London Met 999 call handler role

Vetting done references sent-off last week, hopefully they too will clear.

Has your portal updated to say you’ve passed anything other than your medical as of yet?

Hello - I passed my assessments and interview for this role last week message if you have any questions!

Hello - I passed my assessments and interview for this role last week message if you have any questions!

I’ve been accepted and now starting the 8 week training, it’s the text difficult to pass?

Hey all, has anyone got their training rota timetable?

Hello - I passed my assessments and interview for this role last week message if you have any questions!

yes, vetting has passed line too now.

Start date in two weeks end of May, just waiting for training timetable.

Hello - I passed my assessments and interview for this role last week message if you have any questions!

Hey, I came across the thread and I thought I’d give my experience of the process. I know I’m quite late and you’re probably well into your career as a comms officer already but I’m pretty sure someone is reading and wanting answers so hopefully I can help!

Just to be clear, this was for the role of a Communication Officer (999 &101) in London. I’ve just recently started the role now after a VERY long wait of Vetting, Reference checking and Medical tests (Yep, they make you do those haha). The wait was long, approx about 3 months. I done the assessment day in April and I officially started the role in late July. I was already working prior to applying for this whole process so that helped the long wait and bills.

So I’ve spoken a lot about this assessment day, but what exactly is it all about? What happens? I’ll give you the deets. So there was 11 of us and it was situated in Hendon. A constable came up, checked our IDs and then issued us numbers from 1-11 on a sticky paper that we had to attach to our fronts. After that he escorted us to the large building where all the calls take place, first of all the place is MASSIVE, it was a really nice sight.

We went in to the building, passing through metal detectors and finally entered this big room. In the room were 5 senior police staff, sat in chairs and expressionless. We were told prior to entering that the police staff had been instructed to not converse or display any type of reaction or expression. Simply watch us and write what they see. Quite ominous now I look back on it haha.

We were sat in chairs in alignment with our numbers (so 1 sat next to 2, 2 next to 3 and so forth) and whilst in this room we were given 2 tasks to do. The first task was have a discussion with the person next to you for 3 minutes and essentially draw up enough information about their life as possible. We were then told to relay this information back to the group and the 5 senior police staff. I found this task relatively easy because I’m quite a people’s person in nature and I’m always talking and getting to know people, but I can understand it might be difficult for people who are less socially outgoing. It’s good to do well in this because it tests your memory and relaying info skills, which is very important in this job I’ll tell you right now.

The next task involved us being split into two groups and each group was given a variety of different scenarios and we was tasked in matching each scenario to the appropriate response. It was from ‘Not necessary to take any action’ to ‘immediate police presence needed’ with levels in between them of course. This one was challenging because it’s mainly about personal and emotional connection with the scenarios, sometimes that may cloud judgement.

After we had finished up in that room, we was taken to a different room in another section of the building to do a typing test. I remember messing up in the practice round and the police officer laughing hysterically because she could see I was worried she’d notice. Haha, still joked with me about that when I came in for my first shift. It’s not that hard though, just type how you normally type and you should be fine. Don’t worry about speed or anything like that, it’s more about you typing it CORRECTLY than QUICKLY although having a little pace in how you do type correctly wouldn’t hurt.

After the typing test had been wrapped up, we was all taken to another room where we waited for a while. After the long wait, numbers were called out. Out of 1-11, they called 3,6,8,1,11, and 10. Meaning the people with those numbers stuck on them were brought to a different part of the building, the room next to us. 2,7,4 (which was me), 5 and 9 all remained in the original room. Short while passed and then the constable from the start who gave us the numbers, came in and told us we had passed the assessment. Big sigh of relief right? Nope. Now we had to do a final in face interview. This interview was essentially the same interview you had when on the phone interview at the start of the application and in my opinion, it was the easiest part of the whole day. Just show how passionate you are towards joining the force and you’ll be fine. The two officers I spoke to were welcoming and the interview flowed very well. After a brief wait (SO. MUCH. WAITING.) I was called into the interview room again and told I had got the job. They then gave me a sheet which asks me to list my preferred location to work at, they have three sites, Hendon, Bow or Lambeth. Since I live in Southwark, Lambeth was a no brainer as number one. Bow was two and Hendon three. Shook hands with everyone and then finished off on a high note !

That’s my day in the Hendon office in case anyone wanted to know how the day could possibly go, it might vary slightly but this was my own account so hopefully it helps !

HI, thank you this was really helpful. Is it possible if you could remember what questions they asked you for the face to face interview.. Thank you.

Hey, I came across the thread and I thought I’d give my experience of the process. I know I’m quite late and you’re probably well into your career as a comms officer already but I’m pretty sure someone is reading and wanting answers so hopefully I can help!

Just to be clear, this was for the role of a Communication Officer (999 &101) in London. I’ve just recently started the role now after a VERY long wait of Vetting, Reference checking and Medical tests (Yep, they make you do those haha). The wait was long, approx about 3 months. I done the assessment day in April and I officially started the role in late July. I was already working prior to applying for this whole process so that helped the long wait and bills.

So I’ve spoken a lot about this assessment day, but what exactly is it all about? What happens? I’ll give you the deets. So there was 11 of us and it was situated in Hendon. A constable came up, checked our IDs and then issued us numbers from 1-11 on a sticky paper that we had to attach to our fronts. After that he escorted us to the large building where all the calls take place, first of all the place is MASSIVE, it was a really nice sight.

We went in to the building, passing through metal detectors and finally entered this big room. In the room were 5 senior police staff, sat in chairs and expressionless. We were told prior to entering that the police staff had been instructed to not converse or display any type of reaction or expression. Simply watch us and write what they see. Quite ominous now I look back on it haha.

We were sat in chairs in alignment with our numbers (so 1 sat next to 2, 2 next to 3 and so forth) and whilst in this room we were given 2 tasks to do. The first task was have a discussion with the person next to you for 3 minutes and essentially draw up enough information about their life as possible. We were then told to relay this information back to the group and the 5 senior police staff. I found this task relatively easy because I’m quite a people’s person in nature and I’m always talking and getting to know people, but I can understand it might be difficult for people who are less socially outgoing. It’s good to do well in this because it tests your memory and relaying info skills, which is very important in this job I’ll tell you right now.

The next task involved us being split into two groups and each group was given a variety of different scenarios and we was tasked in matching each scenario to the appropriate response. It was from ‘Not necessary to take any action’ to ‘immediate police presence needed’ with levels in between them of course. This one was challenging because it’s mainly about personal and emotional connection with the scenarios, sometimes that may cloud judgement.

After we had finished up in that room, we was taken to a different room in another section of the building to do a typing test. I remember messing up in the practice round and the police officer laughing hysterically because she could see I was worried she’d notice. Haha, still joked with me about that when I came in for my first shift. It’s not that hard though, just type how you normally type and you should be fine. Don’t worry about speed or anything like that, it’s more about you typing it CORRECTLY than QUICKLY although having a little pace in how you do type correctly wouldn’t hurt.

After the typing test had been wrapped up, we was all taken to another room where we waited for a while. After the long wait, numbers were called out. Out of 1-11, they called 3,6,8,1,11, and 10. Meaning the people with those numbers stuck on them were brought to a different part of the building, the room next to us. 2,7,4 (which was me), 5 and 9 all remained in the original room. Short while passed and then the constable from the start who gave us the numbers, came in and told us we had passed the assessment. Big sigh of relief right? Nope. Now we had to do a final in face interview. This interview was essentially the same interview you had when on the phone interview at the start of the application and in my opinion, it was the easiest part of the whole day. Just show how passionate you are towards joining the force and you’ll be fine. The two officers I spoke to were welcoming and the interview flowed very well. After a brief wait (SO. MUCH. WAITING.) I was called into the interview room again and told I had got the job. They then gave me a sheet which asks me to list my preferred location to work at, they have three sites, Hendon, Bow or Lambeth. Since I live in Southwark, Lambeth was a no brainer as number one. Bow was two and Hendon three. Shook hands with everyone and then finished off on a high note !

That’s my day in the Hendon office in case anyone wanted to know how the day could possibly go, it might vary slightly but this was my own account so hopefully it helps !

Hey, how long did it take from being successful at assessment centre to starting your role?

Hey, how long did it take from being successful at assessment centre to starting your role?