Are you going through or considering the police application process? If you are, have you considered how to prepare for the police interview? There are a number of steps to go through to become a police officer. One of the components that can’t be overlooked is the Police Officer Competency Based Interview.
As I continue to work with clients who are going through the police application process, one of the things that continues to jump out at me is that most people are not addressing this stage of the process until they are actually invited to an interview. Unfortunately, it is sometimes too late at this point to deal with any gaps that may be encountered.
The purpose of the competency based interview is to establish if you have the core competencies required to perform the duties of a police officer. One of the ways that the interview board assesses this is by asking questions about past experience. You actually have to demonstrate that you have experience that can speak to each of the competencies. One of the biggest issues I see when working with my clients is that they simply don’t have the life experience at the required level to clearly demonstrate that they meet the competency.
But, if you only discover this three days before the interview, it’s too late. So what do you do about that? You treat the interview the same way you treat the physical requirements of the process. You prepare well in advance.
- Research the agency for which you are applying i.e. the municipal police agency, and obtain the required competencies for that organization.
- Study and understand each of the competencies and their definitions that will be assessed during the interview.
- Reflect on past experiences to come up with specific examples for each of the competencies.
- Write out your stories using the S*T*A*R format.
- Practice delivering your answers with someone who is experienced in competency based interviews to ensure that you are delivering your responses in a clear and effective manner.
This process shouldn’t be done after you have been invited to an interview. This should be done as soon as you decide that a policing career is the right direction for you. What I find when doing a mock interview with my clients is that they realize they don’t have enough experience to adequately demonstrate that they meet the competency. Unfortunately, it is too late to do anything about it if you are days away from the interview. If you go through this exercise early on in the process, and discover there are gaps in your experience, you might have time to do something about it. Maybe do some volunteer work, or take on more responsibilities at work. Pushing yourself to take on more challenges and go outside of your comfort zone will help you gain more experience and provide good examples.
But how do you know if you do have the required experience to address all of the competencies? The best way to approach this phase is to work with someone who knows exactly what the interview board is looking for, i.e. someone who is experienced in conducting police or competency based interviews, or even a Certified Professional Career Coach, who specializes in this area.
Do you know someone who is faced with this challenge? Feel free to share this post by using the share links at the top of this page. Also, if you’d like more interview tips, feel free to check out the interview resource page.
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