The Crown Prosecution Service has frustrated aspiring prosecutors after its hi-tech video interview system failed repeatedly and then deleted their applications.

The CPS advertised 25 trainee positions with a starting salary of £24,296 in London, rising to £33,704 on qualification as a Crown Prosecutor (slightly less than Kirkland's £125,000 for NQs, but you do it for the love). Competition for places was fierce, with the CPS telling RollOnFriday that it received 900 applications.

Applicants were given a week to submit a video of themselves answering four questions in three minutes via Launchpad Recruits, a company offering "video-led HR technology". However, although it claims that video assessments are "six times faster than telephone interviews", not all candidates had a smooth experience. One told RollOnFriday that after "shooing out the cat and telling my husband to mute the football" she recorded and submitted her effort, only to be told that her submission had failed due to "connection issues" at the company's end.

    "Check out InterviewBot. No-one's joining the CPS today"

Repeated attempts over the next two hours and on subsequent days also failed, until minutes before the midnight deadline on 27 May her video was eventually accepted. However, the next day she received a message from Launchpad informing her that her application had been "accidentally erased". Others experienced similar issues.

A CPS spokeswoman told RollOnFriday, “We were made aware of some technical difficulties in uploading video interviews as part of our Legal Trainee Scheme application. We acted quickly to try and resolve the issue and we will continue to liaise with applicants who were unable to upload their interviews”. 
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Comments

Anonymous 10 June 16 09:05

I get sick of companies saying the new system will be faster or better. I arrived at a tube station this week to see signs as if from 1984 trumpeting the new faster system. The changes are one machine to pay not about 4 and if you want to pay quickly register on a website - how that is quicker than pushing in a few coins into a machine is anyone's guess. They pretend it's easier. Same with HMRC - you need codes, passwords etc etc. Same with my pensino - you used to get a posted envelope takes seconds to open and you have it printed not at your cost. Instead the new simple better supposedly (lies) system are always only cheaper and better for the provider (and yet fees never reduce of course). In fact it's slower as you have to find 3 different codes, wait (we do not all have fast internet in the UK sadly). I am not anti technology, but I wish they wouldn't lie at us and suggest these things are done because they are easier and better and cheaper for us. The better way woudl be - we want to save money and ensure you spend more time on this than otherwise you might. If you want a job we are afraid you will have to go through all these hoops - sorry.