We have had a good number of bookings this week for our Bristol course, but also two people cancelled who have just found out that they faield the paper sift for Avon and Somerset police.

This just goes to show the importance of being prepared. We have done quite literally hundreds of application form checks this year, and the vast majority by far have gotten through. However, others fail to appreciate that no matter how good you think you are, if you do not put 100% into the paper sift, then you will never see an assessment centre.

It astounds me when I speak to those who have failed and they tel me that they spent at least a full evening on their police application form. Unless you are very good at competency based forms (and most people are not), I would expect the competency section to take up to a week to complete. When I was applying for jobs, I would take a whole night composing a 200 word entry for a single competency. Ane remember, I have written a book on passing police application forms.

Most people who find the police application forms easy have underestimated them, and will probably fail. There are those who will knock out an answer in a night who will get through, but they are in the minority. As many people have discovered in Avon and Somerset this week, assuming you will pass the paper sift is not necessarily a good idea.

But, the most important moral is about preparing for everything. There are always a number of people on every course that we do who have failed the police assessment centre process itself, and the following year have come to us to prepare properly. I constantly here the comment (If I had done this last year I would have passed………”. And it is true, had they come to us originally, they would now be a year in the service. I am not necessarily saying come on a Talking Blues police assessment centre preparation course, but simply make sure that you prepare properly for it in some way. The police have a word for those that do not prepare. We call them civilians.

Just a quick note that the venues for our poliuce recruitment courses are booked now, and due to space limitations at each there are only five places left for Cardiff, and six for Newcastle. We still have plenty of room at Bristol for those thinking of that venue.

Here is another thank you we had today.

I attended your seminar in Leeds at the Holiday Inn recently. There I asked you how you determined the number of your students that were successful at the assessment centre.  I am pleased to let you know that I passed my assessment centre for XX Constabulary with a pass mark of 74%! Preparation and attendance of your seminar no doubt played a massive part in this achievement and I would like to thank you once again.

Regards,”

These courses are now proving very popular, and the venues have been booked. However, there is only so much space at these Holiday Inns in terms of people that we can fit into the meeting rooms. If you do want a place at either of these, we would advise you to book sooner rather than later. It is very rare for us to say that, as we think it is a bit cheesy, but this time it is true!

I had an interesting conversation this week about whether being involved with the police already, such as a special constable, CSO or support staff member, is an advantage in getting in. This is particularly so since a lot of forces suggest that if you are unsuccessful at the police assessment centre stage, that you join the specials or become a cso to “gain experience”. In one or two forces, they hold special assessment centres for staff, so one can argue there that there is an advantage, but these are few and far between.

In most forces, the reality is that being in the job already gives you no advantage whatsoever. You get no preference when it comes to getting hold of an application for starters. Then when you get to assessment, no one will care about what you work as now, it is all about providing the right competencies. So, you are certainly not going to get some inside form of fast track.

There may be a slight advantage in that you may have some examples of partnership working, but there is no reason why a switched on candidate would not be able to bring in the same from outside.

There is however one potential disadvantage in that police related candidates often bring police type attitudes with them, which is exactly the kind of thin g the job is looking to weed out. Every CSO will have dealt with people who police officers have told to shut up in no uncertain times, or will have been exposed to police culture which is often a bit cynical and dismissive of minor problems.  This is the biggest hurdle that police staff have to overcome, the fact that if they have taken on board these values, and let them slip out in the assessment, then they are likely to fail.

Overall then, it is certainly not an advantage to be working in the police now in terms of applying, and can actually set you up in some ways to fail.

For those of you that would argue this is not true, consider this. If being a  CSO/Special/Support staff member is such a big advantage, why do you know loads of people from those groups who have tried and failed to join the police? Shouldn’t they al have passed?

Just a thought!