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Border Force Officer selection and Civil Service tests
Border Force Officers are recruited as civil servants through Success Profiles. Recent campaigns started with online Civil Service tests and a strengths-based video interview – here is what the Home Office has published.
- Online tests, then a video interview
- Assessed with Success Profiles
Photo: Global Residence Index on Unsplash
What we know about the selection process
Border Force is a law enforcement arm of the Home Office, responsible for managing UK border control. Officers are recruited as civil servants, and the selection stages are set out in each campaign advert. The most detailed description we have read is the Home Office’s November 2024 campaign for Border Force Officers and Assistant Officers, which has since closed (Home Office Careers, November 2024).
Success Profiles
That campaign used Success Profiles and assessed strengths, ability and experience. Success Profiles is the Civil Service recruitment framework, with five elements: behaviours, strengths, ability, experience and technical. GOV.UK defines strengths as the things we do regularly, do well and that motivate us, and ability as the aptitude or potential to perform to the required standard (GOV.UK – Success Profiles).
Online tests
After confirming your eligibility, the November 2024 campaign invited applicants to complete a Civil Service Verbal Test, Numerical Test and Customer Service Test. Other Civil Service campaigns use the Civil Service Judgement Test, an untimed online situational judgement test in which you rate four possible actions for each workplace scenario as counterproductive, ineffective, fairly effective or effective. Your score is shown as a percentile against a comparison group, and meeting the minimum standard does not mean you will automatically be invited to the next stage (GOV.UK – Preparing for the Civil Service Judgement Test). Check which tests your advert names.
Strengths-based video interview
Applicants who passed the online tests in 2024 were invited to a strengths-based interview, recorded as a pre-recorded video with a deadline for completion.
What the role asks for
The 2024 advert listed essential criteria including the professional behaviours and integrity of a law enforcement organisation, interpersonal and communication skills, a genuine interest in people, flexibility in solving problems, the ability to manage difficult situations with confidence and an objective, analytical approach. New officers received up to eight weeks of classroom and on-the-job training, including Public and Personal Safety Training.
Sources
- Home Office Careers – We’re recruiting Border Force Officers and Assistant Officers (25 November 2024, campaign closed): https://careers.homeoffice.gov.uk/news/border-forcer-officers-and-assistant-officers-nov24 – accessed 23 October 2026 via an archived copy
- GOV.UK – Success Profiles: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles – accessed 23 October 2026
- GOV.UK – Preparing for the Civil Service Judgement Test: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/preparing-for-the-civil-service-judgement-test – accessed 23 October 2026
Civil Service online tests and interview: frequently asked questions
Which tests did the last Border Force Officer campaign use?
The November 2024 campaign for Officers and Assistant Officers invited applicants to a Civil Service Verbal Test, Numerical Test and Customer Service Test after an eligibility check. The tests can change from one campaign to the next, so read the advert you apply to.
Source: Home Office Careers – We're recruiting Border Force Officers and Assistant Officers (November 2024)
What kind of interview is it?
In that campaign, applicants who passed the online tests were invited to a strengths-based interview recorded as a pre-recorded video.
Source: Home Office Careers – We're recruiting Border Force Officers and Assistant Officers (November 2024)
What are Success Profiles?
The recruitment framework used in the Civil Service. It has five elements – behaviours, strengths, ability, experience and technical – and each advert says which ones are assessed.
Source: GOV.UK – Success Profiles
Is the Civil Service Judgement Test timed?
Where a campaign uses it, GOV.UK says the test is untimed but recommends allowing at least an hour. A free practice test is available.
Source: GOV.UK – Preparing for the Civil Service Judgement Test
Related practice
- Interested in other security roles that deal with the public? Revise for the licence exams with our SIA door supervisor mock exams.
- Want to practise verbal and numerical reasoning against the clock? Try the timed sections in our Defence Aptitude Assessment practice.
Facts checked on 23 October 2026.