Civil Service applicants unsuccessful over interview tech issues

Hundreds of people have been unsuccessful in Northern Ireland Civil Service job interviews due to technical issues.

The finance minister has revealed that 446 candidates had problems such as sound and video issues which led to their application failing to progress.

Dr Caoimhe Archibald said that out of the 2,698 people who have submitted a video assessment in the current financial year, 446 candidates were unsuccessful, mainly due to sound and/or video issues.

The Department of Finance said the predominant issue was "due to end user/candidate technical issues and not the online platform".

Archibald was responding to a question by SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan.

He said that 427 candidates faced similar 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," McCrossan 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."

A spokesman for the Department of Finance said the online interview platform had been through "rigorous testing in advance of go live".

"Investigations have indicated the number of participants who were unsuccessful in a pre-recorded interview process was predominantly due to end user/candidate technical issues and not the online platform," he added.

The department said candidates invited to interview are given advice in advance on what to do if they had issues with set up due to compatibility or software issues including a help centre link with troubleshooting steps.

"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," the spokesperson said.