The Force's booth at the Education and Careers Expo 2004 attracts thousands of visitors

To recruit the best-qualified candidates available to join the Force, the Recruitment Group has adopted a proactive recruitment strategy on focus its resources on enhancing the Force's competitiveness in the human resources market to attract elite members of the public.

Police Mentorship Programme

Last month, the Recruitment Group launched the "Police Mentorship Programme" for Year 2 undergraduates who meet the basic requirements for direct entry to Probationary Inspector rank. The Programme's primary objectives are to facilitate the social and personal developments of the local university undergraduates; strengthen their knowledge of police work and inspire them to pursue a career with the Force upon graduation.

Under the Programme, serving inspectorate officers and above, who are graduates of local universities, will play the roles of a "Mentor" to assist and interact with undergraduates from their parent universities, who have joined the Programme. These undergraduates are known as "Mentees" under the Programme.

The other objectives of the Programme are establishing a liaison mechanism with local universities on all employment-related issues, and enhancing the overall attractiveness of the Force for graduate recruitment.

Serving as Mentors will be on a voluntary basis and this will be done outside duty time. Mentors will make a contribution to not only the Force but also the universities from where they have graduated. Initially, 25 to 30 serving officers of Chief Inspector rank and above will be selected to form a cadre of Mentors to be led by a Head Mentor. Suitable Senior Inspectors will also be selected if necessary.

A Mentor will lead three to four Mentees of their respective parent universities till the latters' graduation. The Mentor will be the role model for the Mentees and provide them with information about the Force and the challenges and career prospect of a Police Inspector.

The Recruitment Group will provide support and assistance for Mentors and Mentees in the forms of group visits, standard briefing packages, seminars and activity plans. In consultation with the Head Mentor, individual Mentors may also devise their own activities. Examples of interactions between Mentors and Mentees will include:

(a) Visits to training establishments and police formations;

(b) Visits by Mentees to Mentors' workplaces, and vice versa, and

(c) Informal gatherings in the forms of experience sharing and briefing sessions.

The Mentorship Programme will not affect the current Direct Entry Probationary Inspector selection procedures, and will not give special preference to Mentees.

Meanwhile, as part of the proactive recruitment strategy, the Recruitment Group has also launched a number of new initiatives to enhance the overall effectiveness of recruitment.

Police Recruitment Webpage

The new website, http://www.police.gov.hk/recruitment, has the features of allowing on-line application and downloading of application forms; and containing extensive information on recruitment, selection criteria and processes.

New Police Hotline

The new 24-hour hotline 2860-2860 has the features of containing extensive information on recruitment, providing fax service of application forms, and re-directing to recruitment staff or voice mail.

New Office Automation System

Meanwhile, the Recruitment Office Office Automation (ROOA) System has been enhanced with features of not only storing all the personal particulars of applicants and results along the whole selection process, but also uploading new recruits' particulars to PICS, maintaining interview schedules, and generating standard letters and reports. Besides, an interface has been developed to convert the online GF340 applications from CSB system to ROOA system. Applicants can submit online applications through our website or CSB's website.

Inclusion of New Competences in Recruitment Selection

To ensure the most suitable candidates for Inspector and Police Constable ranks are selected in the recruitment process and synchronise the competences required of new recruits and serving officers, the existing competences in recruitment selection have been critically reviewed and revised. The existing competences in recruitment selection have been re-categorised to align with the ones for serving Inspectorate officers and JPOs, and some new competences have been added to make the list more complete.

The revised list of competences for recruitment selection, which has already come into effect, is as follows:

1. Communication

2. Judgment

3. Knowledge

4. Confidence

5. Resource Management

6. Community and Customer Focus

7. Personality

8. Physical Fitness

9. Leadership (for Probationary Inspector only)

10. Staff Management (for Probationary Inspector only)

Direct Application by JPOs for Inspectorate

In another development, Recruitment Group's new open recruitment scheme for junior police officers to advance to the Inspectorate has been working well. Since December 8 last year, the Force has implemented the policy of accepting applications for Direct Entry Inspectors by serving JPOs who are academically qualified. The policy has taken into consideration the much improved academic qualifications of JPOs in general and aims at enhancing their prospect of promotion to the Inspectorate. In short, JPOs who possess the minimum academic qualifications required of Direct Entry Inspectors, i.e. matriculation or above, may apply for the post on their own initiative. Being different from candidates in the Potential Officers Scheme and Selected Appointment Scheme, JPOs applying for Inspector on their own initiative will go through the whole selection process for Direct Entry Inspectors and have to do it in their own time, i.e. not regarded as duty commitment.

Successful candidates will be offered appointment as Inspectors by "in-service transfer", with their previous length of service and retirement benefits carried forward, and may continue to occupy JPO married quarters for some time in accordance with prevailing Force policy. The new policy has been very well received by all.