Hundreds of Civil Service applicants may have been impacted by ‘technical issues’

Hundreds of people who applied for a job with the Northern Ireland Civil Service last year may have been impacted by technical issues.

SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan asked an Assembly Question (AQ) on issues during the November 2024 recruitment process for administrative officers.

Responding to the AQ, Finance Minister John O’Dowd said that 510 candidates were unsuccessful at interview as the panel did not have a complete set of responses to the interview questions to assess, which may have been as a result of technical issues.

Mr O’Dowd also said that some 26 complaints have been received relating to technical issues at interview stage and, of those, one candidate was afforded another opportunity to complete one interview question.

Meanwhile, it also emerged that 189 applicants were unsuccessful at interview stage due to “using notes/proxy help”.

Mr McCrossan called for the issues to be addressed.

“For some years I have been highlighting the continued technical issues impacting candidates applying for roles within the civil service,” he said.

“This is no small issue, we are talking about hundreds of candidates being discounted from a fair and open recruitment process due to issues with technology.

“The department has said in the past that these issues are often on the side of the candidates, but if these problems are so prevalent then I would suggest there needs to be a review of the entire process and the move to a model that allows every candidate the same chance of obtaining these roles.

“I am shocked that such a major issue around recruitment for civil service roles has been allowed to continue without action.

“There is a duty on the minister and the department to ensure that we get the best candidate for these jobs.

“It is not good enough for hundreds of candidates to be discounted due to these issues, with just one single person allowed to re-take part of the interview.”

Responding, a spokesperson for the Department of Finance said the “vast majority of interviews were conducted without incident”.

“All interview platforms undergo rigorous testing in advance of competitions,” they said.

“The vast majority of interviews were conducted without incident with just under 5,000 candidates having been invited to interview stage of this competition.

“A number of candidates were unsuccessful due to incomplete interview recordings.

“However, all queries and complaints, including those related to technical issues, were assessed on a case-by-case basis and actioned accordingly.”

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Hundreds of Civil Service applicants may have been impacted by ‘technical issues’

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