Application Process

You will complete an online application form. The progress of your application will be highlighted to you as you complete the relevant sections.

Where a vacancy covers multiple locations, you will be able to select your preferred location in order of preference.

Once you have submitted the application you will receive a confirmation email and an invite to undertake a Behavioural Based Assessment.

The test will consist of a series of Game Based Assessments that look at your natural tendencies in a variety of situations. This assessment can be completed on a smartphone, tablet, or a laptop/desktop computer, and you will need to set aside 45 minutes to complete the assessment. Following completion of the assessment if you are successful you will be progressed to video sift.

If you apply for multiple vacancies you will only need to take the assessment once as the result will be shared across all applications.

The video sift should take approximately 30 minutes to complete, you will be asked a series of questions where you will then get the opportunity to video record your answer.

You will recieve an email with a link to a website where you will be asked a series of questions, the system will then video record your responses.

You will have 7 days to complete your video sift.

If successful following the video sift stage you will be invited to attend an Online Assessment Centre (OAC). During the OAC you will take part in different activities which should allow you to further demonstrate your strengths in the Success Profiles for the role of Border Force Officer/Border Force Apprentice.

When you join the OAC, you’ll be welcomed by a host and will receive an initial briefing along with some other candidates. From there, you’ll then be guided through the process by a facilitator, who will talk you through everything you need to know to complete each exercise and make sure you’re set up successfully for each one.

Within your Online Assessment Centre for Border Force Officer roles you will undertake an interview and a comprehension test. For Border Force Apprentice roles you will undertake an interview and a written test.

To help you be as prepared as possible and minimise the chance that we won’t be able to progress your assessment, you should work through the OAC checklist OAC Environment Checklist to ensure you have the correct technology to enable you to complete the assessments. This is extremely important and may jeopardise our ability to assess you if not completed.

Where we have more successful candidates than roles, or where roles are not currently available, you may be placed on a reserve list for up to 12 months if you've met the required standard. We will try to offer you one of your preferred locations, so please only list locations that you are prepared to work at. In some circumstances, we may offer you an alternative similar role or different location. You should consider the offer carefully, before accepting. If you decline an alternative role, you will remain on the reserve list. If you accept an alternative role you will be withdrawn from the reserve list. Please note there are no guarantees that further vacancies will arise in the locations you originally applied for, before your time on the reserve list expires.

Provisional offers of employment at this stage will be made via email. Please keep an eye on your Application Centre and inbox for updates. Please note, offers need to be accepted within 4 calendar days, details of what happens next will be on the correspondence. If you do not accept the provisional offer within 4 calendar days, your offer may be withdrawn.

Please refer to FAQ or chat bot if you have any queries relating to your offer. Contact information is also available on the advert.

When an offer of employment is made to you there are some additional requirements that must be completed satisfactorily before you can start. The additional requirements are known as pre-employment or vetting checks and you must satisfy the requirement to prove your identity, where you live and your right to work in the UK and the Civil Service initially. When you successfully pass this first stage, further checks are undertaken to confirm criminal records, health and employment history.

We will ask you to provide an ID document, proof of address and right to work in the UK. in order to meet this requirement. A list of acceptable ID documents will be attached to the advert. To ensure you have all the correct documenation please use our ID document checker.

Please ensure that you provide the documentation requested within 48 hours of receiving the request since we are unable to proceed without them and your offer might be withdrawn. If you anticipate any problems in supplying this documentation please do not hesitate to the Recruitment Team on 0345 528 0427 or email HO-Recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we seek to offer interviews for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria, as published in the relevant job advert. We offer a similar scheme for Veterans, in line with the initiative, A Great Place to Work for Veterans, and also for civil servants at risk of redundancy. If you wish to apply for consideration under these schemes, please complete the appropriate section on the online application form so that we can make any necessary arrangements.