Police staff application guidance

At this stage we will ask you for your personal details, your contact details and your national insurance number. We will then ask questions relating to your eligibility for the position. This may include residency, political affiliation, financial status and information on any cautions and convictions. The questions asked as part of this section may differ from form to form depending on which role you are applying for and the eligibility requirements for that role. For example, some roles may also seek information on your ability to drive, any tattoos you may have or if you have previously been a member of the armed forces.

Section 2 of the Police Staff application form can be separated into three parts:

Part A - Information on your eligibility for security vetting. It will also ask whether you have a disability: this is so we can contact you regarding reasonable adjustments.

Part B - Current and previous information about your employment, your addresses, your education, any business interests and your language skills.

Part C - Competency based assessment. This is the part of your application form that will be used during the shortlisting process. It is important that all relevant information you want to be assessed against is also included in this area even if mentioned elsewhere in your application. For example, if you are asked to evidence specific qualifications such as GCSEs they should also be listed in this assessment area not just the education section in Part B.

• Ensure your CV is up to date with your most recent roles and responsibilities.
• Highlight your experience for each role, bullet point your accomplishments and achievements, do not just list your duties but provide evidence in the form of achievements.
• List your education, including certificates and memberships.
• Customise your CV to the role you are applying for, including key words included in the role profile and highlighting experiences that are most relevant to the role.
• Keep it concise and only include the most important and relevant information.

• You have covered your experience in your CV, so the personal statement is the opportunity to tell us why you feel this role is right for you.
• Use the role profile to provide additional evidence on the required skills and competencies.
• Include relevant examples of work you have undertaken.
• Let us know why you would like to work for South Wales Police.
• Tell us about the values you uphold and how they align to working with us.
• Re-read your CV and personal statement to check for spelling, grammar and formatting before submitting.

Attached to the advert you will find a role profile relating to the job that you are applying for. This profile provides an overview of the role and the criteria that you will need to be able to meet in order to do the job. You should use the Role Profile to complete the assessment part of the application form.

The role profile details the main responsibilities and the criteria required in undertaking the role. When evidencing your skills, knowledge, experience and personal qualities as outlined in the criteria on the role profile, you may also wish to consider the main responsibilities area and what competencies / qualities you possess in meeting these responsibilities.

A competency is a quality used to measure how well you can do something: competencies may include areas such as, ‘upholds professional standards’ or ‘remains calm and professional under pressure’. If you can evidence through your application a time when you have successfully upheld professional standards or remained calm under pressure, you will be demonstrating you are ‘competent’ in these areas. You must provide evidence of the qualities you already have, or may develop, that enable you to carry out the role. Your answers in this section will be used to decide whether your application will proceed to the next stage. It’s important that you think carefully about your responses, which can be from your recent or past experiences.

Each role profile we advertise clearly provides a complete list of competencies that are both required, and desired, from an individual to undertake that role.

The competency criteria on the role profile that you must evidence are included at the end of the document. The competency criteria will be shown in a table format.

When completing your application please ensure you only complete the sections marked in the table as ‘Yes’. Do not complete the criteria marked as ‘no’ as these will not be assessed. You will be allowed 500 words for each criteria - the word count does not override to the next criteria.

To evidence the relevant competency criteria you will need to provide specific examples of work tasks or events which you have undertaken or attended. You can also draw on skills or experience that you have gained as a result of doing voluntary work, work in your own home or at school, college or university, as well as in paid work.

It is not essential to provide evidence for every individual point, one example will often cover a number of key criteria and so it may often be appropriate to provide one scenario detailing a number of skills or personal qualities. 

We want to know what YOU said or did on a given occasion to deal with the situation. It’s therefore important that the examples you provide are your own experiences and as detailed as possible. We expect your answers to be relevant and focused. Please refrain from the use of jargon and slang as this is unacceptable.

You may already use an answer structure that you are comfortable with, but if you do not STAR could be a useful one to consider when providing evidence and structure to your written assessment.

STAR

• The S stands for Situation – Describe the event or situation you were in. This situation can be drawn from a work experience, education, a volunteer position, or any other relevant event. Be as specific as possible.
• The T stands for Task – Explain the specific task you had to complete.
• The A stands for Action – Describe the particular actions you took to complete the task.
• The R stands for Result – close with the results or outcome of your actions and the conclusion.

The qualification requirement for a role will be clearly stated on the role profile. It is important you can evidence you have achieved the level required, even if the level stated is not your highest. For example, if you are a degree holder but the role profile states the qualification level as GCSE you must include your GCSE level qualifications as part of the eligibility for the role.

A business interest is any activity or employment you may hold outside of your role with South Wales Police. This can include voluntary roles, alcohol license and also any role that involves a financial gain e.g. property rental. Some occupations and business interests may be incompatible with employment with South Wales Police. All business interests will be reviewed on an individual basis.

The assessment section of the online application form for our Apprentice, Intern and Graduate positions differs slightly in that you will only have one box to complete and have up to 2000 words to use for this section. This section will need to demonstrate your skills and experience and your suitability for the role against the role profile. It may be useful to consider this section as your personal statement; it is your space to tell us why you are the right person for the role.

Top tips

• Try not to make overgeneralised statements during your written assessment such as ‘I am really good at communicating’. These are not specific to your skills and talents and will not demonstrate your abilities. If you do find yourself using one always follow it with an example of a time you have demonstrated that skill, for example ‘I am really good at communicating, for example as part of my current undergraduate study I have ….’
• The application form is there to demonstrate your skills. When providing examples try and avoid referring to ‘we’ and instead structure them using ‘I’ and focus on the role you played.
• Read all sections of the role profile to ensure you understand all the requirements of the position.
• Review the essential competency criteria on the role profile that will need to be evidenced against in your application, these are the sections highlighted and stating ‘YES’ on the last page of the role profile. You only need to evidence against these areas.
• Re-read your application to check for spelling, grammar and formatting before submitting.
• Complete your application in plenty of time for the deadline.

If you have any questions about your Apprentice, Intern or Graduate Programme application – including application support – please email [email protected]

Learn more about these roles:

Apprenticeship Opportunities

Intern Opportunities

Graduate Opportunities

Everyone who joins South Wales Police will need to complete a security vetting process. It is useful to begin collecting the following as they will be required as part of this process:

• Your address history for the last five years
• Collate details of your monthly income and expenditure
• Collate details of your savings and borrowings
• Ever been declared bankrupt or had a CCJ? Get proof of debt being discharged
• Collate details of any secondary employment or business interests
• Your partner and their address history for the last 5 years

Collate your family/friends/associates details, i.e:

• Your parents and your partner’s parents
• Your full, half & step siblings
• Your children (if aged over 10)
• All co-residents at your current address (e.g. lodgers)
• Any criminal associates
• Any cautions, convictions or Fixed Penalty notices

Collate details of any previous contact with the police, e.g:

• If you’ve ever been arrested
• If you’ve ever been involved in an investigation
• Any traffic offences (excluding parking offences)

Welsh Language levels will be included on all role profiles. Where these are essential you may be assessed on your Welsh ability as part of the application process. Where these are desirable you can apply for the role and full training and support will be provided once you have joined us to achieve the required Welsh Language Level.

Yes. You will have the opportunity to include all languages you have a level of skill with as part of the application form and we would encourage you to include these. These can be at any level from conversational to fluent.