We are often asked, “Why do I need to do a course to join the Police Service?” Of course the answer is simply “you don’t”. However, we like to use a comparison with learning to drive. You can get a family member to teach you and you may well pass, after a few attempts anyway. But the fact is, most of us go to a professional instructor.

Consider this. In any given year, 60,000 people apply to join the Police Service. According to the Home Office, only one in seven actually succeed. The police assessment centre pass mark is 60 per cent. Diversity checks built into the assessment centre are failing more and more candidates. If you fail you will not be able to reapply for the service for between 6 to 12 months, assuming of course your chosen force is still recruiting then.

Many assessment centre candidates have never undertaken role-play exercises before and are unsure of how to deal with them. Others have no idea how to approach the structured interview, where you are required to give a five-minute long answer, with little or no prompting from the interviewer. Even fewer candidates understand the concept of an assessment centre that last over four hours.

• Gain a full understanding of role play techniques and themes
• Learn how to plan your interview answers in advance, and gain knowledge of typical interview questions and themes
• Gain an understanding of the written exercises, along with techniques and examples of the standard of answers required to succeed
• Leave with a copy of the Talking Blues professionally printed course notes, containing many practice exercises.
• Have the opportunity to discuss the centre with fellow students who have attended it.

In short, instead of walking into the assessment centre not knowing what is coming or how you intend to deal with it, you will know exactly what is waiting for you. You will be far more confident as you will have performed a dry run of your assessment centre, with professional individual feedback provided by us, to let you know what skills you need to develop in order to succeed

Over a quarter of the people who attend our course would have failed on the diversity aspect alone, had we not pointed out their areas for development, which would have meant an automatic fail of their whole assessment centre, irrespective of how well they had done in everything else.

So, the decision is yours. Have a go alone and gamble, or take the talkingblues course and gain the undoubted advantage that it will give you over other candidates. Remember that the police starting salary is around £20,000. If you are currently earning £15,000, a failure will cost you at least £5,000 in loss of salary, not to mention a year lost of your police career. So the course fee could be a small price to pay to avoid that failure letter. And don't forget, to ensure you are happy with the quality of our courses we have our money back promise and guarantee.

One final reason for attending a course which may appeal to a few of you. It is a little known fact that if a candidate scores above a certain mark, (currently 75%) in the assessment centre, they are automatically offered a chance to attend the police fast track promotion scheme interview. So, a Talking Blues course could give you those extra few marks that will get you through to the first stage of the HPD scheme (High Potential Scheme). This will give you the chance to become a Superintendent in under eight years.

The choice is yours. Good luck in your future career.

John McTaggart MBA BA(Hons)

Training Director