College support available when appointing chief officers across England and Wales.
The College of Policing’s specialist chief officer appointments team is dedicated to supporting the assessment and selection of chief officers. We are recognised as experts in executive recruitment and assessment in a policing context. We use evidence-based interventions to add value and ensure robust and defensible chief appointment processes.
Our involvement in chief officer recruitment is viewed positively by key stakeholders and candidates. It provides reassurance that appointments comply with regulations and assessment best practice. Our support is provided to the police service free of charge and forces can use as much or as little support as they wish with their processes.
This information outlines the support available from the College to forces to support the appointment of chief officers across England and Wales.
To discuss further, please contact the chief officer appointments team at: hub@college.police.uk.
Support available
We can provide support and guidance for a huge range of activities
Pre-launch activities
- Advice regarding eligibility criteria and rules concerning the selection of chief officers.
- Advice regarding overseas officers.
- Support and advice with job descriptions and job adverts.
- Support in developing strategies to maximise the applicant pool for your vacancy.
- Contextualisation of job descriptions and professional profiles, translating your key priorities, skills, abilities, behaviours, values and challenges into clear and measurable assessment criteria.
- Advice on how to overcome barriers our research and experience have identified can affect chief officer appointments.
- Advice on the logistics and delivery of your appointment process.
Advertising
- Provide a central point for advertising all chief officer vacancies so you reach the widest possible pool of eligible candidates, including promotion of your vacancy as a future opportunity prior to launch.
- Direct contact and communication with all eligible and qualified candidates to promote your vacancy.
- Act as a route to you via our confidential enquiry service.
Panel briefings
- Briefing of panels supporting the appointment process including longlisting/shortlisting, stakeholder panels and final interview panel, online or in person.
- Design and delivery of appropriately pitched briefings in relation to fair assessment practice to your panels which recognise their skills and experience and are applicable to the different recruitment stages.
- Observation and feedback to panels.
Design and delivery of assessment tools
- Development and support with a wide variety of exercises, including stakeholder panels, briefing exercises, presentations and interviews. All exercises provided with necessary delivery documents including invigilator/assessor instructions, assessment documentation and assessor guidance to suit your key assessment criteria.
- Advice about how to assess your exercises and approach scoring and decision
making.
Personality assessments
- Coordinate access to online personality assessments, explore results and produce user-friendly reports/briefings to help your panel understand strengths and areas of development for your candidates.
Attendance and support during key appointment process stages
- Delivery support during assessment, including briefing your participants, facilitating exercises, chairing exercises, capturing feedback and briefing outcomes of assessments, online or in person.
- Integration of information gathered during the assessment process which triangulates performance data to develop comprehensive and thorough understanding of candidates’ key strengths and identifies areas of further investigation.
- Act as silent observers/guardians to build confidence in the process.
- Provision of a senior policing advisor to act as a panel member for chief constable
processes. - Advice and guidance regarding scoring and agreed decision making.
Post-assessment
- Advice and guidance for giving feedback to candidates.
- Advice and support for onboarding and inducting newly appointed executive leaders.