Civil service recruitment process

[25thNOV07]

I applied to a civil service job and got an interview, which took place virtually last Monday .
I thought it went well.. but then it has been a long time since I’ve had an interview
They said they’d get back to people in about a week
I have found the waiting quite agonising. My partner says if I would have been successful they’d have already called me up .. but they said they let everyone know together through the jobs website via email.
Has anyone recruited / been successful in a civil service job before? Do they call the successful candidate and wait a while before letting the others down via the website. Or are all candidates including the successful candidate contacted at the same time

No consistency with coming back to people. DH works in civil service, sometimes he's heard next day, sometimes it's been weeks.

For external candidates I would expect everyone to find out at once, via email, and I would say finding out quickly is the exception rather than the rule.

I have been a civil servant for 11 years and ran many recruitment campaigns. Even once the recruiter knows, they pass those details onto CS Jobs, and they often take an age.

Thanks thats good to hear
I was thinking they would tell the successful candidate first and then wait until that’s all confined before letting everyone else down.. as if you tell everyone together what if the first choice turns down the job

As in I understand it taking weeks To hear if you’re unsuccessful. But surely if you’ve been successful you’d hear fairly quickly? I know I was the last interview and it’s been a week plus :,-(

Did the advert mention a reserve list?

What grade is the post and do you know how many posts there were?

A week is genuinely not a long time

It depends on which dept within the CS, they all run their campaigns differently. I was told I was successful at interview but then went onto a list, which I stayed on for 6 months before it was my turn.

Grade 7 , 1 post .. it did mention a reserve list but I don’t think they’ll be drawing on it. Role is quite specific. There were internal and external candidates.
I feel they wouldn’t leave their first choice hanging .. what if they got something else etc?

External candidates would get notification via the website. Internal I would ring them.

But agree it depends on the Department and how many they interviewed.

Thanks @AnneElliott I think that makes sense .. they probably rung up the successful candidate early last week .. and will just leave everyone else hanging until they can be bothered to input scores onto the system. Seems a bit unfair really when they know the outcome to keep people waiting

Also I am “internal” to the civil service but external to the department if that makes any difference
Would you still phone someone out of your department?

In my entire career I have never phoned a candidate. I either told them face to face (if internal) if there was only 1 or 2 posts, or did it all through CS Jobs (which the guidance used to dictate you should).

As an applicant, I was told once on the phone and every other time was CS Jobs.

As I said previously, I wouldn't read much into the wait at all...but it seems like you have already made up your mind that you were unsuccessful!

To be clear, internal would mean in the same department.

Thank you - that’s good to know.
My husband who is used to private sector jobs said if you don’t hear within a day theres no hope .

I guess there may be more admin for civil service jobs - I assume sign off from someone more senior perhaps?

There is no comparison with private sector.

I have uploaded results the day of the interview and no emails were sent out for over a week. But realistically, the people recruiting have other things to do and so probably didn't do it for a few days, if that.

Plus with COVID, many things have slowed down.

For me it was around 3’weeks

Depends if they are interviewing and recruiting for quite a few roles, I had an interview and was told they still had another two weeks of interviews ahead, I actually found out five weeks later, they were slow, now I'm working in that dept I can totally see why it took ages.

I assume you've not applied to many CS jobs before. My personal record was ~6 months post interview to be told I had been unsuccessful (there was a recruitment freeze in the middle of this time).

I really wouldn't read into it too much yet, though. The last time I was successful at interview, I got a call after a few days - and in my experience no news is indeed bad news - but it's too early to infer anything solid if you only interviewed on Monday 18th.

What department, if you don't mind saying?

My last promotion was internal and I was called up and told .. so this is first application to another department (HMRC)
Still haven’t heard!

Fair enough. No personal experience of HMRC, but I wouldn't lose hope yet. Good luck :)

Hi all, I am looking for some advice. I started a job application for the civil service on 14th October 2021. After passing the situational judgement test and competencies, my application has been under review for two weeks. I am waiting on word to see if I am getting an interview or not. Does anyone know how long my application can be under review for. Thank you.

Depends on their timetable for sifting, did it say on the advert? There’s no set timescales, but I’d expect you’ll hear soon. Most people want to get their recruitment done and dusted relatively quickly.

Hello

I recently applied and had a interview for a civil service job. I had the interview on Monday the 14th. I understand that the process for civil service is different in regards to being notified whether to have been unsuccessful or successful.

What is the usual waiting period to hear back.
I have seen a multitude of different answers.

The department is working close to the army and being a veteran myself I understand that things are not always straight forward.

Many thanks
M