PROMISEPEOPLE

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WHAT YOU’LL FIND IN THIS

3 Thank you for showing an interest in working for Cheshire Constabulary

4 Why Cheshire Constabulary?

8 The Cheshire Constabulary Experience

9 The Application Process

14 The Insight Programme

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Cheshire Constabulary is an equal opportunities employer and we want to have a workforce representative of the communities that we police and serve. As an employer, we strive to ensure that all our personnel practices, including recruitment, promotion and development are applied consistently and fairly and that the overriding principle governing selection is merit. We are not fully representative yet and we are addressing this imbalance through a variety of initiatives and by ensuring the conduct and behaviour of our staff is beyond reproach.

We are an innovative, ambitious force where energy, enthusiasm, a commitment to openness and a willingness to drive improvement is essential. We work collaboratively with other forces as part of our award winning Multi Force Shared Service and we are currently entering a BlueLight Collaboration with Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Appointing the most talented individuals is essential in helping us achieve our vision and objectives for the future. This is an opportunity for individuals to make a real difference to the communities they live in.

FOR SHOWING AN INTEREST IN WORKING FOR CHESHIRE CONSTABULARY

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CHESHIRE CONSTABULARY?

Cheshire Constabulary brings a fresh and energetic approach to providing a top quality service to the communities of Cheshire.

Our mission is to make Cheshire the safest place in the country, and be a police force here for the communities when it matters, where it matters.

Employee benefits Cheshire Constabulary is proud to offer a benefits package that provides a range of opportunities and options for all. Some of which are outlined below.

Identity card discountsAll staff and officers can claim discounts using their Force Identity card at a number of outlets such as:

• Domino’s Pizza

• Cineworld

• Vue Cinema

• Nando’s

• Frankie and Benny’s

• Pizza Hut

Childcare vouchersThe Force operates a salary sacrifice childcare voucher scheme through Kiddivouchers.Childcare vouchers are a Government initiative aimed at helping working parents by allowing them to receive up to £243 a

month of childcare vouchers from their employer, free of tax and National Insurance.

Maternity Leave and PayIn addition to the statutory provision for maternity leave and pay, staff who meet the eligibility criteria, are entitled to enhanced maternity benefits.

Agile Working Cheshire Constabulary is committed to working creatively and flexibly to support and engage with employees, whilst aligning workforce demand with our fluctuating business needs. Through agile working, we utilise a combination of processes that empower our people to make a choice about how, when and where they work. We recognise the need to develop innovative working practices to enable employees to maximise their performance and productivity, whilst maintaining a healthy work life balance.

Automatic Enrolment in the Pension Scheme Both police staff and police officers have the opportunity to join a pension scheme. Upon joining the Constabulary all new recruits are automatically enrolled into the pension scheme.

However, you do have the opportunity to opt out and join back in at a later date.

Sports & Social Club Membership All employees of Cheshire Constabulary can join the Sports and Social Club. If you choose to join the club, you have access to fully kitted out gyms at various local policing units and HQ, shower and changing facilities at a small cost per month. You can take advantage of various offers including enjoying a stay in the club holiday home in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The club also run a lottery where you could win up to £600.

Cycle to Work As part of the Constabulary’s ongoing promotion of health and wellbeing initiatives and review of flexible benefits, a Cycle to Work scheme has been made available to all employees.The scheme operates as a salary sacrifice arrangement, enabling staff to hire a bike up to the value of £1,000. Additional discounts will also be available.

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Wellbeing Initiatives Cheshire Constabulary has a Wellbeing Zone that is available to all employees. The Wellbeing Zone aims to give employees a range of professionally constructed health and fitness programmes, covering all aspects of wellbeing to help and support you.

CiC Confidential Care Advice lineThe CiC is the Constabulary’s current employee assistance programme provider, offering free one-to-one support on a wide range of issues from management challenges at work to relationship difficulties at home, from legal problems to family dilemmas.CiC is there to provide all employees with the psychological and practical tools to face any eventuality - available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

HealthWorks HealthWorks is the Constabulary’s occupational health provider offering a range of occupational health services, including absence management assessments, health surveillance services, pre-placement health assessments, vaccination services and the provision of strategic health advice to the Constabulary.The service is a “doctor led” service with a triage facility to ensure that our employees are seen by the most appropriate health professional.

Cheshire Constabulary recognises the importance of staff contribution with...Achieving Cheshire Excellence (ACE) Awards

Employees have the opportunity to nominate someone they work with who deserves recognition - people who go above and beyond; they can even vote for volunteers or members of the public who they think have been invaluable to the Force or community.

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MINDAt the end of 2015, the Constabulary signed the Blue Light Time to Change pledge, which commits the organisation to ending mental health stigma and discrimination in the workplace. The Blue Light Infoline offers confidential, independent and practical support, advice and signposting around mental health and wellbeing. The Infoline is just for emergency service staff, volunteers and their families, to help keep well for work.

Staff Support NetworksThe Constabulary offers employees a range of support networks; these networks provide staff and officers support by sharing information and experience.As an inclusive organisation striving to support all staff members, the following network groups are available to all members of staff:

• Cheshire Constabulary Minority & Ethnic Group

• Cheshire Women’s Network (Women in Policing affiliated)

• Christian Police Association• Cheshire Chaplaincy Team

• Disnet - Disability Support Network

• LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender)

• UNISON• Police Federation• Police Superintendents

Association of England and Wales (PSAEW).

Here at Cheshire Constabulary we want candidates to enjoy the recruitment experience and are committed to treating all candidates in a polite professional manner throughout the recruitment process. The information you provide will be treated as confidential, only those involved in the recruitment process will see your information. For the purpose of equal opportunities, your name, personal details, any disability or convictions you declare will not be seen by the panel at either the shortlisting or interview stage. Those who have stated that they have a disability and meet all the essential requirements of the role will be automatically invited to the next stage of the recruitment process.

THE CHESHIRE CONSTABULARY

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To apply visit our jobs page at www.cheshire.police.uk/jobs, then select ‘current vacancies’ - this will redirect you to all current Cheshire Constabulary vacancies. On selecting the role you wish to apply for you will see at the bottom of the advert details ‘apply online’ link which will direct you to the online application form. You will be prompted to sign into your active account or register as a new user. Once you are signed in you can make a start on your application.

THE APPLICATION

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Completing the Application Form Submitting an application is the first stage of the recruitment process. The system will ask you to provide a variety of information such as personal details, current and previous employment information and qualification history. In addition to providing this information, you are also required to complete a 2000 word supporting statement. The “Supporting Statement” is an important part of the application form, we advise all candidates to take time to read through the role profile prior to completing this section of the application form to ensure you can provide evidence against all essential requirements of the role. Please do not evidence your competence against the Personal Qualities, please only evidence against the role profile. Your supporting statement will be used to shortlist your application, all other information is kept for administrative purposes only.

Submitting the Application Form When you are confident with your application form you must ensure you submit it prior to the closing date. As the application form is electronic, once the closing date is reached you will not be able to submit your application. CVs that are submitted in replace of an application or in addition to an application form will not be considered. Please ensure that the details provided under ‘personal details’ are correct especially your email address as you will receive all communications through means of an email.

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What happens once the advert closes…Once the closing date has passed, your application will be shortlisted by a panel of Cheshire Constabulary employees, including the Hiring Manager and an independent panel member. The shortlisting panel will consider candidates suitability for the role through reviewing the information provided on an application form against the role profile for the specific vacancy. All candidates will receive an email to inform them if they have been successful at shortlisting or not. Those who are successful will receive an invite to book onto an interview.

Preparing for an interview Both successful and unsuccessful candidates can review the progress of their application through accessing the candidate portal. We strongly advise candidates to regularly log onto the portal, to ensure you do not miss any vital information. If unsuccessful, due to the large number of applications received for each recruitment campaign we are not in a position to offer feedback at the shortlisting stage. If successful, we endeavour to provide candidates with a minimum one week’s notice to the next stage of the process however this cannot be guaranteed. It is essential that you highlight any special arrangements for reasonable adjustments that are needed to enable you to attend the next stage of the process. This information must be provided prior to interviews being conducted.

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Candidates are required to bring identification documentation on the day of the interview. If you fail to provide identification documentation, you will be refused an interview. Details of acceptable identification documents are listed in the email invite. For specific roles you will also be required to complete a vetting form at this stage of the process, where required please also ensure you provide this on the day of your interview. Candidates are advised to prepare as much as possible for the interview process. Candidates will be asked questions based on the personal qualities relevant to the role, if you are unable to obtain a copy of these please contact MFSS Resourcing on mfss.resourcing@cheshire.pnn.police.uk. We advise candidates to review the STAR approach to interview questions. Information on the STAR approach can be found via an internet search. Candidates will be scored on each answer provided, the stronger the evidence provided the higher score a candidate will receive. If at any point you would like the question repeating, please do not be afraid to ask the panel. Panel members will prompt you where they feel necessary, please do not be put off by this they are simply trying to gather as much information as possible from you to get a clearer understanding of what you are explaining.

SITUATIONDescribe the situation you were in orthe task you needed to accomplish.

TASKDescribe the challenges and expectations.What needed to be done? Why?

ACTIONElaborate on your specific action.What exactly did you do and how did you do it?

RESULTExplain the result, including your accomplishments, recognition and the outcome.

Once all interviews have been conducted and candidates are scored the panel will appoint the individual who is the highest scoring candidates. Once the decision has been made, the Chair of the panel will contact interviewed candidates with the outcome. The successful candidates will be verbally offered the position and will be issued with a conditional offer of employment. All appointments are conditional subject to passing vetting, medical checks and satisfactory references being received. In addition to references being satisfactory, an applicant must not exceed four periods of absence or nine Days of absence within the last 12 months of employment. Do not hand in your notice to your current employer until you are issued with your formal offer. Cheshire Constabulary reserve the right to retract an offer of employment at any stage of the on boarding process.

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The Insight Programme was developed by the Positive Action team within Human Resources, in order to provide a pre recruitment programme to potential future officers and staff who are aged 18 and above and fall under the Equality Act, giving them an insight into the Constabulary and the recruitment process.

The nature of policing means that we interact with people from different backgrounds every day. It is important that we understand and are sensitive to individuals’ differences, so we can provide an appropriately tailored policing service. To do this, we need to employ a workforce that is reflective of our communities.

THE INSIGHTprogrammeinsight

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The Insight Programme enables individuals to learn more about the force, improve confidence, develop presentation and communication skills and provide awareness of the process in relation to the recruitment of various roles.

The programme also hopes to help break down barriers between the community and local police force and help to instil confidence in the recruitment process.

This scheme gives the Constabulary a platform for longer-term, sustainable recruitment strategy which ensures that talented members of the public are encouraged to join the service and are fully supported when the application process is launched. It aims to provide coaching and mentoring and to raise awareness of Cheshire Constabulary, the policing family and opportunities and support that is available.

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CHESHIRE CONSTABULARY RECRUITMENT

MFSS Recruitment Cheshire Constabulary Headquarters, Clemonds Hey, Oakmere Road, Winsford, Cheshire CW7 2UA

mfss.resourcing@cheshire.pnn.police.uk

01606 366800

© Produced by Cheshire Constabulary HR and Corporate Communications - March 2018

Cheshire Police general contact number: 101 In an emergency dial 999 www.cheshire.police.uk

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