Oonagh Tierney

"My personality types don’t necessarily match with my job, but that makes it interesting too. I am very outgoing and enjoy dealing with people, so in that way my personality fits with Communicator as I work with the interviewers/ customers and building an understanding of and relationship with them. However, I would not be the 'traditional' person who would sit behind a computer all day and analyse data. I enjoy logic and with computers and data it is either right or wrong so I enjoy the challenge of getting it right. I genuinely enjoy learning and there is plenty of scope for that here. Computer software is always changing and we have to see how we can adapt our department in somewhere that represents the smartphone generation as well as those individuals with no access to the internet. "

"I have currently been tasked with looking at increasing efficiency and cost-effectiveness with the branch so I am collecting data on our survey interviewer behaviours to analyse. I receive data from various departments within the branch which I combine to produce the analysis. I use SQL to manage the database and write the code to produce the desired outcome. I examine things like what time interviewers made calls to houses and which of these days/times were most successful. I look for patterns in success rates/ refusal rates throughout the year and what could impact this ie summer holidays and how best to deal with this. An example is we have decided to reduce our allocation to interviewers in July and December as these were our least successful months. We have a good response rate in September so we will issue more in this month. Some of the surveys might be interested in specific behaviours and how they differ, for example, in an urban/ rural setting so I try and provide whatever information is requested. This is normally presented in a report format. Ultimately, budgets are getting tighter and the way we communicate is changing. I am trying to make sure our interviewers are displaying the most effective behaviours to maximise their chances of getting a complete interview at an address to ensure our customers can receive the best service we can provide. "

"I started a degree in Glasgow and decided I wasn’t ready so left university and travelled around Europe working in bars and restaurants. I came back to NI and completed my degree; BSc Hons Psychology. There weren’t many jobs around at the time so I went to teach English in Seoul, S. Korea for a year before returning to take up my post in NISRA."

"I have three young boys so I enjoy spending time with them and socialising with my friends. I am lucky enough to work part-time (Tues-Thurs) and NISRA have been very flexible with that. It allows me to better balance the needs of the job with the needs of my family."

"I start work at 7.30 and after a large coffee I will begin working on SQL. Depending on what I am looking for I will edit existing SQL code/ databases or I will create new ones. I will examine the output and put this into excel or Power Bi to see if I can see any obvious relationships or trends. If something becomes apparent I will go back to SQL and write/ edit code to try and further establish this relationship. Ultimately I might begin/ finish a report containing the tables and a narrative."

"Secondary education : 10 GCSE A-B Post secondary education : A-Level English, Theatre studies and French Undergraduate degree : BSc Hons Psychology."