POLICE SPECIAL CONSTABLE INTERVIEW
Practice interview questions and answers proven to help you pass your police assessment interview in 2024.
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POLICE SPECIAL CONSTABLE INTERVIEW
Being a police ‘special constable’ in today’s society is a very big challenge. There are not many people who can do it. Making it through to the interview stage can be daunting but if you are fully prepared you can increase your chances of success. We have created a fantastic downloadable guide that will provide you with sample interview questions and show you how to respond to them to score high marks.
These questions will be based around the police officer core competencies and you will be provided with details of these in your information pack, which the police will send you prior to your assessment. The core competencies that are usually assessed at interview are as follows:
- Respect for race and diversity;
- Team working;
- Problem solving;
- Resilience;
- Personal responsibility;
- Customer and community focus;
- Effective communication (not assessed through direct questioning).
In order to ensure you are fully prepared for every eventuality, we will provide you with a sample response to cover every core competency within our guide, with the exception of effective communication. Effective communication is assessed indirectly during the interview.
You will be allowed up to 5 minutes to answer each question so don’t be afraid to use the time you have. You may find during the interview that the interviewer asks you probing questions. Probing questions are designed to help you in giving your response so listen to what he or she has to say.
WHAT IS THE POLICE SPECIAL CONSTABLE INTERVIEW?
As part of the police special constable assessment centre you will normally be required to sit an interview that is based around the core competencies. Under normal circumstances the interview board will consist of one or two people. These can be from either the uniformed side of the service or support staff.
It is important to remember that whilst you will be nervous you should try not to let this get in the way of your success. Police special constables are confident people who have the ability to rise to a challenge and perform under difficult and pressurised situations. Treat the interview no differently to this. You ARE capable of becoming a police special and the nerves that you have on the day are only natural; in fact they will help you to perform better if you have prepared sufficiently. The crucial element to your success, as with the rest of the selection process, is your preparation.
The police specials interview board will have a number of set questions to choose from and, whilst these are constantly changing, they will usually form part of the police special constable core competencies. Before attending your interview ensure that you read, digest and understand the police special core competencies. Without these it will be difficult to pass the interview.
The interview will last for approximately 20 – 30 minutes depending on the length of your responses. During this time you will be asked a number of questions about specific situations and experiences that are important to the role of the police officer. In relation to the core competency element of the interview there will normally be four questions and you will have just five minutes to answer each of them. Be prepared for additional questions that focus on your reasons and motivations for becoming a police special constable.
PREPARING FOR THE POLICE SPECIAL CONSTABLE INTERVIEW
When preparing for the assessment centre competency based interview you should try to formulate responses to questions that surround the assessable core competencies. The responses that you provide should be specific examples of where you have been in that particular scenario.
In your ‘welcome pack’, which will be sent to you approximately 2 weeks before the date of your assessment centre, you should find examples of the ‘core competencies’ relevant to a police special constable. These are the criteria that you will be scored against so it is essential you read them beforehand and trying to structure your answers around them as best you can.
For example, one of the sections you will be assessed against could be ‘Respect for Race and Diversity’. You may be asked a question where you have to give an example of where you have had to respect other people’s opinions and views that are from a different culture or background than your own. Try to think of an example where you have had to do this and structure your answer around the core competencies required, e.g. you are respectful to people and treat them with dignity whilst taking into consideration their views and opinions. You are sensitive to language and use it in an appropriate manner etc.
SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTION BASED AROUND THE CORE COMPETENCY OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
FREE | 1 Question
Question – Please provide an example of where you have taken personal responsibility to arrange or organise an event or situation.
Question 01
“After reading an appeal in my local paper from a local charity, I decided to try to raise money for this worthwhile cause by organising a charity car wash day at the local school, during the summer holidays. I decided that the event would take place in a month’s time, which would give me enough time to organise such an event.
I set about organising the event, but soon realised that I had made a mistake in trying to arrange everything on my own, so I arranged for two of my work colleagues to assist me. Once they had agreed to help I asked one of them to organise the booking of the school and arrange local sponsorship, in the form of buckets, sponges and car wash soap to use.
On the day, so that we did not have to use our own personal money to buy them, I asked the second person to arrange advertising in the local newspaper and radio stations. This meant that we could let the local community know about our event, which would in turn hopefully bring in more money on the day for the charity.
Following a successful advertising campaign, I was inundated with calls from local newspapers about our event. It was becoming hard work having to keep talking to them and explaining what the event was all about. But I knew that this information was important if we were to raise our target of £500.
Everything was going well right up to the morning of the event, when I realised we had not got the key to open the school gates. It was the summer holidays, so the caretaker was not there to open the gates for us.
Not wanting to let everyone down, I jumped in my car and made my way down to the caretaker’s house. I managed to wake him up and get the key just in time before the car wash event was due to start. In the end the day was a great success, and we all managed to raise £600 for the local charity.”
HOW THE RESPONSE MATCHES THE CORE COMPETENCY BEING ASSESSED
In order to demonstrate how effective the above response is we have broken it down into sections and provided the core competency area that it matches.
“…I decided to try to raise money for this worthwhile cause by organising a charity car wash day…”
Core competency matched:
- Takes on tasks without being asked;
- Uses initiative.
“…which would give me enough time to organise such an event.”
Core competency matched:
- Is conscientious in completing work on time.
“I set about organising the event and soon realised that I had made a mistake in trying to arrange everything on my own, so I arranged for 2 of my work colleagues to assist me.”
Core competency matched:
- Takes responsibility for problems and tasks;
- Takes personal responsibility for own actions;
- Uses initiative;
- Is open, honest and genuine.
“…arrange local sponsorship in the form of buckets, sponges and car wash soap to use on the day, so that we did not have to use our own personal money to buy them.”
Core competency matched:
- Uses initiative.
“Following a successful advertising campaign, I was inundated with calls from local newspapers about our event and it was becoming hard work having to keep talking to them and explaining what the event was all about. But I knew that this information was important if we were to raise our target of £500.”
Core competency matched:
- Focuses on a task even if it is routine;
- Uses initiative.
“Not wanting to let everyone down, I jumped in my car and made my way down to the caretaker’s house and managed to wake him up and get the key just in time before the car wash event was due to start.”
Core competency matched:
- Follows things through to a satisfactory conclusion;
- Uses initiative;
- Takes personal responsibility for own actions;
- Keeps promises and does not let colleagues down;
- Takes responsibility for problems and tasks.
PASS THE POLICE SPECIAL CONSTABLE INTERVIEW
- Competition to join the police as a special constable has never been as fierce and candidates need to be fully prepared if they are to have any chance of passing.
- This definitive guide is guaranteed to put you well above the competition during the police special constable interview.
- It is essential that candidates are full conversant with the police special constable core competencies if they are to have any chance of passing the interview.
- This guide will provide sample interview questions and answers to help the candidate score high during the police specials interview.
Pass the Police Interview First time.
Crafted for everyone, no matter your skill level or background, this workbook was made to help you achieve one goal: to pass your police interviews.
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PRACTICE THE police ASSESSMENT TESTS
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CAREFULLY CRAFTED RESPONSES
Sample responses for all interviewquestions so you can be confident in learning and improving your score.
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Very informative and helped pass my interview
Very interesting book. It helped me to pass the Special Constable interview first time.
Excellent interview sample question this helped me a lot.
This book is very useful for anyone preparing for an interview for the police force. It has lots of sample questions and great example answers. The book is easy to read and contains only relevant information and details.
This book is great for preparing for an interview. I feel much more relaxed & able to prepare my responses in a structured manner than if I had gone to my interview without reading this. Would definitely recommend for anybody considering a career within the police force as a special constable.
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- Written in conjunction with currently serving police officers.
- How to match the police values and competencies in your responses.
- The competences and values framework broken down and explained
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