Application process

We’re committed to removing barriers to our application process. Please do reach out if you require any support or adjustments to be made at any stage. This won’t impact your application and will help us to understand your needs and how we can help you do your best from application to final interviews. 

If you have any questions about the role, process or reasonable adjustments, please contact our Recruitment Team. 

Apply 

Once you’ve found a role you are interested in and have registered with the House of Lords recruitment portal, we’ll usually ask you to submit your CV, supporting statement or online application form. Our application forms vary depending on the role requirements, and so you may be asked to submit one of the above or a combination.  

We usually ask you to remove any personal information from your CV before you upload this. We use anonymised CV’s and application forms to help tackle unconscious bias and ensure we’re assessing you on your skills and experience against the role requirements.  

In addition to your CV, we will either ask you to submit a supporting statement or individual criterions. If you are asked to complete a supporting statement, you should provide evidence and examples against each of the essential criteria for the role in your answer. If the form asks for answers against individual criteria, you should focus each answer on the one criterion which will allow you to explore that requirement in more detail. 

If you have any questions regarding the application form or if there is anything we can do to support you in completing this, contact our Recruitment Team.  

Shortlisting 

Once you submit your application form, this usually gets reviewed by a recruitment panel which usually includes the hiring manager for the role. All applications are assessed against the criterions outlined in the Job Description.   

Shortlisting usually begins once the closing date has passed. It may take time before you will get an update from us. We provide updates to all candidates on the outcome of their application. Please be assured you will hear from us as soon as possible and that we let all candidates know the outcome of their application to the House of Lords. 

Telephone screenings  

For some of our roles, you will be invited to an initial telephone interview with a member of the Recruitment Team. These usually last for up to 30 minutes. 

These calls are an opportunity for us to discuss the role in more detail with you and for us to get some more detail on your skills and experience. All questions asked during these calls will be aligned to the competencies and role requirements in the job description.  Screening calls are also an excellent opportunity to ask any questions that you might have about the role, the recruitment process or working at the House of Lords.  There are no stupid questions! 

Tests, tasks and presentations 

For some roles, you might be invited to complete a test, presentation or task before or at interview stage. This could be a cooking trial for one of our Commis Chef roles or a written test for a Policy Analyst role. You will be given full instructions by our Recruitment Team in advance and they are always available to discuss any questions you may have. 

Interviews  

If you’re offered an interview, we’ll conduct this either virtually on Microsoft Teams or in person. The format of the interview is decided by the recruitment panel and will be confirmed in your invite. If your interview is in person, this will take place on the parliamentary estate in Westminster. 

During the interview, we’ll ask you questions that reflect the criteria in the job description and give you the opportunity to talk us through your skills and experience in more detail. We’ll also ask you to provide specific examples of how you meet the criteria for the role, which can draw on your previous work experience, while you have been studying, or from your home life.  

Conditional offer 

If your interview has been successful, we’ll then make you a conditional offer for the position, subject to checks and vetting (see relevant section below). 

Checks and vetting  

We take security very seriously at the House of Lords. We'll check your right to work in the UK and ask for your references for the last three years. Your application will also be subject to security vetting at Counter Terrorism Check level or higher. The level of security vetting required is detailed on our job descriptions and can vary for different roles. 

To enable meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time (a minimum of three years out of the last five).  

Find out more about the vetting process (pdf, 155KB).