What is the Competency Based Interview when applying to the police?

After you’ve applied to join a force, you will complete a sift followed by the online assessment process. This process includes a series of exercises that test the key competencies and values that are important for the role of police constable, this is called the Competency and Values Framework (CVF).

The framework sets out nationally recognised behaviours and values, which provides a consistent foundation for a range of local and national processes.

Once your application has made it through the sifting process, the next stage is the Online Assessment Process. This is where you will be asked questions relating to how you may have dealt with specific situations in the past and is also your opportunity to provide some examples of the key competencies and values from the Competency and Values Framework.

What can I expect during the interview?

Usually, the interview will take approximately 40 minutes and will need to take place on a laptop or desktop computer with speakers. It is possible for you to complete this on a tablet or smartphone, as long as you have a working microphone and webcam/built-in camera.

Once the interview begins, you will be asked five questions on how you have dealt with situations in the past and they will be based on the following competencies and values:

• Integrity
• public service
• transparency
• take ownership
• innovative and open-minded

In responding to these questions, you are encouraged to give examples from your work and personal life that shows you have the values and competencies that are required.

The College of Policing has a simple explanation of how the interview questions will work:

• Each question will provide some prompts for you to consider when answering. These will be presented as text on screen and a pre-recorded video will also appear, and the questions read out to you.
• For each question, you will then have one minute (60 seconds) preparation time to consider the question and prepare your answer, after which you will have five minutes (300 seconds) to record your answer.
• Nothing that you say during the preparation time will be recorded.

Remember to talk clearly and concisely, try to stay relaxed and be yourself.

How can Practice to Progress help to prepare you for your interview?

Once you know you have got an interview and what the process is, we can put you through your paces with you with ‘mock’, real-time interviews, presentations and other exercises with our team of experienced police and non-service associates using the Competency Values Framework (CVF).

Our One-to-One sessions are for all CVF levels and will enable you to:

• Receive a detailed briefing about the exercise
• Practice under ‘timed exam like’ conditions
• Get detailed feedback from the associate
• Go into your promotion board with the added confidence of knowing what to expect and exactly what areas you need to improve on to succeed:
• Find out what to expect on the day
• Experience the types of questions you will be asked
• Practice and make mistakes before the real thing
• Find out what you need to do better if you want to pass.

Learn more at https://practicetoprogress.com/promotion/force-promotion/