Hi there, my name is Richard McMunn from the police officer recruitment training company
How2Become.com, and in this tutorial, I will teach you how to pass the police officer interview.
So, it does not matter which police force you have an interview with, please do make
sure you watch this tutorial from beginning to end, because I promise you it will make
a huge difference to your preparation! I am going to teach you how to structure your answers
to the police interview questions correctly to make sure you gain the highest scores possible.
So, the question that I get asked all of the time, and I have been asked for about 15 years
now since I started my business, is: “Richard, was the best way to make sure I pass my police
officer interview?” And my answer is always the same. “You have to make sure you match
the assessable core competencies that are relevant to the police officer role in your
responses to every one of the interview questions.” And that is going to be the pure focus of
this video. So, please do take notes as we go along. Now, before I get into those important
tips and the police officer interview questions and answers, a very warm welcome to this training
tutorial. My name is Richard McMunn. That's me there in the centre. I'm going to help
you pass your police officer interview. Please do make sure you SUBSCRIBE to the channel
by clicking the red button below the video. Then you are not going to miss out on any
of the police officer interview and recruitment training videos that I upload. And I would
also very much appreciate it if you supported my channel by giving this video a LIKE. Thank
you very much! Here's a really important tip. Make sure you go all out to match the core
competencies that are being assessed during the police officer interview. This is very,
very important. So, what are those police officer core competencies? Let's take a look
at them. So there is PUBLIC SERVICE, your ability to deliver exceptional service to
the public whom you are serving. There is also the core competency of OPENNESS TO CHANGE.
Do you embrace change positively? You need to, if you are going to be a police officer.
Can you deliver great SERVICE? Will you act with high degrees of PROFESSIONALISM? Are
you able to make decisions whilst you are under pressure? And also more importantly,
are you able to WORK COLLABORATIVELY with other people both in the police service and
those who have a vested interest, such as the fire service, the ambulance service and
the National Health Service? Social services? The list goes on. So, those are the core competencies
that we need to focus on during your preparation for not just the police officer interview,
but every single element of the police officer recruitment process. Let's take a quick look
at a sample police officer interview question and then I will teach you how to structure
it, and I will give you a sample answer as well. And you can use that during your preparation.
So, an example police officer interview question is: “Can you give me an example of a time
when you have worked as part of a team to solve a problem?” This is an example of
a ‘situational interview question’, or some people know them as ‘behavioural’
type interview questions. And it is very important that we give a specific example that you were
in, when you worked as part of a team to solve a problem. So this forms part of the competency
of WORKING WITH OTHER PEOPLE. Are you able to work with others to solve team tasks and
problems? How do we structure the answer to this particular police officer interview question?
Well, my advice is to make sure you use what is called the STAR technique. I'm going to
give you a tutorial on that right now. So the STAR technique, and please do take a note
of this: Situation, Task, Action and Result. And if you understand this STAR technique,
you are more likely to pass your police officer interview. This is how you structure your
answer to the police officer interview question. You start off and you tell the interviewer
the SITUATION that you were in. You then move on and you explain the TASK that needed to
be done. You will then go into detail and tell them the ACTION that you took, and the
action that other people took. Also, I would suggest that the ‘action’ element of your
answer will be the most detailed part of your response; the bulky part of your response.
And then finally, excuse me, you will finish off until the interview at the RESULT, following
your actions. So, it's situation, task, action and result: the STAR technique. And an important
tip, is to always make sure the RESULT of the situation you are in is ‘positive’.
So you will say the result is X, Y, Z, and it was a positive outcome following the situation.
So let us now take a look at a sample answer to that particular police officer question,
the interview question that utilizes that STAR technique. So just to recap, the interview
question was: “Can you give me an example of a time when you worked as part of a team
to solve a problem?” Here is my suggested answer using the STAR technique. “A situation
occurred whereby I was working as part of a small team at work, and we were tasked with
carrying out an urgent stock check of all company goods within a very short period of
time. My manager informed us that the previous stocktake data had been lost, and he needed
the new information urgently, and by the end of the working day. The team task in order
to solve this urgent problem, meant we all needed to work together collaboratively to
get this job completed accurately, and most importantly, on time for our manager. The
action I initially took was to suggest that we create a detailed plan of action that we
could all follow as part of the team, to complete the task by the end of the day. My job, as
part of the team task, was to walk around with a clipboard, cross checking the stocktake
figures that the rest of the team were generating. I have strong attention to detail skills,
and so it made sense that my skills were utilised to ensure the team task was accurate throughout
the duration of the task. We all supported and motivated each other to get the job done
on time. The end result was, we managed to get the stocktake completed on time and to
the necessary standard for our manager, as a team. We were 100 percent confident the
stocktake figures were correct because of the fact we'd implemented a ‘double-check
system’ to make sure the work we were doing was accurate. I believe I am a strong team
worker and I can work with anyone to get important and difficult team tasks complete on time
and to the necessary standards.” So, that answer to that police officer interview question
utilises (situation, task, action). The STAR technique. And it is also ‘specific’ in
nature. It is very important that you give answers that detail a situation that you have
been in previously. If you don't follow that, and you give generic answers, i.e. you are
saying what you would do in a given situation, you will not pass the police officer interview.
Now, if you'd like more help with your police officer selection process and the interview,
you can get INSTANT ACCESS to my police officer interview recruitment training course. Click
the link below the video. Go to my website, How2Become.com, and you can get instant access.
You can start using that course within two minutes. I cover every single element of the
police officer selection process and give you tons of sample responses to the interview
questions! I hope you enjoyed that tutorial. Please don't forget to SUBSCRIBE (thanks!)
and I would also very much appreciate it if you gave the video a LIKE. Thank you very
much and I wish you all the best in your pursuit to becoming a police officer. Have a brilliant
day.