We are always being asked about how to get a good example of the above for the police application form and interview. Below is our advice on it.The tone and principles involved also cover the whole police recruitment and police assessment system. Not understanding them is the most common erros we see both at the police application stage and also the police assessment preparation that we do.

Where can you get examples from?

This question is basically about dealing with unacceptable behaviour. Ideally, your answer would be about challenging racist, sexist or homophobic behaviour, but you’re not limited exclusively to these kinds of examples. Any experience you may have had of someone making allegedly humorous remarks about, for example, the way people dress, speak, act or look may provide evidence. These could include age, weight or disability. In essence, you just require an example where someone has been doing something that would offend somebody else. It does not matter if that person was offended or not. As the question itself states, the assessors are looking for evidence that you did something positive to resolve the situation, whatever it was.

Everybody has seen someone at some time doing something that would make another person uncomfortable. Those candidates who say that they have not either live in some amazingly perfect part of the country, or are admitting that they do not recognise inappropriate behaviour.

An example diversity answer

Background

“A new female colleague transferred into my office at work. She was quite young, and had only been out of college for a few months. Immediately, my male colleagues began to make sexist comments towards her. Over a period of the few days, one male member of staff in particular began to pester her to go out for a drink with him. These attentions were clearly unwelcome, and she appeared embarrassed and upset by them.”

What I did

“I approached her and confirmed with her that she found the comments unwelcome. The next time the male made such a comment, I immediately challenged it, pointing out that he was causing embarrassment, and showing a lack of respect. I also told him that I found his conduct personally offensive, and that I intended to bring it to the attention of management if it were to continue.”

Why do you think the offender acted inappropriately?

“I do not think my male colleague had stopped to consider the effect of his actions. He regarded himself as being a bit of a joker, and was shocked when I pointed out the effect his thoughtless actions were having. He simply had not realised that the effect his actions had on the new staff member, and was immediately sorry.”

What would have happened if you hadn’t intervened?

“Had I not intervened, I believe the female colleague would have either left, or else had no alternative but to make a formal complaint to management. In any event, she would have been miserable at work, and the inappropriate comments from my colleague may well have got worse if left unchallenged.”

On police recruitment applications, there are usually four main competency questions on the application form. Broadly speaking, these cover the areas of:

• Diversity and respect
• Team working
• Working under pressure
• Communication

Each of these police competencies is broken down on the form into a number of specific segments. Each segment asks the candidate for certain specific parts of the example. Photocopying the pages and practising your answers will pay huge dividends before you write anything onto the real form. The best way to go about completing these questions is to consider each one separately. Without worrying too much about the specifics of the example, compile a list of potential examples for each question. Once you have some examples in mind for a given competency, you can then start comparing each one to the specific parts of the question.

Your examples must be about you, in terms of showing “you” in the best possible light as being the one who has contributed to the scenario. They should not be instances where you merely observed something happening, or were just a minor player. Anyone can watch a film – the police service are looking for people to work in front of the camera!

Use “I” not “we”

This is a common failing by candidates both on application form and interview. Most of us play down our involvement in situations due to modesty. In this recruitment process though, the form is looking for specifically what you did. Therefore, your answers must always refer to the word “I”. It is you being assessed and your actions, not the person you happened to be with at the time the incident occurred. Using the word “we” often suggests that in the reality of the situation you’re describing, you simply happened to be there and the other person who you are speaking about actually did all the work. This is a particular problem with special constables and police support staff applicants. The application form is no place for modesty.

What if you can’t think of any examples?

This is a common cry from police assessment candidates. However it is unacceptable. If you have no evidence of a certain skill area, then quite simply you will fail. One student on a course lived in a small village in rural South Wales. There were only thirty or so residents, all from the same ethnic background and religion as the student. She was only 19 and had never lived or gone to school outside the village. She therefore made the point, and it is not an unreasonable one, that she had had no opportunity to gain experience of diverse communities. However, from a police recruitment perspective, this would be unacceptable. Quite simply, the police assessors would consider that this candidate has no evidence to convince an assessor that she would be able to deal with a diverse policing environment. No one is saying that she could not do it, just that she’s not evidenced it. There are 60,000 other applicants to choose from. There will be more than enough of those people who do evidence such qualities. If you were the police service, would you choose the candidate who cannot produce any evidence, or the one that can?

Consider this when you are filling out your police application. The same skills of course need to be displayed throughout the police recruitment process.