Police Recruitment whether it’s as a police officer, special constable or Police Community Support Officer (PCSO), can have it’s first test after your initial application, as the National Sift.
What is it?
The National Sift is a computer based test. It’s made up of 2 parts – Behavioral Style Questionnaire and Situational Judgement Tests. It was brought in around 2 years ago to reduce numbers progressing to the next stage in police officer recruitment – the Online Assessment Centre. it’s now also used for PCSO recruitment and Special Constable recruitment in certain forces. It’s marked automatically and you may receive your results almost immediately or usually, a couple of days later.
Behavioral Style Questionnaire
80 questions, asking you about how you are as a person, your qualities, what you enjoy doing, as well as what you don’t enjoy doing.
Situational Judgement Tests
15 scenarios for which you have to rate the effectiveness of 4 possible given actions. They are looking to see how you may tackle certain situations and likely solutions you would rate as the best.
Is it easy to pass?
40-50% of people say not! That is on average how many people will not be successful at this first stage of police recruitment. Many people cannot understand why they haven’t passed it, you unfortunately don’t get any feedback, just whether you’ve passed or failed and your score. If you don’t pass, you have to wait 3 months before you can take it again. You can only take it twice in a 12 month period.
How can I increase my chances of passing the National Sift?
Understanding what is expected of you is so important. Lots of people (some very clever people) come to us at Careers In Blue because they’ve not been successful first time round. Obviously, they are nervous about taking it again, this is a career they really want. They don’t really know why they failed it…
How can Careers In Blue Help
Our first Modular Training Course (Module 1) is all about the National Sift. It’s an hour long group course with a trainer. We will go through the process so you understand what’s expected of you and how best to prepare for the two tests. We will go through some of the Situational Judgement Questions with you so you have the best chance of passing both tests. We have great success rates for this first crucial stage of your recruitment process.
How can I use Careers In Blue to help me?
Check out our website https://careersinblue.co.uk/
Here you will be able to check out all our courses as well as buying our books – Police Recruitment Start To Finish (police officer recruitment) and Application Forms & Structured Interviews (police staff). They both get great reviews!
Our Modular Training Courses are run twice a week, Module 1 covers the National Sift and Modules 2-4 are there to help you with the 3 stages of the Online Assessment Centre. You can also sign up for our Free Services via our Mailing List