With more than 80 million travellers coming through Heathrow Airport every year, thousands of security officer staff are needed to keep things moving. From screening baggage to patrolling terminals, they play a crucial role in running the airport. It needed a candidate experience that would keep applicants engaged with the process and reassured about what the role might entail, as well as enable it to hire more than 1,000 security officers a year.

At the centre of this experience is a new security officer recruitment and assessment portal. Each section of the portal is video-led – making it easier for candidates to understand the process. Stage one is a bespoke virtual testing platform, where the organisation can screen for essential skills and mindset. This included a situational judgement exercise, a spatial reasoning exercise and a details checking exercise. The next stage was a video-only assessment centre, which managed to engage 250 candidates per week. Finally there was a medical check and security interview, and because this can seem daunting to candidates, the portal walks them through all possible questions, the documentation they will need and how to get there.

Heathrow has recruited more than 1,600 security officers through this process, with a significant increase in the number of candidates it could see, and those passing the assessment centre. Screening, interview and assessment times reduced from weeks to days, and net promoter scores for the overall experience are high.