London Met 999 call handler role

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.

I thought I’d give a little insight into what happens after the assessment day. The Medical assessment and Vetting. I’ll use me as example. So after the assessment day, we had to do a medical exam. This is just to see if you’re healthy enough to partake in the job. You’ll have to go to an occupational therapist that is partnered with the met, they sent me to one that was in Lambeth, it was literally right next to me haha.

When you go in (Remember to bring ID) they take your name and then you head into a room with one of the therapists. You’ll need to do a hearing and eyesight test. For the eyesight test, it’s similar to the type of test you’ll get at an opticians where they’ll show you a group of letters that get smaller as it goes down. They just ask you to say the letter that their pointing at. Pretty straight forward.

As for the hearing test, they place you into a small box like structure which is essentially soundproof. They can’t hear you and you can’t hear them. Sounds spooky haha, trust me it’s not. You’ll have to put the headphones on that are in the box and then you’ll have to listen out for beeps that come through the headset. You’ll be given a small pen like machine in your hand with a button that you must press whenever you hear the beep.

All in all the medical assessment is pretty straightforward and nothing to worry about, no bleep tests in sight haha.

As for the Vetting, it’s probably the toughest part of the whole process. Be sure to tell them THE WHOLE TRUTH because they will find it if you don’t. If you have a credit account that’s in default, tell them, if you have debts, tell them, if you have any family member that’s ever got in trouble with the law, tell them, if you have any social media accounts, tell them. They managed to unearth my twitter account and I hadn’t used that since I was 16 haha. Luckily it’s just me complaining about music for ages so they probably didn’t see nothing wrong. Just be sure to be very up front when they send you that vetting form and when they start emailing you to cross reference some things.

I hope to see anyone that’s joining the journey soon! Thanks for allowing me to give you the comfort I never got when going into this haha. I hope all of this helps

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 thanks for this, really insightful! I wanted to know if you had to write what you hear on the tape word for word or can you write in note format all the relevant information you hear? (in reference to the typing test)

So the typing test essentially had a paragraph on your screen that had been written prior to you entering. So what you had to do was you had to type what you saw in that paragraph word for word as fast as you can into the computer. The computer then calculates how long you took to type it, the amount of errors you made while typing it and whether you wrote enough for it to be classified as useful to the officers. It’s not off memory it’s all going to be on screen. So you essentially just type what you see.

As I said before, don’t worry about speed too much and focus your energy more into just writing everything you see as smoothly and efficiently as possible with ZERO mistakes. They’re not too worried about the speed, it’s more the mistakes they look down upon.

Hope this helps !

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

Hi, I just wanted to ask if you was told after your medical if you had passed? I received my vetting forms after I passed at Hendon and just went for my medical today, but wasn’t informed on the outcome? thank you

Hi, how long did the whole vetting process take? Submitted my vetting and references form 7/09, still waiting

Id like to know too! Ive been waiting for 2 months now😭

Id like to know too! Ive been waiting for 2 months now😭

It took me about 9 weeks! For them to get back to me

I haven't heard back either and I have to have a medical call this month cause of my medical history (teenage SS attempt) which happened over 7 years ago
I applied start of September, had my assessment mid October did my medical start November only got my vetting in early-mid December (they forgot to scan my documents so had to chase them to get my form) so hopefully I will get an outcome by late Feb-March and hopefully start around March/April
I read somewhere that vetting shouldn't take more than 3 months to complete but i'd allow more time due to the holidays so fingers crossed

If it takes more than 3 months does it mean you didnt get the job? I know they said no time frame Or do they just tell you straight away. Itll be heartbreaking waiting for a long time Thinking you got it but didnt😅

from what i read they will tell you either way, and 'cause of the holidays it may take longer than 3months. I've been checking the vetting portal everyday to see if it changes i feel like it will tell me before they do but idk

from what i read they will tell you either way, and 'cause of the holidays it may take longer than 3months. I've been checking the vetting portal everyday to see if it changes i feel like it will tell me before they do but idk

hey how are you?

I have received an email from them saying I have passed my medical. So I'm guessing just a few more weeks for the vetting to be completed. Have you heard anything from them too?

yeah same for me they emailed saying i've passed and i have the conditional offer, and sent me a reference form to fill out (which, i'm assuming will be the penultimate part of the vetting process) i'm waiting to hear back from my current employer for details of our hr team to put on the form so i should have that sent off by next Friday and then i'd assume about 2 or 3 weeks from then

I thought I’d give a little insight into what happens after the assessment day. The Medical assessment and Vetting. I’ll use me as example. So after the assessment day, we had to do a medical exam. This is just to see if you’re healthy enough to partake in the job. You’ll have to go to an occupational therapist that is partnered with the met, they sent me to one that was in Lambeth, it was literally right next to me haha.

When you go in (Remember to bring ID) they take your name and then you head into a room with one of the therapists. You’ll need to do a hearing and eyesight test. For the eyesight test, it’s similar to the type of test you’ll get at an opticians where they’ll show you a group of letters that get smaller as it goes down. They just ask you to say the letter that their pointing at. Pretty straight forward.

As for the hearing test, they place you into a small box like structure which is essentially soundproof. They can’t hear you and you can’t hear them. Sounds spooky haha, trust me it’s not. You’ll have to put the headphones on that are in the box and then you’ll have to listen out for beeps that come through the headset. You’ll be given a small pen like machine in your hand with a button that you must press whenever you hear the beep.

All in all the medical assessment is pretty straightforward and nothing to worry about, no bleep tests in sight haha.

As for the Vetting, it’s probably the toughest part of the whole process. Be sure to tell them THE WHOLE TRUTH because they will find it if you don’t. If you have a credit account that’s in default, tell them, if you have debts, tell them, if you have any family member that’s ever got in trouble with the law, tell them, if you have any social media accounts, tell them. They managed to unearth my twitter account and I hadn’t used that since I was 16 haha. Luckily it’s just me complaining about music for ages so they probably didn’t see nothing wrong. Just be sure to be very up front when they send you that vetting form and when they start emailing you to cross reference some things.

I hope to see anyone that’s joining the journey soon! Thanks for allowing me to give you the comfort I never got when going into this haha. I hope all of this helps