Applications for Short term entry clearance officers (shteco)

Original post by Wanderlust-x

Hi JordanUK

It is massively frustrating. I also had the original interview day booked off as well as having booked a train ticket and hotel to attend the interview. Neither are refundable so I fully intend on asking them to refund my costs. Like you, I also didn't find out till around 5pm Friday and my interview was supposed to be Monday.

Do you not think a telephone interview is better??

Reply 22

Original post by King.jnr

Do you not think a telephone interview is better??

It certainly has its merits, but I prefer face to face, I think you can make a better connection that way.

Reply 23

Original post by JordanUK

It certainly has its merits, but I prefer face to face, I think you can make a better connection that way.

Why do you think they are cancelling so many interviews that were scheduled for the second week?

Reply 24

Wanderlust-x

5

Original post by King.jnr

Do you not think a telephone interview is better??

There are pluses and negatives to both. Had a telephone interview been offered from the start I would have been fine with that as I am not local to Sheffield, Croydon or London. It's the more the fact they have changed it at such short notice when my travel and hotel had already been arranged and paid for.

Reply 25

Original post by King.jnr

Why do you think they are cancelling so many interviews that were scheduled for the second week?

I really have no idea, the non-cynical side of me thinks that there must be some genuine reason eg- a requirement for meeting rooms that would have otherwise have been used for interviews in Sheffield, or perhaps many people in the recruitment team being off so they are under resourced. The cynical side of me thinks the roles may have all been filled internally with existing civil servants being freed from their normal departments to carry out this work on loan to the HO. But i suppose time will tell!

Reply 26

Original post by Wanderlust-x

There are pluses and negatives to both. Had a telephone interview been offered from the start I would have been fine with that as I am not local to Sheffield, Croydon or London. It's the more the fact they have changed it at such short notice when my travel and hotel had already been arranged and paid for.

I know that you're in an unfortunate position but I would probably not mention being reimbursed.

Reply 27

Original post by JordanUK

I really have no idea, the non-cynical side of me thinks that there must be some genuine reason eg- a requirement for meeting rooms that would have otherwise have been used for interviews in Sheffield, or perhaps many people in the recruitment team being off so they are under resourced. The cynical side of me thinks the roles may have all been filled internally with existing civil servants being freed from their normal departments to carry out this work on loan to the HO. But i suppose time will tell!

I also think they would of probably received many applications from existing civil servants wanting a break abroad. Anyway we'll see..

Reply 28

Wanderlust-x

5

Original post by JordanUK

I really have no idea, the non-cynical side of me thinks that there must be some genuine reason eg- a requirement for meeting rooms that would have otherwise have been used for interviews in Sheffield, or perhaps many people in the recruitment team being off so they are under resourced. The cynical side of me thinks the roles may have all been filled internally with existing civil servants being freed from their normal departments to carry out this work on loan to the HO. But i suppose time will tell!

Original post by King.jnr

I also think they would of probably received many applications from existing civil servants wanting a break abroad. Anyway we'll see..

I'm an existing Civil Servant and we are in the same mix as the external candidates. I genuinely have no idea as to why they changed everything around at such short notice, but it's definitely not because internal staff have been appointed already. Some of us internals are still waiting to be interviewed :-)

Reply 29

Original post by Wanderlust-x

I'm an existing Civil Servant and we are in the same mix as the external candidates. I genuinely have no idea as to why they changed everything around at such short notice, but it's definitely not because internal staff have been appointed already. Some of us internals are still waiting to be interviewed :-)

That's very good to hear actually. See, it's a good job I mentioned I have a non-cynical side too :colondollar:

Reply 30

I think i would have preferred a telephone interview actually, and pretty surprised that they have even offered those, would have thought face to face would have been imperative to this kind of role (with exceptions to those that are abroad).

Got my face to face interview this morning - feeling nervous!

Reply 31

hazelc123

How did the interview go?

Reply 32

Original post by hazelc123

How did the interview go?

Well, i was initially pretty nervous but the interviewers soon made me feel at ease. There was one person from Manpower (recruitment firm) and the other interviewer was a Home Office employee.

There was nothing surprising asked in the interview, there was one question for each of the three competencies and then they probed further for more information. It was exactly what they said in the interview guidance information we were sent.

In hindsight i feel like i may have rambled quite a bit so i just hope amongst the rambling there were some decent things said to get me through! It's impossible to say how it went really, all seemed positive but time will tell!

My advice, keep answers concise and focused, highlighting what you did in your examples to demonstrate those competencies. I kept on saying 'we' and correcting it to 'i'. And they really are only interested in what you did individually.

So now i'm back to playing the waiting game - eagerly awaiting a response!

Reply 33

How did everyone's interviews go?

it's been a week since mine and my application status still says "scheduled for 1st interview".

Reply 34

Original post by jas27

How did everyone's interviews go?

it's been a week since mine and my application status still says "scheduled for 1st interview".

Hi Jas,

Mine seemed to go OK but you never can tell really. My status is still the same on the website. I'm not sure when the last interview is, but I'm hoping we'll hear something back sometime next week!

Reply 35

I take it nobody has heard anything back yet?

Reply 36

Original post by JordanUK

I take it nobody has heard anything back yet?

I received the following e-mail today:

Dear <FN>
Thank you for attending an interview for the post of Short Term Entry Clearance Officer.
We are in the process of collating all interview scores and updating our systems; due to the volume of applications received this is taking longer than expected.

We expect to be able to share the outcome of your application by Mid-May but will update you sooner if we are able to.
We apologise for the delay.
Kind regards
STECO Resourcing Support Team

Reply 37

Original post by jas27

I received the following e-mail today:

Dear <FN>
Thank you for attending an interview for the post of Short Term Entry Clearance Officer.
We are in the process of collating all interview scores and updating our systems; due to the volume of applications received this is taking longer than expected.

We expect to be able to share the outcome of your application by Mid-May but will update you sooner if we are able to.
We apologise for the delay.
Kind regards
STECO Resourcing Support Team

Ah right I see, I didn't get that email :frown:

wondering if I've been written off already? I hate not knowing but I suppose that's just how it is.

Reply 38