The Post Secondary Recruitment Campaign will run from September 11, 2014 to October 2, 2014 this year. Every year, tens of thousands of applications are received for a few coveted positions, A main reason that many university students do not succeed is due to a lack of adequate planning and preparation. A sound knowledge of how to correctly prepare your resume, study for the Government exams, and practice for Government of Canada interviews are imperative for success.
What’s new this year?
This year, the Public Service Commission (PSC) will require job candidates to write a supervised Public Service Entrance Exam (PSEE) test. The new PSEE will have the same format as the unsupervised PSEE, but will have more questions. Although not mentioned by the PSC, job candidates can expect the supervised exam to be more difficult than the unsupervised PSEE. The PSC has also removed the Situational Judgement Test and the Graduate Recruitment Test from the first stage of testing. Note that departments request that these exams are written during their additional screening processes. This is why we have kept them in our preparation package.
How will the process work this year?
Applicants are invited to apply to four career streams. The streams have been chosen based on the specialized areaspresently in demand. Once the pools have been established, departments are invited to draw from the pool of pre-screened candidates. The career streams chosen for this year are:
- Business and social sciences;
Applicants applying to this stream will conduct research, use the principles of economics to explore new ways to develop or enhance government politics, and support the relationships between global governments and the government’s interactions with private enterprises. Positions include the following tasks:
- Developing, analyzing and interpreting qualitative and quantitative information for the purposes of editing legislation, drafting policies or conducting studies;
- Analyzing, evaluating and applying statistics, survey methods and systems;
- Conducting research, analysis and evaluation of economic or sociological issues;
- Determining statistical measures and techniques for data analysis and reporting;
- Providing advice or forecasting in the fields of economics, sociology and statistics; and
- Planning surveys and censuses.
Graduates in the areas of: Social sciences, economics, sociology, statistics, accounting, commerce, finance, and/or business administration should consider applying to this stream.
- Health sciences;
Applicants applying to this stream will design, implement and evaluate federal programs such as mental health, child health, healthy living, injury prevention, emergency response and community medicine. The federal public service also offers in research, regulation of food and drug products, transportation safety and epidemiology. This year’s campaign will be actively recruiting nurses and psychologists.
- Information technology; and
Applicants applying to this stream will be working to support the IT infrastructure of the Government of Canada. Positions include the following tasks:
- Researching emerging technologies;
- Installing, testing and configuring new hardware and systems;
- Policy and strategy development;
- Administering an organizational network;
- Providing systems operations, maintenance and support;
- Performing systems analyses; and
- Data warehousing.
Graduates in the areas of: Computer programming, computer science, computer systems, computer engineering technology and/or information technology should consider applying to this stream.
- Pure, natural and applied sciences
This stream is broken into four sub sections: i) The researchers Whether conducting tests and performing research in a laboratory environment or working to affect legislative and regulatory standards, scientists who work for the Government of Canada directly affect the lives of Canadians. ii) Chemists Chemists be involved in: Performing chemical analyses and scientific assessments for diagnostic and testing purposes; training technicians, chemists and students in the theoretical and practical aspects of laboratory techniques and procedures; and/or advising private, provincial and federal laboratories and industry representatives on scientific methodologies and equipment. iii) Biologists The roles of a biologist include: Establishing legislative and regulatory standards and assessing industry compliance; negotiations with Canadian and foreign governments and international standard-setting bodies and providing advice on scientific issues. iv) Physical sciences Physical scientists, working in multi-disciplinary teams, are involved in a variety of projects including: Geographic research; supporting the development, evaluation, and research applications for water circulation and ecosystem models; developing new methodologies for modelling efforts and contributing to the preparation of scientific papers and reports. How will applicants be tested this year?
1) On-line testing (unsupervised) – Public Service Entrance Exam
- The unsupervised Public Service Entrance Exam (PSEE UIT 370) is divided into two sub-tests: the Test of Reasoning and the Test of Judgement. All applicants are required to take the Test of Reasoning (sub-test 1), the Test of Judgement (sub-test 2) is required only if additional information is needed to complete the assessment.
- The PSEE can be written in an unsupervised environment anywhere the applicant has access to a computer and an Internet connection.
- An applicant is permitted to write the PSEE once. Your score will be applied to all PSR jobs to which you apply this year. You will only be invited to attend an in-person testing session if you pass the on-line PSEE.
- Applicants will not be informed of their exact scores.
- An invitation to write the PSEE will be sent on October 9 and the exam must be completed before October 15, 2014.
2) The supervised Public Service Entrance Exam (PSEE) A new, supervised PSEE (PSEE 371) will be administered this year. As a result, current valid scores for the Graduate Recruitment Test and the Situational Judgement Test will not be applicable to this year’s campaign. Applicants who succeeded on the unsupervised PSEE will be required to write the supervised PSEE. Here are preliminary details on the supervised test: The PSEE 371 is a supervised test consisting of two separately timed sub-tests: Sub-Test 1: Test of Reasoning assesses reasoning and problem-solving ability and consists of 30 multiple choice questions. There are four types of questions:
- Arithmetic reasoning:
- Logical reasoning;
- Analytical reasoning; and
- Number or letter series.
You will have 90 minutes to complete this sub-test. Sub-Test 2: Test of Judgement assesses the judgement required for solving problems in work-related situations and consists of 40 multiple choice questions. You will have 60 minutes to complete this sub-test. Total test time is approximately 3 hours, including 30 minutes of administration time.
What resources does IG provide?
Our team provides a suite of services that will assist you to prepare for this year’s campaign:
- The IG Resume (and Cover letter) Revision Service with the Platinum Study Guide, for more information click here
- The IG Platinum Guide, for more information click here
- The IG PSSE Study Guide, for more information click here
- The IG SJT Study Guide, for more information click here
- The IG GRT Study Guide, for more information click here
Dates to remember September 11, 2014
- Post Secondary Recruitment opens.
- Applicants have three weeks to apply.
October 2, 2014
- Last day for applicants to submit applications.
October 9, 2014
- E-mail invitation is sent to applicants with instructions on writing the PSEE.
October 9 to 15, 2014
- Applicants must complete the unsupervised PSEE within this time frame.
October 28, 2014
- If the applicant passes the unsupervised PSEE, an e-mail will be sent with instructions on how to register for the supervised PSEE.
October 28 to 31, 2014
- Registration period for the supervised PSEE.
November to mid-December 2014
- The supervised PSEE is administered across and abroad on specified dates.
End of January 2015 and onward
- If the supervised PSEE is passed, applicants be referred for job.
Source: http://jobs-emplois.gc.ca/psr-rp/index-eng.php