Guidelines for Application
The application cycle (excludes training) is conducted entirely on a volunteer basis. Therefore you are requested to follow the guidelines carefully so that all time volunteered is used for the good of the service.
Only apply if you are certain that you can attend the dates advertised – we publish them well in advance of any given application cycle.
On occasions we will add a rolling application process to the cycle, but this is at our discretion and will be published clearly on the website when it applies.
Do not submit application requests or online applications outside of the advertised application dates – they will be disregarded.
The advertised dates are fixed unless there are unexpected issues on our side (e.g. insufficient members of the team to conduct interviews/assessments).
The advertised dates will include the following:
Application form deadline – this is typically a two week period which is advertised at least two weeks in advance of opening.
Submission date of legal questions – you are given a 24 hour period to complete these, the questions should take no longer than 60/90 minutes. If you think you will need to ask for a time extension on the submission date/time, then kindly ask before you are sent the questions. A request that is made after the questions have been sent to you will be denied. It gives an unfair advantage.
Interview dates: these will take place on Mondays/Tuesdays. When there are high numbers of applicants who reach the interview stage, we reserve the right to offer interview dates on Wednesdays - the latter dates may not be published in advance.
Assessment dates: the date you will be allocated is fixed for a reason, therefore, unless there is a specific valid reason for you to request a change, no alternative will be offered and you will be withdrawn from the main application cycle and placed into the rolling cycle (alternatively you can withdraw from the cycle and re-apply in the next).
Training: dates are fixed – all new appointees for a cycle will be trained on the same days, therefore it is important, before applying, that you check that you are available on those dates. You will be unable to take up an offer of a role until you have been trained.
From the Spring application cycle (roles available in March 2012 – dates opening in December), no concessions will be given regarding the dates published. Kindly check the dates thoroughly and ensure your availability throughout the process before applying. This is to ensure that our time is used effectively to appoint candidates that will take up roles in the cycle for which they are applying. In general we do not defer entry, but reserve the right to do so - you will be informed what stage you can re-enter the application cycle again should you request that information.
