Prison Officer.Org.UK

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The selection process


Application
In order to apply for an advertised Prison Officer vacancy, you will be required to complete an application form. In addition you may also be asked to complete a Prison Officer Skills Assessment Form.



Within the Skills Assessment Form you will be given a number of scenarios and asked to describe how you have acted in similar situations. You will be asked to provide details of each situation, how you helped the situation and why you took the approach that you did to help. You will be able to draw your examples not just from the workplace, but any area of your life to include voluntary work or hobbies.



Upon completion, your form(s) should be sent to the relevant recruitment contact that will be provided within the recruitment literature.




Receipt of applications
Upon receipt, all applications will be acknowledged and forwarded on to the sift stage of the application process.



Sift stage
A sift will normally be performed within 1 week of the closing date for application. The sift panel will consist of at least two panel members and involve a structured sifting method, whereby your application will be checked to ensure that you meet the minimum eligibility requirements.



If you have been asked to complete a Skills Assessment Form, the sift panel will also evaluate the information provided at this stage. Applicants who meet the requirements will then be invited to complete the Prison Officer Selection Test.



Prison Officer Selection Test (POST)
The POST consists of numerical and language tests, comprising of a number of work sample exercises. You will not require any prior knowledge of prison work in order to undertake the self-assessment test.



If successful at the POST stage you will be invited to attend the Job Simulation Assessment Centre (JSAC) for the next stage of the selection process. If you are unsuccessful at this stage of the process you will be notified accordingly and given the opportunity to request feedback. You will also be able to re-apply for the test after 6 months.



Job Simulation Assessment Centre (JSAC)
The JSAC is designed to measure interpersonal skills that are required in order to be effective in the prison officer role. The assessment will consist of 4 role-play simulations, each lasting a maximum of 10 minutes. The role-play simulations are all non-prison based, however they are similar to situations that prison officers would be expected to deal with.



Should you be successful at the JSAC stage, you will be invited to attend a medical and fitness test, which is the final stage of the selection process. Should you not be successful at the JSAC, you will be notified and given the opportunity to request feedback. You will be eligible to re-apply for an advertised vacancy after a period of 6 months.







Medical and fitness test



Medical
Prison Officers need to be reasonably physically fit. In addition, they need to meet a minimum eyesight standard and have a standard of health such that neither their safety nor prisoner's safety is compromised. Before being eligible to be appointed, you will need to pass a job related fitness test administered by our Fitness Assessors.



However, before taking the fitness test, you will first need to be assessed as physically 'fit to take the fitness test'. This assessment is a health assessment that will be undertaken by a registered general nurse (RGN) working to a formal clinical protocol. The purpose of the health assessment is three-fold. It is to:

Assess that you are physically fit to take the test on that day
Carry out an eyesight test
Identify conditions, which might impact you your fitness for work.
It is expected that the vast majority of applicants will be fit to undertake the fitness test on the day of their health assessment. However, if there are any doubts about your health at this stage, you will not be able to continue with the fitness test on that day but may be able to continue at a later date once we have sought medical advice.



Fitness
The fitness test consists of five test components:

Grip strength test
Multi stage fitness test
Dynamic strength test
Speed agility run test
Shield test

Click here for further information on how you can prepare yourself to pass these tests with ease.






Appointment stage
Candidates who successfully pass both the JSAC process and the medical and fitness test will then be offered an appointment subject to satisfactory completion of pre-appointment checks into health, identity, nationality and character, including a criminal record check, before any appointment can be confirmed. On average these checks will take between 4 to 6 weeks to complete.



Upon completion you will be formally offered an appointment and a start date will be confirmed. If you are not offered a appointment immediately, you may be placed on a reserve list and notified accordingly. A reserve list is retained for a period of 12 months to cover future vacancies that may arise.



Related Documents

Prison Officer Eligibility Information (45 KB)

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