“I have a criminality and policing degree and have always had an interest in the police service and wanted to work in law enforcement in some way. Being a police officer never appealed to me, but I knew there were many different police staff roles I could succeed in.
“Over the years I applied for a variety of positions within policing such as vetting, intelligence, and researcher roles – some of which I knew I wasn’t yet qualified for. The admin assistant at SWROCU came up and I was intrigued – I wasn’t particularly familiar with the work of a ROCU, but I attended a webinar about the vacancy and this helped me get a feel for the organisation and the type of work it did.
“I applied for the position and got it! I remember everyone being so welcoming and friendly regardless of their rank or seniority – that was really refreshing and something I hadn’t experienced in other workplaces before.”
The role
“I was offered the chance to work from home straight away but chose to be in the office full time as I thought I could learn so much better that way. My role is now blended; I work three days in the office and two days at home. Between the other members of the Business Team, we work out a system so that there is always a member of Admin in the office each day.
“The majority of my work comes in via the shared mailbox which is monitored by all the Admin Team. Tasks are placed into categories and these categories are allocated to each person on a rotation – so we all get experience of owning certain areas of the business and we are able to cover another colleague when they are away.
“I currently take ownership of the IT and software licences, onboarding of the new starters and the administration of any leavers, NIPs (Notice of Intended Prosecution), and training course requests which may include booking overnight stays for colleagues.
“It’s a really busy role! And when you’re in the office you are constantly approached by colleagues needing help with one thing or another and you need to be confident, really accommodating, easy-going, and approachable. In many ways it’s like a customer service role. You have to be keen, friendly and willing to help. And it’s incredibly varied. Anything could come into the inbox, absolutely anything!”
The opportunity to thrive
“Two of the previous admin assistants have taken lateral moves and become indexers; another has moved into a researcher role within the SWROCU. Others have taken promotions within the Business Team and become resourcing coordinators. All of them have scaled up and are still working at SWROCU, which I think says a lot about the positive culture here.
“I really enjoy this role but I can see myself moving into something that’s more specifically police-work as that’s where my interest lies. And my managers completely understand that this job may be a steppingstone for me, and they’ve been incredibly encouraging.
“I’ve worked in many places where you would always keep your aspirations to yourself. But here, I’ve been encouraged to develop my skills and I have been given the opportunity to shadow some of the other teams in the SWROCU.
“Now I am working within policing I can see a world of opportunity opening up to me. The support of my colleagues and their willingness to see me succeed is a huge confidence boost.”