Recruitment and Retention

Statement of Intent:

"We aim to create and promote attractive forensic professions, within police with shared values, undertaking meaningful work, with great management and the opportunity to grow up and laterally. We must attract, develop and retain a resilient forensic workforce that can meet the needs of both today and tomorrow and is representative of our community. We will develop a clear picture of our specialist skillset, develop early career mentoring, and create a compelling professional development and career pathway for our forensic science staff. The aim is to make a forensic science career in policing more attractive than other industries where these skills are also in demand and to set clear expectations for those interested in the professions."

Recruitment and Retention lead: Nic Mannion, EMSOU-FS

Current Activities in this area

Funding obtained to identify the current challenges in relation to recruitment for diversity.
Analysis of workforce and higher education gender and diversity data.
Creation of Live Brief template.
Creation of Career Day template

Identified priorities

Recruitment practices for better diversity and resilience
Promotion of the profession, provide realistic expectations
Mentoring and tutoring for new starters

Forensic Science Career Days

Feedback from employers often makes reference to the poor quality of application forms received from graduates and the poor performance at assessment centres and interviews. Interventions by employers and working in partnership with Higher Education Institutes can address this, by including an input from those involved in police recruitment, in university career and employability events. Collaboration between academics, practitioners and recruitment/career specialists can work to address these problems.

We have produced a guidance document for Forensic Science Career Days. Please contact [email protected] if you have any information that you would like to share or have any questions.

Guidance for Forensic Science Career Activities | FCN

Guidance for Live Briefs.

A live brief is an opportunity for students to work with external organisations on a real-world task/problem and provides them with the opportunity to identify innovative and creative solutions. It is the integration of theory with practice and enables students to develop an understanding of issues in the real ‘working’ world and what it is like to try to address these challenges.

Live Briefs can be delivered as part of a core or option module or as part of an employability/skills module. It is a method of engaging students and assessing their learning by using real ‘working’ world problems, presented by academics and practitioners. They may be delivered by the partner organisation synchronously either online or in person or asynchronously online. They can also be used as a virtual placement opportunity if employers have time for more interaction with the students.

We've produced a guidance document for Live Briefs. Please contact [email protected] if you have any information that you would like to share or have any questions.

Guidance for Live Briefs | FCN