Oleeo ATS Guide: how to get your application through

Who uses Oleeo in the UK?

Oleeo (formerly WCN) is the UK public sector's recruitment platform. It runs Civil Service Jobs — processing hundreds of thousands of applications a year — and over 70% of police force recruitment in England, Scotland and Wales, plus NHS trusts, local government and graduate schemes at major banks. If you're applying for a government, police or public sector role in the UK, there's a good chance it's Oleeo underneath.

What happens to your application

Oleeo applications look different from corporate ATS flows. Two things define them:

1. Structured application forms beat CV parsing. Many Oleeo-based processes — especially Civil Service and police — score you primarily on written statements: behaviour examples under the Success Profiles framework, strength questions, or competency answers with word limits (often 250 words each). Your CV is part of the record, but the statements are what shortlisters score.

2. Name-blind recruitment. Oleeo anonymises applications for fair shortlisting — names, schools and other identifying details are hidden from scorers. Your evidence has to stand entirely on its own; reputation and polish carry nothing.

How to prepare your CV for Oleeo

• Put your real effort into the written statements. Use the STAR structure (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and spend your word limit on Action and Result — what you did and what it achieved, with numbers.
• Mirror the language of the advertised behaviours. If the advert scores "Making Effective Decisions", your example should visibly demonstrate decision-making, not general competence.
• Still submit a clean, parseable CV — single column, standard headings — because it's stored, searched and read at interview stage.
• Don't waste words on context. Blind scoring means the assessor doesn't know your employer's prestige; one sentence of situation is enough.

Frequently asked questions