FOI 003349 Staff Interview Processes (2022)
Request Number: 003349/22
Date of Decision: 16 September 2022
Subject Area: HR
Decision: Disclosed
Request
1. Between 01/01/22 and 31/07/22, how many police staff were accepted onto your force without a face-to-face interview at any stage of the application process?
Please can you break down Q1 into the types of roles/seniority of the roles which the candidates applied for and were accepted for.
By police staff, I mean PCs, sergeants, inspectors etc, as well as other roles such as fingerprint officers, CIOs, police intelligence, crime analysts etc (please specify these different roles in your answer).
1. a) Can you tell me what alternative recruitment methods (i.e. online assessments, questionnaire evaluation, social media tests) were deployed instead of face-to-face procedures?
I am aware that many forces vet candidates through both online and in person interviews - but some do not, and others also seemingly do not when recruiting for certain positions.
2. If your force did have some face-to-face vetting (i.e. physical test, uniform fitting etc), can you please tell me what parts of the recruitment process had face-to-face evaluations, and which parts did not?
2. a) Can you tell me how many police staff were recruited from Q2 between 01/01/22 and 31/07/22, and again, break this down into the types of roles/seniority of the roles which the candidates applied for and were accepted for.
Reply
1. We do not keep a record of who has had face to face person interviews and who has had an online interview so we can’t answer this question.
1. a) None of these methods are used as an alternative to face to face interviews but some candidates are asked to prepare a presentation as part of their face to face interview.
2. Both physical tests and uniform fittings are carried out face to face as well as some security vetting for certain roles.
2. a) There were 80 individuals recruited in this period who had some form of face to face vetting and they were all officers.
Please also be aware that Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the crime data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.
Lincolnshire Police in complying with their statutory duty under sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to release the enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. However, the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed information will continue to be protected by law. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of the attached information should be addressed to The Force Solicitor, Lincolnshire Police, PO Box 999, Lincoln LN5 7PH