How to prepare for your Virtual Assessment Centre

You’ll need ID

Before you start the virtual assessment, we’ll ask you to upload a valid photo ID – this could be a copy of your passport, driving licence, National ID card, or biometric residence permit card. If you don’t have any of these documents, please let us know when you receive your invitation and we’ll be happy to help.

Help with the process

Our recruitment process is straightforward, but we appreciate there’s a lot of information to take in. That’s why we’ll invite you to join a webinar before the virtual assessment takes place. The webinar explains the process in depth from start to finish and gives you an opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

The tech you’ll need

The interview will take approximately 1 hour to complete, please ensure you have good internet connection, a quiet space and your computer / tablet/ smartphone is fully charged and ready to go

Whatever device you use, you’ll need a working microphone that allows us to clearly hear your answers to the questions. It could be a good idea to test your microphone quality beforehand by making an audio recording of your own or sending a voice note to a friend and then listening to it back.

After you’ve had your interview, we’ll aim to get back to you with the results within five days.

Getting ready

We’ll email you the Zoom link to your virtual assessment interview – just click the link to join and follow the instructions on screen. We ask that you join about 10 minutes before the scheduled time if possible. You might be held in a virtual waiting room for a little while at this point but don’t worry, you’re in the right place and a member of our team will let you in at the scheduled time.

Important reminder

You will need to request your 5-year employment history directly from HMRC during this process.

If you’ve not already done so, we would advise that you request this immediately.

If your application is successful, this document will be needed as part of the referencing process post offer and will also assist you in completing the online Referencing form..

Instructions of how to download the HMRC 5 Year History letter:

  1. Click on the link – Personal tax account: sign in or set up. This link is at the bottom of the page under the “More on GOV.UK”- GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/log-in-register-hmrc-online-services) – and either sign in/create an account for Government Gateway. For this, you will need your National Insurance number.
  2. Upon completing the necessary steps and verification, your name should appear in the “Account home” box, if so click Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
  3. Next click on PAYE Income Tax History and you will then be able to save the page as a PDF by selecting “Print” and then change the printer name to “Save as PDF”.

Once you’ve saved this you will be able to print the copy and bring this along to your Security Interview.

This form will need to be seen by the Security team and also by the Reference and Vetting team so you may be asked to email a copy to the referencing team at a later date.

We’re aware that for some candidates will not be able to download their 5 year history. If this is the case, please email us at [email protected] to make us aware.

The refencing and vetting process

There’s nothing more important to us than the safety of passengers and the public. That’s why we take candidate referencing and vetting so seriously. The process takes up to 15 weeks. Here’s what you can expect during that time:

  • We’ll contact all of your referees.
  • We’ll ask you to apply for and complete a Counter-Terrorism Check.
  • You’ll complete a Criminal Records Check.
  • We’ll ask you to take an in-depth online security awareness training course.
  • We’ll verify all the documents and references you give us.
  • Once all of this is complete, we’ll confirm your start date, terminal, and shift patterns.