Sift your applicants
As many Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) adapt their selection processes to include multiple stages, VCA has developed a Presentation Role-play as an additional candidate assessment tool for individuals seeking to join the FRS as a Firefighter.
The Presentation Role Play
This exercise combines comprehension, presentation, and role-play to evaluate competencies, leadership qualities, and other relevant criteria. Candidates have 20 minutes to read and assess information on a relevant topic (typically outside the FRS context) before delivering a short presentation to an assessor who plays the role of the audience. The information provided on the day ensures equal preparation time for all candidates.
Usage
The exercise has been successfully implemented by Northamptonshire FRS in two campaigns and Shropshire FRS, following online ability testing and physical assessments, prior to final interviews.
Options
Clients can buy the exercise for internal use, priced per candidate or can out-source the assessment to our expert team of FRS experienced assessors. The exercise can be managed either face-to-face or to reduce costs delivered online i.e. via a telephone interview.
VCA is proud to be the leading assessment provider for the UK Fire and Rescue Service (UKFRS), offering the most extensive portfolio of assessment centre exercises tailored for fire service personnel. With nearly twenty years of experience in designing and delivering assessments for firefighter recruitment, promotions, and senior officer selections, we are committed to excellence.
Our products and services are continuously updated to align with national frameworks, role profiles, and delivery methods. We adhere to best practices to ensure fair and accurate outcomes in all assessments.
Our assessment centres have played a crucial role in assisting numerous UKFRS organisations in selecting the most qualified candidates for their teams.
Most organisations use an application form somewhere in their recruitment/ selection processes. And most also realise that one size does not fit all.
We work with clients to create bespoke application forms.
These can be based on existing formats or designed from scratch.
Our methods ensure:
Our reliable marking service offers:
How it works:
Applicants are directed to an online tool where they answer a number of multiple choice questions relevant to the role.
Designed to provide an accurate overview of the role through sample statements, this test will provide users with the information of their suitability before beginning any job applications.
The benefits:
Existing interview questions can’t be used forever, and eventually they will need to be replaced.
We can write new interview questions to fit with your existing process, making sure they are:
In addition to competency style questions we can also write items to assess Motivation, Values Fit, Understanding of the role plus others.
To foster customer focus, teamwork, strong leadership, and innovation, it’s crucial to align your organisation’s direction with your staff. Our psychologists partner with your team, interviewing individuals across various roles to understand what matters most to them and reviewing existing internal work.
We adopt a collaborative and informal approach to gather insights that help us create realistic and inspiring leadership and competency frameworks. We assess the skills and attributes valued by staff, as well as the standards senior leaders aim to instil. This process builds on current skills and frameworks to develop a user-friendly set of clearly defined behavioural criteria.
We can create online values assessments to support the development of your staff and teams.
The Values Questionnaire (VQ)
- User-friendly, straight-forward and only takes about 10 mins to complete
- Designed to assess an applicant’s alignment to the organisation’s unique values
- Provides a job preview via realistic role-based scenarios
- Easily accessible and simple to understand to accommodate applicants for whom English is not their first language and/or may have limited experience using computer technology
- A cost-effective method to assess high volumes of applicants at an early stage of assessment
Versatile use
The tool can be used to provide personalised interview questions for interviewers to explore an applicant’s values and working preferences.
DESIGN FEATURES
We complete job analysis interviews with role-holders and managers to develop each individual VQ.
The tool is administered online, allowing paperless administration which is fast and easy for both applicant and hiring team.
Scoring is automatic, giving immediate and error-free results.
The VQ can be presented with a corporate welcome message to convey ethos and brand.
The Questionnaire
Applicants access the online questionnaire via a web link. The VQ then invites applicants to review a number of role relevant statements and indicate which statements they agree or disagree with.
There are 24 short statements. Each one details work related scenarios. The applicant evaluates their level of agreement to the actions described in the statement according to a 5-point scale. Full instructions are provided on the ‘home’ screen. The statements can be written to refer to one specific role or be more generic and relevant to a cluster of roles at a similar level.
The Results
Once the applicant has completed the questionnaire, their results will automatically be calculated based on their responses.
Results are banded into ‘Red’ ‘Amber’ and ‘Green’ levels of performance (e.g. a red rating reflecting a poor score in relation to the organisational value criteria). Each rating per value generates a statement of explanatory feedback in an easy to view report format.
Interview questions
Red and amber ratings in any of the value areas automatically generate up to three additional interview questions (with supplementary or ‘probing’ questions for each main question). A green rating against any value indicates a satisfactory match between the applicant’s attitudes/ behaviours and values, and therefore doesn’t create any further interview questions.
