Hundreds of candidates for Northen Ireland Civil Service jobs affected by tech problems with pre-recorded interviews


Ministers have admitted that issues with sound and video have resulted in an inability to progress the applications of about one in six job candidates making a prepared multimedia submission

Problems with remotely recorded video assessments have cost hundreds of job applicants the chance to work for the Northern Ireland Civil Service in recent months, it has emerged.

Northern Ireland’s finance minister, Caoimhe Archibald, said that so far this financial year 446 candidates had issues such as sound or video failings with their assessment that led to their application not progressing.

In a formal answer to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Archibald said that 2,698 candidates had submitted video assessments for jobs in 2024-25, meaning the tech problems equated to a fail rate of around one in six.

The Department of Finance told BBC News that the NICS online interview platform had been through “rigorous testing” before it went live. It said investigations into issues with the pre-recorded interview process showed that “end user” technical issues were the predominant problem, rather than the platform itself.


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A spokesperson said: “The prerecord interview format, which is widely used in both the public and private sector, uses modern technology allowing candidates to complete their interview at a time of their choice. It also speeds up the interview process and reduces costs.”

MLA Daniel McCrossan, whose question elicited Archibald’s response, said 427 prospective civil servants had faced comparable technical issues the year before.

“For 873 people to lose out due to technical difficulties in the last few years, it is not good enough and the inability to manage online interviews in the correct manner raises serious questions around this entire process,” he said. “I really feel for all of the candidates who applied for these jobs in good faith and have been impacted by this technical failure.”

Jim Dunton

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