Overly Bureaucratic Recruitment Process with Poor Communication. I applied for the Immigration Officer (Immigration Enforcement) role in May 2024 and completed the required strengths-based assessment by the deadline of 23 May, scoring higher than 61% of all Civil Service candidates. Although the process was advertised as timely, the initial sifting and interview stages were significantly delayed, and my interview did not take place until late July. Afterwards, I was informed that I had met the required standard but was being placed on a reserve list until August 2025, with no immediate job offer. In March 2025, I received an interim email asking whether I was still interested in remaining on the list, to which I responded positively. Despite confirming my continued interest and reaching out proactively to the HR Resource Team, I received no further communication — only an automated message in August confirming that I had been removed from the reserve list. While the Civil Service recruitment process is designed to be fair and structured, my experience was that it became overly bureaucratic and lacked transparency. For candidates who invest substantial time and effort in assessments and interviews, the absence of meaningful feedback or follow-up is both discouraging and inefficient. A more responsive and candidate-centred approach would greatly improve the experience.

A strength based interview. A board of 2 interviewers asking strength based questions. I didn’t really enjoy the interview as I thought that it was very robotic and not a 2 way interview at all. It took a long time to hear back from them too.