Post by Gareth on Jun 9, 2005 9:57:14 GMT
I applied for Souh Yorkshire Police. I failed the paper sift with an Overall grade C. I found this website and a few like it a couple of days after I got my results back. Wish I had known about these sites back then and I might have passed. I'm going to re-apply whenever they are recruiting again?
Also posted this here
Here's what I put and the grades I got for each section. Knowing what I know now they were very generous !
Q1.
It is very important that police officers deliver an excellent service and develop good working relationships with members of the public.
Try to remember an occasion where you had to deal with someone who has been unhappy with the service they have been given, or who felt unhappy with the way they had been treated. If possible use an example where you had contact with the person over a period of time or on a number of occasions in order to sort out the problem.
(i) Describe the situation and why you think the person was unhappy.
An incident I recall is when I was working in a restaurant and a customer was unhappy with their food. The person got irate, started shouting and demanding something to be done about it. Obviously the person wasn’t happy about the service they were getting and wanted something to be done about it.
(ii) Tell us exactly what you did in the response to their concerns.
I asked them what the problem was, apologised to the person, offered them an alternative, they were still not happy and were causing a scene so I asked them to follow me to the office as to not disturb other diners, but they were still not happy so called for the manager, who did exactly the same as me. All the time the person kept asking me if I thought it was fair. I could have said no and agreed with them, but that would have left the manager in it. So I had to say they had been dealt with exactly the same as everyone else and they didn’t seem to have a problem. Eventually they did pick an alternate meal, along with a free drink.
(iii) How do you know the person was happy with what you did for them?
They ate their meal and seemd to enjoy the rest of the night, they returned to the restaurant again, so their experience can’t have been that bad, and they even apologised for the way they acted and said they were a little drunk at the time.
(iv) If you hadn’t acted as you did, what do you think would have been the likely consequence?
The person would have never returned to the restaurant and probably would have told everyone she knew about terrible service there. Also if they hadn’t been took away from the group of people they were with someone else would have joined in too, possibly even fighting would have started and made the situation worse, and eventually someone would have been made to leave spoiling the night for everyone.
Community and Customer Focus:
South Yorkshire Grade: B
Q2.
It is vitally important that police officers respect the lifestyle, culture or beliefs of others even if those differ significantly from the officer’s own views.
Think of an example of an occasion when you have shown respect for the lifestyle, culture or beliefs of someone, even though they differed significantly from your own and you may even have disagreed with them.
(i) Tell us how the situation arose and how you and the other person differed
I had to consider what was important to the beliefs or culture of that person and agree not to let it interfere with the proceedings by either not letting things they might find offensive occur or at least warn them about what would occur. An example of this is when I was Djing for a Jewish wedding, certain songs I would normally play for any other wedding could have been found offensive so I didn’t play them.
(ii) Which aspects of the difference did you find the most difficult to deal with?
Knowing what they would find offensive would be the hardest part, but it would just be common sense and experience that would tell you this, also finding out some background information about what happened at similar events helps. Also having people from all different age groups made this worse.
(iii) How did you adapt what you did to account for how the other person may have felt?
It would all depend upon the cituation and circumstances. But I adapted by not playing certain music they had requested not to be played or music that I knew could be taken as offensive to their beliefs.
Respect for Diversity:
South Yorkshire Grade: C
Q3.
It is vital that police officers take personal responsibility for getting things done without having to be told.
Tell us about an occasion when you have taken the initiative to complete a task, even though it may not have been your job or responsibility.
Working behind a bar knowing there was a big event to be held at the weekend and the person that dealt with ordering stock was off sick I had to take it onboard myself to check what stock we had, and order what I thought we would need.
(ii) Exactly what did you do and how did other people react?
I ordered the stock ready for the event on the day I realised the person that should have ordered it was off otherwise it wouldn’t have been delivered on time. The manager was happy with what I had done; otherwise they would have run out of stock.
Personal Responsibility:
South Yorkshire Grade: C
Q4.
Police officers time is valuable and they need to manage their own time and work load effectively.
Think an occasion when you were under a lot of pressure to do a number of jobs or tasks at the same time.
(i) Tell us what things you had to do, which things you saw as the priority and why.
At the weekends I have been running my own mobile disco which takes up a lot of time, so working a shift in the morning, getting the disco set up for the evening and Djing that night takes some planning. Otherwise it can end in disaster if I was to turn up late to a party. Making sure everything was packed up and ready to transport is a priority.
(ii) What order did you do these things in, and tell us in some detail why you chose this order?
Firstly I would have to look at my staff rota at work and swap shifts if necessary, then get prepared that week by finding out the music required, and getting equipment ready etc. Then if I found out I had to work the morning before the disco I would make sure my equipment was already set up at the venue, or get someone else to take it there for me.
Planning and Organising:
South Yorkshire Grade: C
I'm still working on my next attempt...
Also posted this here
Here's what I put and the grades I got for each section. Knowing what I know now they were very generous !
Q1.
It is very important that police officers deliver an excellent service and develop good working relationships with members of the public.
Try to remember an occasion where you had to deal with someone who has been unhappy with the service they have been given, or who felt unhappy with the way they had been treated. If possible use an example where you had contact with the person over a period of time or on a number of occasions in order to sort out the problem.
(i) Describe the situation and why you think the person was unhappy.
An incident I recall is when I was working in a restaurant and a customer was unhappy with their food. The person got irate, started shouting and demanding something to be done about it. Obviously the person wasn’t happy about the service they were getting and wanted something to be done about it.
(ii) Tell us exactly what you did in the response to their concerns.
I asked them what the problem was, apologised to the person, offered them an alternative, they were still not happy and were causing a scene so I asked them to follow me to the office as to not disturb other diners, but they were still not happy so called for the manager, who did exactly the same as me. All the time the person kept asking me if I thought it was fair. I could have said no and agreed with them, but that would have left the manager in it. So I had to say they had been dealt with exactly the same as everyone else and they didn’t seem to have a problem. Eventually they did pick an alternate meal, along with a free drink.
(iii) How do you know the person was happy with what you did for them?
They ate their meal and seemd to enjoy the rest of the night, they returned to the restaurant again, so their experience can’t have been that bad, and they even apologised for the way they acted and said they were a little drunk at the time.
(iv) If you hadn’t acted as you did, what do you think would have been the likely consequence?
The person would have never returned to the restaurant and probably would have told everyone she knew about terrible service there. Also if they hadn’t been took away from the group of people they were with someone else would have joined in too, possibly even fighting would have started and made the situation worse, and eventually someone would have been made to leave spoiling the night for everyone.
Community and Customer Focus:
South Yorkshire Grade: B
Q2.
It is vitally important that police officers respect the lifestyle, culture or beliefs of others even if those differ significantly from the officer’s own views.
Think of an example of an occasion when you have shown respect for the lifestyle, culture or beliefs of someone, even though they differed significantly from your own and you may even have disagreed with them.
(i) Tell us how the situation arose and how you and the other person differed
I had to consider what was important to the beliefs or culture of that person and agree not to let it interfere with the proceedings by either not letting things they might find offensive occur or at least warn them about what would occur. An example of this is when I was Djing for a Jewish wedding, certain songs I would normally play for any other wedding could have been found offensive so I didn’t play them.
(ii) Which aspects of the difference did you find the most difficult to deal with?
Knowing what they would find offensive would be the hardest part, but it would just be common sense and experience that would tell you this, also finding out some background information about what happened at similar events helps. Also having people from all different age groups made this worse.
(iii) How did you adapt what you did to account for how the other person may have felt?
It would all depend upon the cituation and circumstances. But I adapted by not playing certain music they had requested not to be played or music that I knew could be taken as offensive to their beliefs.
Respect for Diversity:
South Yorkshire Grade: C
Q3.
It is vital that police officers take personal responsibility for getting things done without having to be told.
Tell us about an occasion when you have taken the initiative to complete a task, even though it may not have been your job or responsibility.
Working behind a bar knowing there was a big event to be held at the weekend and the person that dealt with ordering stock was off sick I had to take it onboard myself to check what stock we had, and order what I thought we would need.
(ii) Exactly what did you do and how did other people react?
I ordered the stock ready for the event on the day I realised the person that should have ordered it was off otherwise it wouldn’t have been delivered on time. The manager was happy with what I had done; otherwise they would have run out of stock.
Personal Responsibility:
South Yorkshire Grade: C
Q4.
Police officers time is valuable and they need to manage their own time and work load effectively.
Think an occasion when you were under a lot of pressure to do a number of jobs or tasks at the same time.
(i) Tell us what things you had to do, which things you saw as the priority and why.
At the weekends I have been running my own mobile disco which takes up a lot of time, so working a shift in the morning, getting the disco set up for the evening and Djing that night takes some planning. Otherwise it can end in disaster if I was to turn up late to a party. Making sure everything was packed up and ready to transport is a priority.
(ii) What order did you do these things in, and tell us in some detail why you chose this order?
Firstly I would have to look at my staff rota at work and swap shifts if necessary, then get prepared that week by finding out the music required, and getting equipment ready etc. Then if I found out I had to work the morning before the disco I would make sure my equipment was already set up at the venue, or get someone else to take it there for me.
Planning and Organising:
South Yorkshire Grade: C
I'm still working on my next attempt...