The scheme won the ‘Graduate Assessment and Selection Award’ - a category of the annual Graduate Recruitment Awards, held by the Association of Graduate Recruiters since 1978. It was also shortlisted for the ‘Social Mobility’ category.
Gillian Smith, head of programme, said the award is “well-deserved” adding: “I thank my team for the fantastic work they have done”.
She praised her operations team (pictured above) for its work in improving the selection process for candidates: “The operations team that runs the assessment centre is superb in its commitment and support to our candidates, developing new test material each year that ensures fair, merit-based selection and taking account of any individual’s disabilities to ensure that no one is disadvantaged.
“It is an honour to receive this industry recognition and I am extremely proud of the team’s achievement.”
Sir Bob Kerslake, head of the civil service, praised Smith’s team for its achievement, saying: “This civil service is proud to be an excellent employer, offering an interesting and rewarding career to hundreds of thousands of people. Last year we received 80 applications for every place on our graduate fast stream, which shows how highly regarded the scheme is and the challenges the Fast Stream team face in identifying the best candidates with the skills we need.
“I’d like to pass on my congratulations to the team who can rightly be very proud of their achievements.”
The programme – also listed as one the Times top 100 graduate employers and the Guardian UK 300 most popular graduate employers, goes back more than 60 years. This season’s uptake has been comparably high with 700 graduates obtaining a space.