unfortunately, Publicjobs does not accept unsolicited CVs. As campaigns arise on our website, you must fill out an application form to be considered for any position.

It is not required for you to sign the application form, typing your name in will suffice.

To access an old application form;
1) Log into your Publicjobs account.
2) Click the “My Applications” tab on the left hand side of the page.

All of your previous application forms should be available on this page. You may click on any application form to view or download it.

If your application has been completed and uploaded correctly, you will be able to view your application form in the “My Applications” tab of your publicjobs.ie account.

You can withdraw your application at any stage of the selection process. You can do this via your public jobs profile.

Depending on the number of candidates sitting the test, results are normally posted to your message board between two to three weeks after the closing date for sitting the test. For any queries on test results, please contact the relevant unit you are being tested for. Contact details should be found in the information booklet.

Most campaigns conducted by the Public Appointments Service are held in accordance with the CPSA code of practise. PAS will consider requests for review in accordance with the provisions of these codes. The review procedures can be found using the following link on the CPSA website or you can select the PDF form: Code of Practise for the Appointment to positions in the Civil Service and Public Service.

The Public Appointment Service is the main point of contact for any queries. We will source or find out information you request, if available. However, it is advised that you thoroughly read the information booklet as all the information that you need in applying for a position is contained in the information booklet provided with the advertised role. If you are experiencing technical difficulties downloading or opening PDF documents, please see Question 1.4 in our Technical FAQ section.

If you cannot remember your username or password or experience other difficulties logging on to your Publicjobs account, please see Question 1 in our Technical FAQ section.

The interview format may vary from competition to competition. If you are invited to interview, all details will be issued to you in thefamiliarisation material before your interview date.

Interview lengths vary from competition to competition. If you are invited to interview, all details will be issued to you in familiarisation material before your interview date.

If you are invited to interview at EO grade or above, the names of your board members will be issued to your Publicjobs message board before your interview date.

A request to reschedule must be emailed to the relevant recruitment unit and will only be considered under exceptional circumstances as deemed acceptable by the Public Appointments Service (e.g., Bereavement/Illness). Please note that the Public Appointments Service may request supporting documentation as evidence. Candidates who are afforded an opportunity to reschedule will be processed in the next candidate batch invited to the assessment that has been rescheduled. Please note that candidates who are permitted to reschedule will be given only one opportunity to do so. If a candidate cannot make their rescheduled assessment, they will be deemed to have withdrawn from the competition.

Feedback in relation to the selection process is available on request. Feedback and rechecks may be requested for up to six months after completion of each stage of the competition. However, please note that the Review Process as set out in the Code of Practice is a separate process with specified timeframes that must be observed. Receipt of feedback is not required to invoke a review. It is not necessary for a candidate to compile a detailed case prior to invoking the review mechanism. The timeframe set out in the CPSA Code cannot be extended for any reason including the provision of feedback and/or the outcome of rechecks.

Each interview board has a Public Appointments Service representative sitting in on it. All feedback and appeals are based on notes made by the PAS Rep and the interviewing members of the Board.

4.1. How do I get to Chapter House?

The Public Appointments Services Offices are located at

Chapter House,
26-30 Abbey Street Upper,
Dublin 1, DO1 C7W6

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Chapter House is located on Abbey Street Upper in Dublin City Centre, and is easily accessible by public transport including bus, Luas and train. For more information and details on getting to our offices, please see our Contact Us Page

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Tests and interviews are held on the first floor of the Public Appointments Service building. Depending on the competition you are taking place in, you may be required to check in on the ground floor or the first floor. Please ask at the reception desk on the ground floor when you arrive and you will be directed to check in at the correct location.

A panel is made up of batches of candidates who have been deemed suitably qualified following successful completion of the recruitment stages of a competition, e.g., Testing, Interview, Presentation etc. As vacancies arise, they will be filled from the panel of suitably qualified candidates.

Placement on a panel is not a guarantee of appointment to a position.

Regarding the number of people placed on a panel – this number is not static. As mentioned, each panel is made up of batches of candidates who have come through the recruitment process and so there is no typical or set amount.

Being placed on a panel does not mean that you have gotten the job, yet... however:

Should you be placed on a panel, you will have to wait for a vacancy to arise that corresponds with your order of merit. Candidates are placed by order of merit into batches, so please be aware that there may be already batches in place ahead of your own and your overall placement on the panel could be affected by this.

The Public Appointments Service have no foresight as to how many vacancies may be filled over the lifetime of the panel, and potentially candidates may not be reached on the order of merit, therefore placement on a panel is not a guarantee of appointment to a position.

Should your place on the panel be reached and you come under consideration for a position, several pre-employment checks must be completed prior to appointing you a position

5.3. How does a panel work?

Your order of merit within your batch is included with your results.

Please note that the number of people ahead of you is no indication of how quickly you may or may not be assigned to a position. There may be candidates from previous batches that are yet to be reached who will be allocated vacancies as they arise.

The movement of the panels is dependent on vacancies logged by departments – the Public Appointments Service is not involved in the creation of vacancies and can only allocate a vacancy to the next eligible candidate on the panel when a department logs a request to fill a vacancy. When a department logs a vacancy for a particular competition and region, candidates are called in their order of merit on the relevant panel.

If your position on the order of merit is reached, you will be contacted with an offer to undergo the final stage of the selection process, also known as the “clearance” stage. The Pre-Employment Checks team conduct pre-employment checks on candidates that are under consideration for positions in the Civil and Public Service. Once pre-employment checks are completed and considered satisfactory, candidates are considered ‘cleared’ for the position and are assigned to their position in a Civil Service Department or Organisation.

The speed at which we work through a panel depends primarily on the number of vacancies occurring in the region for which a particular panel has been drawn up.

Once a panel is in place, it would normally have a lifetime of 12- 18 months. For certain competitions, the lifetime of a panel may be longer or shorter, and in certain instances the lifetime of a panel may be extended.

If an offer of assignment is declined, you are deemed to have withdrawn your application and no further offers will be made to you in relation to that particular post. However, some advertised positions have vacancies countrywide, and panels may be drawn up for each location. Where a candidate is placed on more than one panel, refusal of an offer from one panel has no impact on any other panel.

Once you have been assigned by the Public Appointments Service, your start date is something that will be discussed between yourself and the Employing Authority/Client Organisation you have been assigned to.

To ensure fairness to all candidates, you will be assigned to the first Department that request staff in one of your selected regions according to your order of merit on the panel.

You cannot choose where you will be assigned to. To ensure fairness to all candidates, you will be assigned to the first Department in one of your selected regions to request staff according to your order of merit on the panel.

The clearance procedure can take several weeks depending on the level of the security clearance required. Some areas of clearance are outside the control of the Public Appointments Service such as Garda Clearance and the provision of work references. Generally speaking, the sooner a candidate or third party supplies the required documentation the shorter the clearance process will be.

Yes. We need the most up-to-date information on all candidates for clearance purposes.

As stated in the information booklet, the onus is on the candidate to provide all documents requested by the Public Appointments Service for the clearance process within the timeframe requested. The Public Appointments Service cannot offer any assistance on obtaining clearance documentation.

We use your present employer for reference purposes. However, if you are working in the private sector, no contact will be made with your current employer without your permission.

Each candidate must provide either their original long form birth certificate or passport, required identification documents for the Garda vetting process, and originals of any educational qualifications that are a requirement for the position you have applied for, such as a Leaving Certificate, University Degree Transcripts, or other documentation.

All candidates are required to undergo Garda Vetting before being assigned. If a candidate has lived abroad in any country for a period of six months or more, when they were aged 16 years or older, they will be required to provide a police disclosure from this country to prove they have a clear criminal record.

Once you are assigned a member of the HR staff of the department you have been assigned to will make contact with you to discuss your contract, start date and other details.

All information regarding salary can be found in the relevant information booklet. You can only negotiate your startging salary in exceptional circumstances.

The Public Appointments Service (PAS) is a government organisation that provides recruitment services for the Civil and Public Service. We also recruit for An Garda Síochána, the Health Service Executive (HSE), Local Government and other public bodies.

We understand it can get a bit confusing at times! So basically, Publicjobs.ie is the website for the Public Appointments Service. It’s where we advertise all of our Civil and Public Service jobs and it’s the main access route for people interested in joining the public service.

We have a huge variety of roles on offer for school leavers, Leaving Certificate holders and college graduates with different levels of experience and interests. We are sure you’ll find something that’s right for you! Check out our Information Hub to find out more information.

To join, you must create a Public Jobs account and apply for open competitions for the Civil Service as they arise, such as Temporary Clerical Officer, Clerical Officer, Executive Officer, or Administrative Officer. The relevant job alerts you would set up for these competitions would be under the job category “Administrative” and the subcategories “Clerical”, “General Administration”, “Other” and “PA”. For Administrative Officer, we would recommend the job category “Graduate and Trainee / Junior Management” and the subcategories “Graduate Opportunities” and “Other”.

No, there is no general exam for joining the Civil Service. Once you have applied for a particular campaign, you will then be called for the relevant assessments and tests as they arise for each stage of that competition. Details of these will be provided by the recruitment unit at the relevant campaign stage.

The majority of our positions are full time; however, we do recruit occasionally for part-time roles as well. The Civil Service is renowned for providing flexible working arrangements.

Another day, another myth... you’d probably enjoy our Myth Buster article. But back to your question... no, not all our jobs are office based and they’re definitely not boring! Where’s the fun in that? In fact, you could work at anything from an engineer to a vet!

No, absolutely not! We have a wide range of opportunities available for school leavers, graduates and professionals.
You could expect to advance your personal skills in a wide range of ways and have the opportunity to up-skill and develop yourself professionally through high-quality training programmes, mentoring and support systems, internal training initiatives, and many more.

Yes. The Public Appointments Service is an equal opportunities employer which means we do not discriminate based on race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, physical or mental disability or age. We are committed to recruiting people from a range of different backgrounds and we actively support those with additional requirements both during selection and in ensuring a smooth transition into the public service workforce.

If you'd like to discuss any aspect of an application or a process you're involved in, please contact our

Disability Champion, Amanda Kavanagh
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,
Telephone: (01) 8587655.

We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection processes are accessible. For example, all our forms are available in accessible formats and our online assessment and interview tools include features that support accessibility.

If you experience any difficulties or if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Disability Champion, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We understand that candidates are diverse and that some candidates with disabilities may require adjustments or reasonable accommodations to enable them to undertake particular elements of the recruitment process. We encourage candidates to indicate at application stage if they think they require adjustments or reasonable accommodations at any stage of the process. You should check the information booklet for details of how to do this. Please note that you may be asked to submit a psychological/medical report by the closing date of the role you are applying for. This is to enable us to determine how best we can provide assistance. If you have recently applied for a competition with us and submitted a report, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to confirm that your report is on file.

We’re quite unique in our recruitment process and it sometimes takes a bit longer than the average company. But trust us when we say it’s well worth the wait! It typically involves aptitude tests and face-to-face interviews. For more information, click on recruitment process, or check out our campaign updates.

We're delighted you're interested in doing work experience with us! We don't have a centralised scheme in place for transition year work experience; however, a lot of departments take on students from time to time. If you are interested, it'd be a good idea to contact a department near you that you'd like to gain experience in.

Unfortunately, the Public Appointments Service have no jurisdiction over work placements or internships in the Civil & Public Service. We recruit to full time/paid positions in the Civil & Public Service and all positions for which we recruit are advertised on our website. We suggest that you contact relevant Departments/Offices directly with your query (you should direct your request to the Human Resources Department of any offices which you may be interested in). A full list of Government Departments and Offices can be found here.

You can send us a message on social media, or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Yes of course! You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

No. There will be no requirement to attend our premises in Dublin City Centre. By utilising the full range of advanced technologies and methodologies we have at our disposal, we will be conducting the process in new ways that will not require you to attend Chapter House.

Interviews are held remotely, from the comfort of your home, via video call. The recruitment team will be in touch with you ahead of your interview, with all the details, including your login details to access the video call. If you have difficulty logging into the call, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

You can access our tips for Video interview here.

Due to Covid-19, work practices have largely changed from office to remote working to ensure the safety of all those working across the Civil Service. As an Employer of Choice and under the Programme for Government, the Civil Service is exploring opportunities for employees to work remotely, should you be successful.

Please keep an eye on your Publicjobs.ie Message Board for updates specific to any campaigns you have already applied to, and check this page for more general updates. If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Supporting our clients is a key priority and you can view useful resources on this Client Information Hub link. If you have any queries, please do not hesisitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.