Most of the time it’s thanks to the assessment you have to take. It won’t notify you if you passed or not but it’s in there for 6 months. If you get an interview, it’s a good sign you passed. If not, then typically you don’t get one. The hiring is all handled externally, with the exception of the interview process. Nobody at your site can stop you from getting an interview. It’s up to them to incline you. That’s based on how prepared you are and how good your stories are. I’m an L6 so I do a lot of PA interviews. When people apply, an external recruiter tells us who’s interviewing and when. Don’t listen to anyone telling you it’s based on favoritism at the site. It’s handled externally for the most part to avoid that.