Recruitment process

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Applying for the role

When you apply to North Wales Police as a Police Constable, you’ll complete a number of stages. These stages are listed below to help you understand the process you’re about to embark on. We value applications in English or Welsh. All candidates are required to successfully pass every stage of the process to be recruited as a Police Constable.

The first stage of the process gives you an opportunity to register your interest in applying for the role of Police Constable and helps start to build a relationship between North Wales Police and yourself. Your registration of interest will enable us to provide you with all the information you need to make a decision as to if the role of Police Officer is for you as well as being able to offer you Positive Action support.

We’re an equal opportunities employer and are committed to attracting, supporting and developing a workforce representative of the communities that we police and serve. We strive to ensure that all personnel practices, including recruitment, are applied consistently and fairly and as such we expect all staff involved in the recruitment process to share this commitment.

Therefore, throughout the recruitment process, the members of staff and assessors involved are trained to the highest standard, ensuring that the principles of the Equality Act are adhered to. This is supported through our Standards of Practice and Unconscious Bias training that is delivered to all of our assessors.

Positive Action support is available for groups of people that are currently underrepresented in the Police Constable role; this includes people of Black, Asian or other Minority Ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, LGBT+ people, people from religious minority groups and women.

Recruitment timelines from application to appointment are subject to pre-employment checks and available start dates. At the end of each stage of the process you’ll be notified whether or not you’ve been successful and eligible to proceed to the next step and we will discuss with you available start dates so you can plan accordingly.

Reasonable adjustments and accommodations

It’s important that you consider if you would like to request arrangements that will assist you in completing the selection process. For example, in relation to disability, dyslexia, learning difficulties, pregnancy, menopause, religion or belief, injury etc.

Any requests for reasonable adjustments will be considered and arranged where possible. This information will be treated in confidence. If you need reasonable adjustments, please contact the recruitment team on [email protected]

You may be eligible for Positive Action, which can provide support throughout the application and section process. Find out more on the Positive Action Team page.

We are open for registrations of interest for the role of Police Officer.

Apply now

Once you have registered your interest we will invite you to a familiarisation session. You will learn about:

Police Constable eligibility criteria
Application form standards
Academic study and commitment
Probationary training
The role of a Police Constable
Positive Action support
The recruitment process
Frequently asked questions

By the end of this session you will be comfortable in knowing what is expected of you and help make an informed decision on your application.

Following your attendance at the familiarisation event, when the next police officer recruitment window is open we will send you a link to apply.

It is recommended you prepare for your application so you are ready when you receive the link, as there may be occasions when we need to close the window early dependent on the number of applications received.

What technology do I need?

You can complete the application form on any internet-enabled device with a camera (laptop, tablet or phone), but to ensure full compatibility with the online platform, the following should be set up:

Your operating system should be Windows 7 (or higher) or Mac OS 10.11 (or higher)
Your browser should be the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari
You should have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed
A webcam and microphone to record responses

The first part of the process asks questions to determine if you are eligible to apply.

If you are eligible, you will be guided through the application process. First, there will be some online tests. These will include an online Behavioural Style Questionnaire and a Situational Judgement Test.

You can find out more about these tests in these guidance documents:

Behavioural Style Questionnaire (PDF)
Situational Judgement Test (PDF)

If you don’t have a Level 3 qualification or above, you must also successfully pass a psychometric test (Verbal Reasoning and Calculation). This will test your academic ability to Level 3. If you pass these tests, you will move on to complete the online form.

You do not need to complete the whole form in one session; you can save your progress as you go along. When we receive your application form, we’ll check your eligibility and your responses and if your application is successful, you will be invited to attend an online assessment centre.

The application will ask you about eligibility

During the eligibility stage we will check that you meet all of the criteria previously detailed before continuing with your application; these will include:

qualifications
tattoos
residency
declared convictions

If your application meets the eligibility criteria and you have uploaded the correct documents or photographs, then your application will progress to the next phase of the recruitment process.

You can find out more about the eligibility criteria on the College of Policing website.

The Competency and Values Framework (CVF) sets out the behaviours expected of everyone working in policing.

What is the College of Policing online assessment process?

The College of Policing online assessment process is an online process for the recruitment of police constables. It is a series of stages containing exercises that test the key competencies and values that are important for police constables.

What does the North Wales Police online assessment process involve?

The online assessment process is a staged process that consists of three exercises.

The process is broken up as follows

Stage 1 – Competency-based video interview
Stages 2 and 3 – Written exercise and briefing exercise

No prior knowledge of the role of a police officer or any policing knowledge is required to complete the exercises. Further information on the role profile of a police constable can be found on the College of Policing website.

How do I begin the online assessment process?

Once you’ve been successful in your applications, we’ll send you all the details you need to complete the online assessment.

You can find out more about the online assessment process on the College of Policing website.

We’ll write to you when we receive the online assessment results and if you’re successful you’ll be invited to attend an interview.

You’ll meet other people working for North Wales Police and it’s a good opportunity for us to meet you. This is to help us understand more about you as an individual and your ethics and values.

The interview takes about 45 minutes and is based on:

Your research into North Wales Police, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, and the role you are applying for
The College of Policing, in particular the Code of Ethics
The Competency and Values Framework (CVF), which sets out the behaviours expected of everyone working in policing

Let us know if you want to hold your interview in English or Welsh, or a combination of both if that is easier for you.

Congratulations if you’ve made it to this stage. We now move onto the vetting and pre-employment stage.

This part of the process can take some time depending on different factors such as medicals and vetting. However, we will keep you updated as you progress.

After your interview we will invite you to the ‘Next steps to becoming a Police Constable’ workshop which will give you further information about the pre-employment stage, our training programme and also an input from our Positive Action team so you can decide if their support is something you’d appreciate. We will also be able to give you some indication of your start date.

You will complete a form following interview relating to security and vetting information. Our vetting department will carry out the relevant background checks and a decision will be made on whether vetting can be granted.

If the vetting team need further information they will contact you during this stage of the process.

At this stage we will make contact with your previous employers for the last 3 years as well as your nominated character/educational referees. It is important that information on your application form is correct and kept up to date. Any sickness declared by a previous employer will be reviewed by Occupational Health in line with the North Wales Police Absence Management policy.

We will only contact your current employer with your consent – it will be one of the last stages of the process.

Here at North Wales Police we actively encourage all our staff and officers to use Welsh in their daily lives at work.

Therefore we ask all new police officer recruits to demonstrate basic skills in the Welsh language (level 2 competency).

The review will take place in an informal manner with a sympathetic Welsh speaker. We offer support and guidance to help you achieve the required level.

We also have online learning resources that may assist you with your learning.

If you are a fluent Welsh language speaker or went to an all-Welsh speaking school then you won’t need to complete the review. This will be verified during the process.

We will invite you along to Force Headquarters, Colwyn Bay for your biometric assessments. These consist of DNA samples and fingerprints which are taken by trained North Wales Police staff and also drug testing which is undertaken by an external company.

Policing has never been an easy job. You will be required to handle a variety of situations involving physically challenging tasks.

You will need strength, agility and stamina to deal effectively with situations as well as to defend yourself and others. You also need to be fit to handle police equipment safely and to work shifts.

The fitness test is a way for us to ensure you are fit enough to cope with the demands of the job.

Learn more about what the test involves (PDF)

You’ll have been given a medical history questionnaire. This must be completed by your doctor – please note that they may charge you for doing this, and it can take up to four weeks to return the forms to you.

Once your medical papers have been viewed by our Occupational Health Unit, you will be invited to attend a medical assessment with our nurse and Force doctor.

Eyesight Standards (Gov.uk)

Recommended Medical Standards (PDF)

Congratulations, the process is now complete and we’ll write to you to confirm your appointment and start date. We aim to give one month’s notice for your start date.

Before your start date you’ll be required to;

Enrol with our partner university
Attend Headquarters for a uniform fitting
Complete pre-join online training packages
Return all requested documents to the recruitment team

Logos of staff support networks — North Wales Police embraces diversity. We welcome applications from everyone.

Recruitment process

Applying for the role

Reasonable adjustments and accommodations

Stage 1 Register your interest

Stage 2: Familiarisation sessions

Stage 3: Notification of opening dates

Stage 4: Application form

Stage 5: Assessment

How do I begin the online assessment process?

Stage 6: Competency-based interview

Stage 7: Conditional offer

Stage 8: Background enquiries

Stage 9: References

Stage 10: Welsh language assessment

Stage 11: Biometric vetting and fitness testing

Stage 12: Medical assessment

Stage 13: Offer of appointment