Police recruitment cops out...

And you thought it was tough applying for jobs in your industry! According to BBC News, North Yorkshire Police's recruitment phone lines crashed on Monday, after receiving 20,000 calls during the first day of their recruitment campaign. Following a new number being issued, they have since taken over 200,000 calls from interested parties. And the number of vacancies available? 60. Last month, Lincolnshire Police had to close its recruitment drive after running out of application forms - 1000 were requested in the first 2 hours of a campaign expected to last a week. Their number of available jobs? 60. Seeing a pattern here?

Public sector jobs have become more and more difficult to get into, the most notorious being the police force. It can take years from the initial application to be offered a position. It seems amazing to me that there is such demand for police work, especially in these times when we hear so much about poor police relations, sexual and racial discrimination cases within the force, and the worsening risks of attacks on policemen and women in the rougher areas of society. But it's a good thing that people DO want to keep applying - after all, someone's got to look after the rest of us! And, police work does offer a stable salary, the chance of some overtime, and a great pension. Plus a uniform.

With this immense demand for a place with Britain's finest boys and girls in blue, how ironic then that many forces are implementing recruitment freezes - meaning that applicants who have already passed through the recruitment process successfully are now put on a waiting list for the next available job. West Midlands Police have 240 officer applicants currently in this position, with another 500 waiting to be assessed. In Gloucestershire, almost 100 successful candidates have now been told that their job offers will be put on hold until 2011. And the Met have 2000 applicants hanging around in the system waiting for a job offer and start date. Apparently, recruitment drives have been more successful than anticipated, and less officers left the force last year, leaving fewer vacancies. Greater Manchester Police have announced a complete recruitment freeze from April, as have other forces. Avon and Somerset Police, though, are still advertising available vacancies and it is possible that candidates put on deferral from other forces may apply to them instead.

All down to economics, unsurprisingly. Retention of staff is higher as people haven't been prepared to leave their roles in times of such economic instability. And of course the government are all about cost-cutting wherever they can - all 43 police forces in England and Wales are expected to find combined savings of £545m by 2014. So we need more police, and more people want to join the police, but nobody wants to pay for it. And seriously, who in their right minds would be happy to apply for a job, undertake a rigorous recruitment procedure, be offered the job and accept it and THEN be told that they will have to wait 12-18 months for the position to be available? Because that's what the police force are doing. It's like winning The Apprentice only to be told to sod off back to your crappy old job (or your unfulfilling million pound turnover business if some of the previous candidates are to be believed)and wait a year before Siralan will take you on. Although, personally, I think I'd prefer a 12 month cooling down period to give me time to think of an excuse not to bother turning up in the end.

So, the moral of the tale is this - if you need a job this year, forget the force and look around for acceptable alternatives. Perhaps consider applying for The Apprentice... After all, it's a solid 12 month contract, by which time your police application might even have been looked at.

That, or move to Bristol...