Border Force, Readiness Task Force (RTF)

Has anyone else received a provisional offer for RTF? I submitted my video interview on 28/06/20 and was told on 09/07/20 that I had met the required standard and that I was being placed on the reserve list for Gatwick. Literally one day later I received a provisional offer and am now in the pre-employment check stage.

Wow that’s so quick! Was this for the May 2020 application? I was told I reached the standard for interview but no interviews going ahead atm. Congrats though!

Thank you! I originally got the exact same email but then I got a link to an interview sent a couple of weeks later. Have a look at my reply to Tay, hopefully that brings some reassurance

You basically sit in front of your webcam or phone and a question appears on the screen which you have 30 seconds to read. Then it automatically starts filming your response. It is weird to not be speaking to an actual person! They do give you a practice question though so you can see how it all works.

The questions are all a mixture of strengths and behaviours based. Obviously you can’t prepare for the strengths questions but for the behaviour ones just make sure you have a couple of examples prepared from the 4 behaviours that they are looking for and use the STAR response when answering

I did my interview on 26th June, recieved an email stating I had passed (Outstanding Demonstration) and was going on a reserve list on 15th July, 16th July recieved a provisional offer and am now doing pre-employment checks

Congratulations!!!

do you mind sharing your interview scores ? also, where did your apply for ?

Behaviours 27, Strengths 16 - Total 43
No idea what they mean though.
I put down Heathrow.

I'm not sure whether I will ultimately take the job, although I have accepted the provisional offer. I would like to have some idea of the shifts and take home pay, but thats pretty hard to find out. Also would like to know about potential career progression/promotion prospects.

You got really good scores.

What I know so far about the job is its a shift pattern, early, late and nights. depending on your location it could be either 10 hour or 12 hour shift. You travel around and do a variety of work. You always get day offs to compensate with your shift patterns.

If you are already in the Civil Service then your basic salary will be calculated accordingly and your starting salary will be matched. If you are an external candidate then you will get a basic salary £27,762 (initially). When your training is completed then additional 48.65% of the basic.


In terms of the promotion, I would say you can always apply for a promotion as long as you meet the criteria. I think this job would give you an opportunity to learn a lot of skills and do a variety of work which would ultimately give you a mix of competencies for the promotions.

You’re welcome and good luck!!!

I did my video interview yesterday, just wanted to thank you again for your pointers and advice! Will let you know my scores when I receive them. How long did it take you to get your interview results?

Fingers crossed for you! I’m still waiting, out of curiosity what did you get for your application score? Wondering if that impacts the order of interviews.

Thank you, I’m really hoping I’ll find out soon as interview scores seem to be one of the quicker parts to come through! Well I got a 4 in my application which I was quite disappointed with myself about as I didn’t use the success profiles for the application like I should have. I have since applied for another BF position and used the profiles and although I haven’t received the score for that but feel a lot more confident in it already. But as I got an interview for RTF (which would be my preferred position anyway) I still met the minimum standards. Where did you apply for? As that could also maybe be a contributing factor?

That’s interesting, I got the same. 4 also disappointed but I had a feeling it was going to be my weakest compared to the other 3. I put down 3 choices, Gatwick, Heathrow and Folkestone in order of distance of commute. Where did you put down?

I would imagine you would hear soon then, you could always email recruitment and ask for an update if they have one . I went for Folkestone and Dover I think! The interview email really took me by a nice surprise as I really wasn’t expecting it due to seeing so many people wait around 6-12 months, so just keep waiting and where they’ve told you you’ve met the requirements you will get an interview. Good luck, I’m sure you’ll do great.

I’m still waiting to hear. I took my video interview on 23rd July, thinking about emailing GRS to find out about any updates.