Your interview
If you’re successful in reaching the interview stage, you’ll receive an email explaining how to book your interview slot. Most interviews last around an hour. You’ll be assessed against the criteria set out in the job advert. This may include:
Behaviours
Experience
Technical skills or knowledge
Strengths (usually assessed at interview only)
Any other assessment methods outlined in the advert
When answering questions about your Experience or Behaviours, you may find it helpful to use the STAR method to structure your responses. Strengths questions focus on what you naturally do well. There are no right or wrong answers. We’re most interested in your instinctive responses rather than rehearsed examples.
For some roles, you may be asked to prepare a presentation on a given subject area or complete a technical test. If this is the case, we’ll let you know ahead of your interview.
Watch this video for advice on how to prepare for an interview.
Your application results
If your application is unsuccessful, we’ll email you your scores for each element that was assessed. We aim to offer additional feedback to everyone who attends an interview, but this isn’t always possible for roles with a high volume of applications.
If your application is successful, we’ll send you a provisional offer of employment. This will be subject to pre-appointment checks – including eligibility checks – as listed in the job advert. These checks can take several weeks, and your formal offer and start date cannot be confirmed until they are successfully completed.
If you are currently employed, please do not hand in your notice until you have received confirmation of passing your checks and a formal offer.
Once you’ve accepted your formal offer, you’ll receive an employment contract from our Shared Service Centre. This is typically issued around your start date rather than before it. In the meantime, the standard terms and conditions for your role can be found in the original job advert.
Document checks
As part of our pre-employment checks, we’ll ask you to provide copies of certain documents (download document).
Security checks
If you’re not currently a civil servant, you’ll need to pass a security check before you start. Existing civil servants moving from another department will also need to meet the required level. The level of National Security Vetting and Security Clearance required for the role will be stated in the job advert.
To complete your security check, you’ll usually need to have been resident in the UK for a minimum period before applying:
- 3 years for CTC clearance
- 5 years for SC clearance
- 10 years for DV clearance
If you haven’t lived in the UK for the required period, this doesn’t automatically prevent you from getting clearance. Please contact the recruiting manager named in the job advert for advice.
Find out more about the different types of security checks on GOV.UK.