4. Application and recruitment process

The first step in process is to complete and submit an online registration form and application form. This will cover our academic and personal eligibility criteria.

When we get your application we will conduct a basic security check, which takes around seven days.

You will be asked to complete a short, online assessment, called ‘Apollo’. This behavioural skills questionnaire will check if you have the key behaviours and values to join us as a police constable.

You can expect this stage of the process to take about two weeks.

You should complete your online assessment within about three weeks of 'step 1'.

We will share more information with you about the online assessment before you take it. It is made up of three exercises:

• Competency based interview: Use examples from your work and personal life to answer a series of questions
• Written assessment: Complete an urgent written task whilst assuming the role of a police constable
• Briefing exercise: Read material and answer questions based on what you have read whilst assuming the role of a police constable

Before you complete your online assessment we will let you know what technology you need. If you need a reasonable adjustment, or if you can’t access the right technology, you can talk to us about it.

You can expect your results within three weeks of sitting your online assessment.

You should attend your face to face detective specific assessment within about three weeks of receiving your online assessment results.

You’ll be invited to our Met Assessment Centre, in Kennington south London, to complete four exercises. In total it will take about five hours to complete.

The exercises you’ll complete have been designed with a detective focus to make them realistic to the work our detectives do.

The four exercises are:

• In-tray exercise – you’ll be asked to review a number of documents and write a summary report, highlighting your priorities and the actions you intend to take
• Briefing exercise – you’ll be asked to review a number of documents and then deliver a briefing to detective sergeant on the actions you recommend
• Role play exercise – you’ll play the part of a detective constable in a typical policing scenario
• An interview based on Met values – you’ll be asked questions based on the Met values

You can expect your results within four to eight weeks of taking your assessment, although each person is different.

You’ll be invited to complete your medical and fitness four exercises. For some people – dependent on availability this may take place before step 3: Your Met detective specific assessment.

You will need to undertake a medical health assessment, carried out by a registered nurse. This includes eyesight, hearing and blood pressure tests. This is carried out at Gilmour House, where our Occupational Health team are based, about a 15 minute walk from our Assessment Centre.

At our Assessment Centre we’ll take your biometrics and you’ll complete our fitness test. We will share all the information you need to prepare for your medical and fitness including advice on how to get ready for our fitness test.

Start preparing now watch our YouTube video for tips and download the Met's six week training programme.

You can expect your results within four to eight weeks of taking your assessment, although each person is different.

After you’ve passed your assessments, we will carry out pre-employment and vetting checks. These checks are to make sure we are recruiting police officers who meet our standards of behaviour and share our values.

We will share all the information you need about when to submit your information. We will also explain what vetting is, and what it means.

The length of time this takes can vary. On average, it take about two months for these checks to be completed.

We will be in touch to make you a formal offer of employment and discuss the best date for you to join your training intake.

You would need to start your training within three months. We start new intakes every five weeks.