In February 2024 publicjobs replaced the Civil Service Competency Model with the Capability Framework for every general service grade, and by 2025 every central competition from Clerical Officer to Principal Officer was running on it. The change is bigger than a new set of headings. It changed what the board can ask, how it marks, and how a candidate with no direct experience in an area can still pass. This guide explains the structure, the differences from the old model, the three kinds of question, and the bands.
What changed, and why it matters in the room
The 2017 Competency Model gave each grade six competencies (for CO: Team Work, Information Management, Delivery of Results, Customer Service and Communication, Specialist Knowledge and Self Development, Drive and Commitment) and boards asked for a past example under each. Preparation was six STAR stories. The Capability Framework keeps the examples but adds two more lines of questioning. publicjobs’ own words: interviews “require candidates to provide evidence and examples of past behaviour. However, they also explore the candidate’s skills, strengths, knowledge, values, motivation and interests. The aim of this approach is to create a two-way dialogue that gives insight into the whole person.”
Candidates who prepared for the old model report interviews that felt off from the first question: they had stories ready and were asked what motivates them, what their knowledge gaps are, which skills they would bring. Both models are still in use. Department-run competitions (Revenue’s own CO campaigns, for example) sometimes keep the Competency Model, and publicjobs says the booklet will always tell you which applies. Read that line before anything else.
The structure
Four Capability Dimensions, with the same overview text at every grade:
- Building Future Readiness. Embracing change and innovation, a customer-centric strategy, an agile and digital-first approach, continual upskilling.
- Evidence Informed Delivery. Evidence-based judgements and decisions, prioritising objectives, managing resources, evaluating outcomes.
- Leading and Empowering. Leading in your area of expertise, inspiring others, developing and supporting colleagues, an inclusive environment. Not assessed at Clerical Officer.
- Communicating and Collaborating. Working together across Government, building relationships, engagement with customers and colleagues that builds trust.
Under each dimension sit sub-dimensions (from EO up), and under those the behavioural indicators and “examples of key skills” written for the grade. The sub-dimension is the unit the board scores.
| Dimension | CO | EO | AO / HEO | AP | PO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building Future Readiness | one block | one block | Digital Focus, Innovation and Upskilling; Strategic Awareness and Change | Digital Focus, Innovation and Upskilling; Strategy, Change and Reform | as AP |
| Evidence Informed Delivery | Delivering Excellence; Handling Information, Problems and Decisions | Delivering Excellence; Managing Information, Problems and Decisions | Delivering Excellence; Analysis, Judgement and Decision Making | as AO | as AO |
| Leading and Empowering | not assessed | Leading, Supporting and Developing; Leading with Specialist Insight | Leading, Motivating and Developing; Leading with Specialist Insight | as AO | Leading, Motivating and Inspiring; Leading with Specialist Insight |
| Communicating and Collaborating | one block | one block | Communicating and Influencing; Engaging and Collaborating | as AO | as AO |
| Scoreable units | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Two consequences. You need an example, or a credible transferable answer, for every unit, which at HEO is eight, not four. And the words change meaning with grade: “Leading with Specialist Insight” at EO is about knowing your area well enough to be the go-to person; at AP it is about being the department’s authority on it and shaping policy from that position. The grade document, not the dimension name, is what to prepare from. The grade guides go through each: CO, EO, AO, HEO, AP.
The three kinds of question
publicjobs publishes example questions for each on its Interview Advice page. Grouped as they group them:
1. Experience, examples and behaviours
- “Please provide a specific example that best demonstrates your capability in the area of Strategy, Change and Reform.”
- “Give your best example of utilising technology/digital solutions to address challenges.”
- “What experience do you have of developing skills and capability within a team?”
This is the STAR territory, and the STAR guide covers how boards mark it. The booklets add that the interviewer “may prompt you on your example, to understand the context, scope and objective”.
2. Skills, strengths and knowledge
- “What key skills do you hold to assist you in managing change/reform?”
- “What strengths have you developed in your career that would help you communicate and influence others?”
- “What are your biggest knowledge gaps in relation to digital focus?”
These are not asking for a story. They are asking you to name a skill or strength, say where it came from, and say where you would use it. The framework’s “examples of key skills” lists are the vocabulary the board is listening for, and you may add your own. The knowledge-gap question is a genuine question: a candidate who names a real gap and what they are doing about it scores higher than one who has none.
3. Values, motivation and interests
- “What values underpinned your approach?”
- “What motivates you to deliver excellence?”
- “Why is an evidence-informed approach valuable?”
- “What aspect of your work is the most interesting?”
Often asked as a follow-up to an example (“what motivated you to act that way?”) and often the moment a well-rehearsed candidate goes quiet. The honest answer is usually short and specific: fairness to the person at the counter, not wanting to be the one who let a deadline slip, liking to find the pattern in the data. Public service motivation questions belong here too; the opening question guide covers them.
The bands and the Potential rule
publicjobs does not print marks in its open-competition booklets. The Department of Social Protection did in its AO ICT 2026 booklet, and it is the clearest public statement of how a framework interview is scored:
| Band | Marks out of 50 | Descriptor |
|---|---|---|
| Fail | 1 to 17 | Insufficient evidence of capability, limited experience or transferable skills, little knowledge of the area at the level required. |
| Potential | 18 to 21 | Some or limited direct experience, but demonstrates capability to learn and holds transferable skills; can describe the correct approach and best-practice principles at the level required. |
| Pass (Good) | 22 to 34 | Good capability and experience at the level required. |
| Pass (Very Good to Excellent) | 35 to 50 | Very good to excellent capability and experience at the level required. |
Eight sub-dimensions, 400 marks. Pass seven; one may be Potential; two Potentials or one Fail and the interview is not passed; order of merit by total. publicjobs’ own candidate advice mirrors the Potential band from the other side: “For areas in which you have limited direct experience, you may wish to reflect on any transferable skills that may be useful and/or how you might go about demonstrating capability in that area, if you were placed into the role.”
The practical reading: decide before the interview which single sub-dimension you will answer with a transferable skill and a described approach, and make sure the other seven have a real example each. Do not let the board choose for you by running out of examples in two areas.
Reading the grade document
Each grade has a poster PDF and an accessible plain-text version on publicjobs.ie. For interview preparation the plain-text version is more useful: every indicator is a sentence beginning with a verb (“Takes ownership of…”, “Uses data to…”), and each one is a question the board can turn into “give me an example of when you…”. Print the sheet for your grade, and against each indicator write the example you would use. Blank rows are your preparation list. The framework is written in the present tense about a person already doing the job; your task is to show the board, through what you have already done, that the description fits.