A determined Sergeant inspired me to write this blog. He first made contact with me because he had been unsuccessful in previous attempts at promotion to Inspector in his own force. I’ll come back to this later…

There’s no easy route to acquiring or developing good interview skills. It takes time, perseverance and commitment. The good news is that you can massively enhance your chances of success with some smart working. Because of the promotion processes are a competition, it means you must become the best version of you.

A strong performance in your promotion interview is likely to be underpinned by your ability to talk comfortably: Talking about the role you aspire to, your workforce mission, vision and shared values; together with enthusiasm and a clear idea of what you will do with your new stripes or pips going forward.

 Begin With the End in Mind

 “Visualise this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

To make it easy for the panel to pick you from others, aim to be so good that they can’t ignore you. This is in your power. Take a few moments to visualise your promotion interview. Ask yourself these questions and write down your responses.

1. What impression do I want to leave the panel with when I leave the room?
2. What do I want them to think?
3. What needs to happen for that to be the case?

Visualising success ahead of your promotion opportunity helps lay a mental foundation for managing your interview responses. Thinking through potential questions and responses develops self-awareness and incrementally builds your personal confidence. However, it’s not a one-off. You need to work at this over time.

 Your Attitude

“You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each day and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better” – John Wooden

Your attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents your degree of like or dislike for something. It is your ‘state of readiness’ to respond in a characteristic way to a concept or situation. It is the dynamic element in your behaviour, the motive (reason) for activity e.g. Why are you doing this?

The good news is that your attitude is a choice. It can be changed through persuasion. It is generally a positive or negative view of a thing or event. Always remember that you are free to choose your attitude.

“The last of human freedoms is the power to choose one’s attitude to a given set of circumstances” – Victor Frankl

What attitude have you chosen?

 Growth Mindset

 “When the world says give up,hope whispers, tryone more time.” – Unknown

Have a look at the differences between fixed and growth mindsets, as described by the psychologist Carol Dweck.

The following also lays the concept out nicely in a graphic designed by the theorist Nigel Holmes.

Dweck states that a passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it is not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. Individuals with the growth mindset find success in doing their best, in learning and improving.

What do you recognise in your own mindset?

A Triple Whammy…

“Some people don’t like competition because it makes them work harder, better” – Drew Carey

Aspiring officers who have previously experienced failure often contact me. As a coach/mentor, I believe in the potential of every individual.

I mentioned earlier that I had been inspired to write this blog by a Sergeant, who had been unsuccessful in promotion selection processes in his force. We spoke on the phone and it was clear that he still possessed a positive attitude.

Although he was disappointed by previous setbacks, his growth mindset, self-belief and reserves of resilience were all factors that made him want to try again. But this time he decided to approach things slightly differently. I’ll let him tell the story:

“I applied for promotion three times with my force and was unsuccessful each time. From wanting to give up and thinking it may not be for me, I attended the Rank Success promotion Masterclass, where I got to grip with how and what I needed to do. I tried one final time applying for mutiple advertised Inspector vacancies in three different forces. Every force had different application processes (A “Why Me & Why Now” Letter, an online application and a standard application).

“I was successful in all three paper sifts that followed and was invited to interviews/assessment centres. Rank Success eBooks helped me prepare for my presentations, briefings and formal interviews.”

I went from 3 Failures to 3 Passes!

“I passed all three-promotion boards with flying colours coming top in two processes. A choice of three forces! I wish I could take all the positions offered but have to decide where is my career best suited!”  –

Deepak recently (Passed THREE Inspectors processes at once!)

What happened for this to be the outcome?

When you begin with the end in mind,‘ Be so good they can’t ignore you, becomes a mindset. It raises the bar from day one. I encourage all my clients to aim that high.

Successful candidates often tell me that they put more effort, time and commitment into preparing for their interview than anything they have ever prepared for before. As a result, they feel more aware and confident. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard!

Ask yourself  How much do I want to succeed?

Am I prepared to do the necessary work to perform to the best of my ability when it matters?

Life is a series of choices. You can choose your mindset. You can choose to start now.

Wherever you are on your promotion journey, Rank Success can help you prepare effectively. Why not download a FREE guide & start today?

Two police officers this evening shared their chips with a man they found on the motorway who hasn’t eaten food in days.

The caring cops showed compassion and humanity when they could have just nicked the lad and sent him off to the cells.

But instead of taking him straight into police custody they stopped off for some chips.

Showing a truly caring side of British traffic cops who often don’t get the best press.

“The cops from the Leicestershire road policing unit tweeted that they had found on motorway suspected to be an illegal immigrant into the UK.

“He’s not eaten for days and we’ve not eaten for hours, so we’ve all shared some fine English cuisine …… a bag of chips!! 👍🏻 🍟”

These truly caring officers have shown this evening that police officers have hearts and they do care about people.

Policing is not always about crime, it’s the small acts of human kindness that go a long way.

We praise these officers for their genuine out of kindness out of their own pocket.

Helen tweeted “I know you’ll probably get people complain but. Compassion, humanity and care are great qualities.”

UK Cop Humour tweeted “Fab stuff and whilst we’re on the topic of spuds: why do potatoes make good detectives? Because they keep their eyes peeled.”

ElAine tweeted “I know some people’s heads will explode at this but well done for your compassion.”

Simply policing at it’s best. What ever your views you have to admit this is compassion and humility at it’s best.

These cops truly deserve to be recognised for great policing work.

Not every job needs to be a tick box, just because it’s a suspected illegal immigrant doesn’t mean they should be treat any different.

Top job with excellent policing skills, that will have ensured this suspect didn’t cause any problems for the officers.

Full up on chips, the officers then processes this man through custody and will refer to the home office immigration services.

Two fast-thinking police officers have helped saved the life of a girl who text her mate saying she wanted to end her life. Officers were quickly alerted and began searching for the girl.

The officers were alerted to the incident in the early hours of November 14, when Police Constables Daryl Jones and Mark Bullock, from Southend’s Local Policing Team, were patrolling Southend.

With the clock against them, the officers began searching the area and found a girl who matched the description. She had walked four miles from her home alone after sneaking out in the middle of the night and was on her way to Southend town centre to harm herself. The pair pulled over and approached the girl cautiously.

Upon seeing the officers, the girl broke down and became upset. Daryl and Mark reassured her that they were there to help her. After calmly engaging with the girl, the officers managed to negotiate with her to get in the police car so they could get her out of the cold and talk to her.

She spoke openly with Daryl and Mark about the difficulties she had been experiencing and how she had text her friend in the hope that the friend would get help for her.

She thanked the officers for finding her so quickly and the pair reassured her that they would get her the further help she needed.

Daryl waited with her whilst Mark made a difficult call to her parents to inform them of the situation and that their daughter had not come to any harm. Her dad thanked the officers for finding his daughter so quickly and ensuring her safety.

The girl was taken to a mental health suite for assessment and her parents thanked the officers again for finding their daughter so quickly and getting her the help she needed.

Daryl said: “I’ve never seen more of a genuine reaction for help from someone than when the young girl broke down when she saw myself and Mark and knew we were there to help her.”

Mark said: “We were just fortunate that we were in the right place at the right time and were able to locate her and help her, I have no doubt if we hadn’t of found her it would have been a different outcome.”