Important information about recruitment
Thank you so much to everyone who has contacted us to ask for an
application form to become a student police officer with Cheshire
Constabulary. We have had an unprecedented response from people who
see policing as their vocation.
As you will know, we are only issuing 500 application forms to
the public. We have now received sufficient enquiries to identify
the 500 who will receive applications.
We realise there will disappointment as we cannot supply
application forms to everyone, but would like to take this
opportunity to thank you for the interest shown in applying to
become a Police Constable with Cheshire Constabulary.
Cheshire Constabulary's recruitment window is now closed.
How the recruitment process works
After completing the relevant forms, your application goes
through the following stages:
- Stage 1: Receipt of application
- Stage 2: Papersift of candidates based upon
eligibility and evidence provided on application form
- Stage 3: Attend Assessment Centre
- Stage 4: Force interview
- Stage 5: Physical Fitness Assessment
- Stage 6: Applicant details sent to Vetting and
Disclosure
- Stage 7: Medical examination, uniform fitting
and final vetting of all persons listed on applicant's Vetting
Form. References and financial checks
- Stage 8: Formal offer of employment and start
date
- Stage 9: Commence training
Advice on completing the application
- The application form must be fully completed in black ink, in
your own handwriting and returned to the address listed on the
application. The pack must be weighed before posting as the postage
will cost more than a first class stamp.
- Make sure to complete the additional forms in the application
pack - the Competency Assessment, the Candidate Registration Form
and the Vetting Form.
- The recruiting process will take eight to 12 months to
complete. Please provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you
require acknowledgement of receipt of your application.
- The initial Papersift of your application can take up to three
months. You will be notified as to the status of your application
once the initial stages of the process are complete.
Please also download the Home Office Additional Guidance for
more information.
Vetting
You will be vetted as part of the application process. You will
be asked to fill in a form with details of your family background
as well as that of your partner. For detailed guidance on the
vetting procedures, please download The Home Office eligibility
criteria for Police recruitment.
Additional Advice for Candidates
Embarking on an application for appointment as a Police
Constable in not a decision you should take lightly. Not only is
the selection process rigorous and demanding, but the policing role
itself asks much of officers who are appointed. Their job is
mentally and often physically challenging and requires great
personal energy, reliance and commitment.
Before you start
- Make sure that you meet the police eligibility criteria.
Although the police service has tried very hard to remove any
obstacles that prevent people applying there are still certain
things that they do insist on.
- Be honest with yourself about your written skills. Both the
selection process and the job itself have a significant written
element. At each stage of the selection process your spelling,
grammar, punctuation and handwriting will be examined. If you know
that you may have a weakness in the aforementioned, take some time
to improve before seriously thinking of applying.
- Take the application process seriously. If you fail at the
first hurdle you may well be unable to reapply for six months or
more, so making the best possible application first time is
important for you.
- The majority of candidates fail to meet the recruiting standard
at the competency based application form stage.
- Take a copy of the blank form so that you can practice what you
want to write, to ensure you don't make mistakes in the final
version, and to ensure what you want to write fits within the space
you have.
- Do discuss your examples with other people. They may remind you
of an example that you hadn't thought of. However, remember the
application has to be all your own work.
- If you know that you have dyslexia or know of any other factor
that might impact your ability to complete the selection process
you should let the recruiter know so that this can be accommodated.
They will want specific details of how your dyslexia may impact
your assessment and work performance.
Completing the form
- You should read the questions fully and choose your examples
very carefully. Each question has a number of prompts. Make sure
you answer all of the prompts. If you don't answer all of the
questions and all of the prompts you will score less well. If you
leave a question blank or say you don't have an example to use it
is almost impossible to pass.
- In all parts of the form please write clearly and concisely. If
we can't read it or understand it, we can't score it. Pay attention
to your spelling, handwriting, punctuation and grammar.
- Avoid using jargon, abbreviations or slang terms, even police
jargon. Text speak will also be penalised. Remember that this is a
formal application for an important and responsible job.
- Although we do prefer you to use work examples, if you think
that your best examples are from social, domestic or educational
life, this will not disadvantage you.
- Try to use examples which you found difficult or challenging to
deal with. They tend to achieve better marks.
- Write in complete sentences, rather than notes or bullet
points. You will be penalised if you do not write in complete
sentences as we cannot check your grammar and punctuation. We will
also penalise handwriting that makes your application difficult to
read.
- You must not add extra sheets, write outside the space provided
or write between the lines. No marks will be given for evidence
outside the space provided. Recruiters will not even read
additional sheets or text outside the boxes.
- Proof read the form at least twice, and use a dictionary to
check spellings. You are allowed only 10 spelling, grammatical and
punctuation errors across the 5 pages. You will also be penalised
for too many crossings out and poor handwriting which can form part
of the 10 errors allowed.
- The application must be all your own work. Be honest and expect
to be questioned on any answers that you give. Recruiters are
familiar with 'samples' of applications on the internet etc. and
using them is dishonest and will lead to your disqualification from
this and future applications.
General Rules
- Don't ignore the question. Make sure you answer the question
posed. If the question asks for an example where you have dealt
with someone who had been angry, make sure that is what you write
about. When you have finished writing your answer, look back to the
question to ensure what you have written matched the example the
question asked for.
- One of the common mistakes is that you may desperately want to
tell recruiters about some aspect of your life or career which you
feel may impress, when in fact all this tends to do is to lead you
to use the wrong examples. Don't tell us about an event just
because you think we will be impressed.
- Be precise in what you say. We need to know exactly what was
done and said. It is insufficient to use terms such as 'aggressive
and uncooperative' without telling us exactly how the person was
aggressive and uncooperative.
- Don't be too vague or try to be too clever with your language.
Recruiters are looking for very clear evidence and want to see this
described very specifically. They are not impressed by management
or police jargon and this will count against you as it reduces the
clarity of your answer and your overall communication.
- Don't tell us what you usually do. The question will always ask
about a specific occasion. It may be tempting if you have many
examples to use and deal with such incidents on a regular basis to
tell us what you usually do, but it has to be a specific example or
you will score poorly.
- Don't tell us about manufactured situations in particular those
which are not real. Often people tell us about taking part in an
assault course or training exercise and these tend to score less
well because they are not 'real' situations.
Finally, applicants need to be aware that from 1st September
2008 some minor changes were made to the Scoring Key for the
Competency Based Questions. The requirement to achieve two 'B'
grades and an overall 'B' was removed. Candidates now need to
achieve ten marks overall to achieve an overall 'B' grade, although
they can still pass with nine marks if they also achieve three 'B'
grades from the four questions. In addition there have been changes
to the Scoring Key and Assessors have now been given clearer
guidance on the evidential requirements for the Competency Based
Questions.
Applicants should be mindful that in the past when they have
submitted applications where the required standard was achieved in
one or more of the Competency Based Questions, that may not now be
the case and the change in evidential requirements may result in a
different score being achieved.
Applicants are advised to check their answer thoroughly, making
sure they have provided specific evidence of competency and have
fully answered the question posed.