NCA Trainee Investigator/Intelligence 2019

Yup, got conditional offer & waiting for medical here too - I am assuming drugs test from Sept is still valid.

Hi are you waiting for the face to face part of the medical? I completed a phone medical and was signed off for a period of 4 months or until the restrictions allow the face to face medical to be conducted. This means that potentially I can start work once the vetting has been completed and then attend for the face to face medical.

I have been going through the process since August last year as well and have only received 1 to be honest..... seems they just randomly appear in emails to people. Are you just waiting on a start date now??

Hmm strange... I have had interview, now waiting for the assessment centres to open up so i can attend that

Hi are you waiting for the face to face part of the medical? I completed a phone medical and was signed off for a period of 4 months or until the restrictions allow the face to face medical to be conducted. This means that potentially I can start work once the vetting has been completed and then attend for the face to face medical.

For those who applied what qualification and past experience did you have? I’m thinking I may apply in the future but what qualifications should I need and do I need the past experiences?

Is there anybody who has been given a start date? I think they usually run 2-3 day on boarding events which they tend to aim to get new starters on but this may not be happening currently. Interested to know how soon from sending back my conditional offer To getting a contract and a start date.

No not yet. When did you receive your conditional offer? I believe it can take up to 16 weeks for all vetting checks to be completed and once they have been done then you will receive your contract and start date from HR.

They run different campaigns. If you are going for the trainee roles, likely because you’ve never worked in law enforcement before, then you need no specific qualifications or experience.

If it’s an experienced officer role, the advert will make clear what they want, such as PIP2, IPP qualifications. You would very likely only have these if you worked in a similar role already as it’s not the sort of thing you can do privately with a course.

Could you apply then if you chose to do a trainee role and had just finished your A-levels? Or like should you get a degree first?

I don’t have a degree, and went through the trainee programme about 6 years ago. But the interview and the assessment relies in part on competency based practices. The civil service use success profiles for there behaviours and there’s 5 documents online relating to various aspects of it which can give you a good idea of what may be expected at what level but the basics are that you have to evidence the requirements for the role by telling them about something you did using a STAR framework. What was the situation, what was the task, what actions did you take and what was the response. With no work experience, or without a deep study programme, a dissertation etc then you will struggle. So I think developing self and others is something you may need to demonstrate. This is described at that level as

“Identify gaps in your skills and knowledge and make plans of how to develop these. Take time to achieve development objectives. Listen to and act on feedback from colleagues to find areas you can develop. Share knowledge and skills learnt with colleagues to contribute to the learning and development of the whole team.“

So for you application form you would have to explain on 250 words a time when you’ve done something which meets those criteria.

There’s a document called success profiles, behaviours which will be available on civil service website. You will likely have to evidence 2 or 3 at The application and interview stage along with passing any other relevant assessments which will test your ability to manage in the role.

Oh wow thanks.
As a trainee did you get a chance to work your way up the ranks/ make personal improvements? Also did you actually get the experience day to day as what you did after finishing the training scheme?

Sorry for all the questions, me and my friend were considering maybe applying in the future.

Apologies, I should’ve explained that all that was done whilst I was in the candidate pool. I’m anticipating that everything which needs doing is done or nearly done and just wondering if anyone had been contacted in the last few weeks about a start date and when that may be

I’ve been in the candidate pool since November (for the IOTP), got my provisional offer in January, only started vetting about 6 weeks ago and found out last week that I’ve passed all checks and have been offered a start date. The only thing I haven’t done is substance test but I’ve been told that given the current situation they aren’t doing them but making it a condition that you have to do one within the first 12 months of starting. Medical and psychological assessment apparently not necessary for my specific role (in intel).

For anyone thinking they should be nearing the end of the process, it might be worth following up with them - I sent an email a couple of weeks back with a separate question not about the process and only a few days after that I got the email about my start date. They may just need a reminder / nudge to check on the status of everything!

I’ve been in the candidate pool since November (for the IOTP), got my provisional offer in January, only started vetting about 6 weeks ago and found out last week that I’ve passed all checks and have been offered a start date. The only thing I haven’t done is substance test but I’ve been told that given the current situation they aren’t doing them but making it a condition that you have to do one within the first 12 months of starting. Medical and psychological assessment apparently not necessary for my specific role (in intel).

For anyone thinking they should be nearing the end of the process, it might be worth following up with them - I sent an email a couple of weeks back with a separate question not about the process and only a few days after that I got the email about my start date. They may just need a reminder / nudge to check on the status of everything!

Did the NCA tell you that you didn’t need a psychological assessment because you’ve been offered the intel pathway? I seem to be on the same timescale as you - Offered a conditional role in January for intel but I’ve got my psychological assessment tomorrow 🤔 I haven’t heard anything about a medical but had my substance test at start of March. Just hoping I get a start date soon 🤞🏼