Recruitment and retention: Home Office

Developing a standardised national recruitment marketing tool kit

The brief

Until 2002, police recruitment has been carried out by 42 police authorities across England and Wales, using locally produced material. The process is now standardised, resulting in the need for the first ever national recruitment plan and marketing kit. Encouraging this transition for the forces was an important aspect of this brief.

At the heart of the communication challenge was the need to encourage diversity in the police force, by generating applications from under-represented groups, as well as driving up the quality of candidates.

The solution

Rather than using narrative description, our approach centred on case studies to demonstrate the realities of police work. This helped convey the career in a personal and lively way. It challenged readers to consider whether they could cope with similar situations and offer similar skills and attributes. Frequently asked questions engage applicants and continue the questioning tone - "could you?"

Local police force HR managers were consulted on the approach, design and content to ensure the materials answered the right questions. As a result of these discussions, we went on to develop a design template for local police forces to help them produce tailored information for inclusion in the pack. This has been adopted nationally.