Our application process

If your CV shows us that you have the right skills, qualifications, and experience, we’ll ask you through to our interview and assessment stage.

When our recruitment team gets in touch to ask through to Interview and Assessment, they’ll make clear what the process will look like for you.

During Covid we moved our interviews online, as well as most of our assessments. We’ll keep reviewing our processes in-line with government advice and update them where needed.

This stage can vary with the type of role you’re applying for, but for most engineering roles you’ll start with a video interview with the hiring manager, and sometimes another colleague who might be there to ask further questions and take notes. They’ll be trying to understand what motivates you, what your passions are, and how well you might fit into the team and our working culture. It’s a great chance to show your personality, so remember to be open and authentic.

These interviews can be anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour, so it’s best to make sure you’re comfortable and free from distractions. Find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed, turn off your phone, and make sure your broadband is working smoothly. If you’re new to Microsoft Teams, or other video conferencing tools, then it’s a good idea to test them out before the interview – you don’t want any last-minute technical hitches to throw you off balance.

If all goes well and you pass the interview stage, we’ll invite you to join a group of candidates at an assessment centre, where you’ll spend a day completing a range of tasks. The assessment day will involve a suitability and capability interview with a line-manager, a Maths, English, or ICT test, and a task designed to test how well you can understand and complete written instructions.

Once you’ve been through your video interview and your day at the assessment centre, we’ll make a decision on whether the role is right for you. We’ll get in touch by email, either to let you know you haven’t been successful this time, or to make you an offer.

For us to make an offer, we need to make sure that we have both the right vacancy for you and an available slot at your nearest training school. Usually this happens pretty quickly, but if we’re filling a lot of roles at once, or there’s a training backlog, it may take a little longer. 

You’ll start your new job by meeting your manager and your new team - they’ll help you get settled in, show you around, and answer any questions you might have. Your manager will also make sure you have all the practical things you need to get started, like your pass and access to any equipment you might need. You may also need to complete some mandatory training.

During your first month, you’ll meet plenty of new people and learn lots of new skills. Your manager will work with you closely – they’ll make sure you know what’s expected of you and help you to set achievable goals. Our working culture is all about supporting each other and it won’t be long before you feel completely at home, both in your team and within the wider Openreach family.

Top Tips For Your CV

Once you’ve answered these questions, we’ll take a look at your CV. Your CV is  your chance to make a great first impression, so make sure you’ve spent some time polishing it up.  Because they see so many, recruiters are looking for CVs that stand out and make them want to keep reading. Here are our top tips for making sure your CV doesn’t get lost in the crowd.

Get Straight to the Point

On average, you’ve got about 10 seconds to hook a recruiter, otherwise they’ll just move on to the next CV in the pile. They want to know if you’ve got the skills and experience needed for the job – so make it as easy as possible for them to find out. You don’t need a long introduction, just hit them with the key information as quickly and clearly as possible.

Show, Don’t Tell

The best way to make your skills and experience really shine is for you to ‘show’ and not ‘tell’. You could tell us that project management is one of your key skills – but then so could everybody else. Or you could show us, by pointing out the project that you delivered on time and within budget - which would have a much greater impact. A recruiter, or hiring manager, will always be impressed by proof of your skills in action, so include any facts or figures that show you can get results.

Tailor Your CV

You read the job advert and realised that it was a match for your skills and experience. Then you did a little digging on us and realised that it was not just the right role, but the right company for you too - now you need to show us why we’d be such a great fit for each other. We can only go by what your CV tells us, so make sure you tailor it to highlight the things that make you perfect for us and the job. A good rule of thumb is to check it against the job description in the advert, because those are the skills we’re looking for.

What Your CV Secretly Says About You

Your CV isn’t just a record of your skills and experience, it also shows us how well you communicate and how much care you put into your work. Don’t let careless mistakes send your CV back to the pile – remember to always check it for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting.

Show Us Who You Are

While skills and experience are crucial, we also want to hire the right character for the job, so don’t be afraid to show us some of your personality. This is where your covering letter can really earn its stripes- it’s the perfect place to put the spotlight on who you are and what makes you tick.

Top tips for your interview

Be Yourself

It’s normal to be nervous before an interview, but we’re not here to trip you up – be as natural as you can and show us your personality. We want to get to know a bit about the real you.

Dress Sensibly

While you don’t need to wear a suit on Microsoft Teams, first impressions still matter. Make sure you wear something that’s suitable for a job interview, even if it’s over video.

Location, Location, Location

Find a quiet spot, preferably at home, with reliable broadband. If you’re worried about being interrupted, or the interview cutting out because of poor signal, you probably won’t be able to focus on making your best impression.

Ask Questions

Don’t think of the interview as a one-way street. Be inquisitive and enthusiastic and if you want to know something, don’t be afraid to ask. As much as we need to find out if you’re right for us, you need to find out if we’re right for you.