Preferencing

Preferencing is ranking the posts available for the DST programmes you have applied for, so we know which ones you’d most and least like to be appointed to.

The preferencing process happens after you've submitted an application but before offers have been made.

Selecting preferences

In the period between submitting an application and offers being made, you will be asked to specify your regional/geographical preferences. Preference choices are ranked in Oriel. For more information on how to do this, go to Using Oriel to Apply. 

Your preferences will be used, along with final selection rank, to determine which offer (if any) you receive.

You have the opportunity to express and update your preferences throughout the recruitment process, as we understand that your circumstances can change between the time of application and the time that offers are released.

Preferencing and the effect on offers

The order offers are made in is determined solely by your selection score (you are placed on a ranked list) and permissions to work in the UK, not preferences made. The highest scoring applicant will be made an offer first, then the second etc. Your preferences  only come into play when you are reached in the ranked list and an offer is due. Offers are made in batches.

Choosing preferences

Preference choices should be made solely on desirability of the associated post for you, not the perceived desirability for all applicants.

Ranking a less popular preference highly will have no bearing on the liklihood of an offer being made.

Please keep in mind that you should only preference posts which you'd be willing to accept. By ranking a preference, you are stating that you would be prepared to undertake a training programme in that area. You should not preference or accept posts in which you are unable to commence training as, if you are made an offer and decline it, you will be withdrawn from the process and will not receive any further offers for that programme.

If you only choose to preference a limited number of posts, you will reduce your chances of receiving an offer.

Interview panels will not have access to your preferences.

The "no preference" column

Preferences added to the no preference column will be offered when a ranked preference is not available. Programmes added to the no preference column are given an equal rank; if you would like these programmes to be offered in a particular order, you should ensure that you are taken out of the no preference column and added to the ranked list of preferences.

The "not wanted" column

If you are not prepared to accept an offer of training in a certain region/geographical area, you should not rank it in your preferences and it should be added to the not wanted column. If you choose this option, you will never receive an offer for that particular preference, even if this means that you will not receive any offer, with the offer going to a lower ranked applicant who had chosen the preference option.

Vacancies with zero posts

You should still preference posts you'd be prepared to accept listed with no availablity as posts may become avaiable at a later date. 

Enhanced Preferencing and Upgrades

Due to the possibility that your circumstances could change between initial preferencing  and offers being released, flexibility around preferencing has been introduced. 

Programmes will keep preferencing open throughout the recruitment process to enable you to update your preferences. 

Please note, shortly before each batch of offers is made, the 'offers alogrithm', which matches applicants with posts, is re-run to take account of any changes applicants have made to their preferences. Because of this, it is necessary to briefly 'freeze' preferences until those offers have been made. If you make changes to your preferences between the algorithm being run and offers being released, the changes will be considered in the next run.

These processes will continue up until the upgrade deadline in each recruitment round. See the recruitment timeline for exact dates.

If you have already accepted or held a post, there will be an option to change upgrade options to allow a post/programme that was originally ranked higher or lower than the offered post to become an upgrade option. More information on offer responses and upgrades in included in the next section, Offers and Feedback.