Call handler
Responsive around the clock, the Contact Centre within the Demand Hub sits at the very heart of our operations. It’s the part of Cambridgeshire Constabulary that handles all incoming emergency and non-emergency calls from the public – so the work is both rewarding and absolutely essential to the community.
The Contact Centre take an average of 1500 calls a day. Despite that, no two calls are ever quite the same. One minute you could be noting down the details of a stolen vehicle. The next, you might be logging a report of a missing person, or transferring an incident to dispatch.
Working towards specific targets, you’ll be one of the people aiming to answer at least 90 per cent of emergency calls within ten seconds, and 80 per cent of non-emergency calls within thirty seconds. You’ll also record all reports of crime, within 24 hours of being notified of the offence. To help achieve this, we monitor team performance to ensure the right level of support and coaching is in place for you and your colleagues.
Our application procedure is designed to find out how you measure up to the challenge of being a Demand Hub call handler. So naturally, it’s fairly challenging and can take up to eight weeks to complete.
Assessment centre (including psychometric tests, typing test, call handling test and an interview)
If you meet the criteria and your initial application is approved, the next stage is to attend an assessment day. This will consist of psychometric tests, a call handling test and a typing test.
Together, these exercises will test your communication skills and your ability to think on your feet, making quick decisions based on sound judgement. If successful at the assessment centre you will be invited back for an interview.
For a thorough guide to our recruitment process and pre-employment checks, see our applicant help section. It’s essential that you read this.
We welcome applications from people of all different backgrounds, cultures, religions, ages, gender and sexual orientation. However, there are some eligibility conditions that all applicants will need to meet, so you need to check that you meet our requirements before submitting an application.
Applicants should be British Citizens, or passport holders from a full EU member state. You can also apply if you’re a commonwealth citizen or foreign national who is resident in the UK with indefinite leave to remain. All applicants must have been resident in the UK for the three years immediately preceding application.
If you have a criminal record, this doesn’t mean you’re automatically ineligible; it depends on the nature of your conviction. Please declare any caution or conviction on your application form. If you have any questions on this, you can contact [email protected] for advice.
Pre-employment checks
If you’re successful in the selection process, you’ll receive a conditional offer, and you’ll be required to pass a medical provide a three-year reference history and pass a security vetting process. You can find more detail on this in our applicant help section, and it’s essential that you read this.
Key questions and answers for those thinking of applying to become a communications operator.
What's the main function of the Force Communications Room (FCR)?
It's twofold. The team in the Demand Hub receive all emergency and non-emergency telephone calls from the public, transferring incidents to the control room when necessary.
In addition, the team are responsible for recording crime within Cambridgeshire, in accordance with the National Crime Recording Standards and Home Office Counting Rules.
Following an initial telephone investigation, all non-mandatory attendance crime reports are taken over the telephone from members of the public.
What kind of calls will I be handling?
You'll handle 999 emergency calls and 101 non-emergency calls.
A 999-emergency call is usually made when a crime is in progress, or the suspect is still in the area. Another reason why people call 999 is because someone is injured, or their life is at risk.
The 101 non-emergency line is there for members of the public to report incidents that have already happened. They may be less urgent, but are no less important.
Non-emergency calls could be about almost anything, from noisy neighbours and stolen property, to vandalism and fly-tipping.
Where will I be based?
The Demand Hub is based at our headquarters, in Huntingdon.
What kind of skills will I need to apply?
You'll need to be a confident and enthusiastic person, with great listening skills. You’ll be able to remain calm in pressurised situations, and you’ll be comfortable talking to a caller while they wait for police assistance to arrive.
You'll also need to be a natural problem-solver who works well as part of a team, with a flair for providing excellent customer service.
A background in retail or a call-handling environment would be useful, but not essential: we offer plenty of training and support.
What are the hours like?
Calls can come at any time, so there is a core shift pattern which covers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Our application procedure is designed to find out how you measure up to the challenge of being a Demand Hub call handler. So naturally, it’s fairly challenging and can take up to eight weeks to complete.
Application
Ensure you complete all mandatory fields on the application form or you will be unable to submit your application. Please ensure you complete the supporting statements section, these vary depending on the role and will be explained on the advert and role profile. Please provide evidence of where you demonstrated the competency behaviours as per the role profile. Please note there is a word count limit on the applications and you should ensure your evidence fits within this limit.
Short listing
Candidates are shortlisted by assessing the information on the application form against the personal qualities and minimum entry requirements. It is important that you complete the application form fully and carefully, ensuring you demonstrate with examples how you meet the various criteria.
Interview/selection process
If invited to assessment you will be notified via email, this notification will usually be a minimum of seven days before the scheduled date. You will be required to produce valid identification at the interview (a list of suitable ID will be sent via email) for photocopies to be made. If your recruitment process includes your attendance at an assessment centre all information will be provided via email, for example certain roles may require you to complete a Police Initial Recruitment Test (PIRT) or computer test. For police officer candidates, you will need to attend a Police SEARCH® assessment centre.
Conditional offer
If you are successful following the selection process you will receive a conditional offer and we will start progressing your pre-employment checks which includes: vetting, medical, references and for some roles, a fitness test. Until these checks are complete you should not hand in your notice with your current employer. For some roles if you are successful at the interview/selection stage you will be advised that you will be placed on a waiting list until the next available intake.
Vetting
Regardless of which role you are interested in for within BCH policing, including regulars, specials, PCSO, staff, agency, volunteers, cadet leaders, cadets, interns, apprentices and those working for us indirectly, like contractors, everyone is required to go through a police vetting process and in some cases, an additional national security vetting process. These processes also continue at regular intervals throughout your time in policing.
Further in-depth detail about vetting
Vetting by its nature is intrusive into your personal life, the extent of the intrusiveness will depend upon your exact role within policing. There are also different levels of police vetting [RV/MV] and/or national security vetting [CTC/SC/DV]. But vetting is about how we can include you in the workforce, and not about trying to exclude you, unless it’s necessary of course.
If you have not lived in the UK all your life, you [and in some cases your associates-see 4 below] will need to have what is known as a checkable history, this generally means that you/they must have been resident in the UK for at least the last three years. In some cases this will need to be a longer period and in others it may be a shorter period. There are four main areas in police vetting;
- Your criminality/offending (if any) including allegations of criminality/offending. This includes a criminal record check but also for example if you were arrested but released with no further action. Also a variety of other disposals; fixed penalty notice, police information notice, penalty notice for disorder, etc. Having a criminal record per se, may not be a reason for us to refuse your vetting clearance.
- Your personal finances. This includes a Credit Reference check, particularly for county court judgements, individual voluntary arrangement, defaults, arrears, financial association, etc. For your own peace of mind, we suggest you obtain a copy of your credit file from one of the three main credit reference agencies in the UK, so you can understand your own personal financial position.
- Your social media presence. Facebook, Twitter, etc. Is anything that might reasonably be considered as discriminatory, abusive, oppressive, harassing, bullying, victimising, offensive or otherwise incompatible with policing principles? Or publish online or elsewhere, or offer for publication, any material that might undermine your own reputation or that of the policing profession or might run the risk of damaging public confidence in the police service.
- Your association to those involved in offending or past offending [if any] including allegations of criminality/offending. By association we mean the people you live with, your family [parents, children, brothers/sisters, etc] and your friends/acquaintances. The background checks that we conduct far exceed those conducted for the DBS [formally CRB]. We search many national and local information databases. So it is essential that you are open, honest and transparent with us when completing the initial recruitment application form and also the vetting questionnaire form towards the end of the process.
Whilst this may all sound daunting, we look at each person and circumstances on an individual case by case basis, and each case on its own merits. Indeed, on average 95% of applicants pass the BCH police vetting process.
In the event that you do not initially pass our vetting process, there is an appeals process. Whilst the success rate varies, on average about 30%-40% of appeals are successful.
The Vetting process is one part of the pre-employment checks that are instigated by the HR department. The actual vetting part by the BCH Vetting Unit on average takes about one month but it can take much longer.
During the recruitment process, usually towards the end of it, you will need to complete a vetting questionnaire form. It is a fairly lengthy questionnaire so take your time and allow sufficient time to complete it. Please take it seriously and thoughtfully. You may need to partly save it so you can find specific information and come back to it another time. You must provide complete and accurate information in response to all vetting enquiries. If you fail to tell us about requested information, then this is likely to be regarded as evidence of unreliability and will be taken into account in assessing your suitability to hold vetting clearance.
The vetting questionnaire process will either be online via a secure web link that will be sent to you by email, it will also need a username and password protection. Or it may be via an interactive PDF that is sent by email. So look out for emails in your inbox and spam.
Medical
Candidates will be provided with a work health questionnaire that must be completed and sent directly to the Occupational Health department. A full medical history must be disclosed as failure to do so may result in your application being rejected. Please complete the questionnaire carefully and thoroughly – if in doubt, disclose it. For the roles of police officer, special constable and PCSO, you will be required to attend a full medical and eyesight sight test. Full details will be provided nearer the time. If your role requires a psychological assessment, the Occupational Health department will arrange this with you directly.
References
References will need to be obtained from all employers (paid or otherwise) covering a minimum of three years. For internal candidates, references will be required from current line managers to ensure that there are no performance management concerns in any aspects of your role. In the case of Special Constables your progress with your Police Action Checklist (PAC’s), hours completed per month and progress towards becoming Fit for Independent Patrol will be taken into consideration
Fitness test
For the roles of police officer, special constable and PCSO, you will be required to pass a fitness test. You need to achieve 5.4 on bleep test.
Final offer
Once all pre-appointment checks have been concluded and approved, and a start date agreed, a final offer and written statement of particulars/conditions of service will be issued.
Start date
On the first day of the role you will be required to attend an access control appointment to receive your warrant card. This will be followed by an induction into your role (this varies depending on the department/role).
Probation
You will be required to successfully complete a minimum six month probationary period. This will vary depending on role, for police officers the probationary period is two years.
Further information
If you require any further information or need clarity on any of the above points please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].