As most of ya know now im in the process of applying for the police force and have been sent more paperwork 2 answer more questions, now im not asking for any answers to this question jus try n dumb it down for me.
Q. please demonstrate any insight, knowledge or experience of issues associated with under-representation within the following area’s: faith/belief, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, or any other groups for which you have gained specialist insight to.
the bit thats confusing me is what does it mean by the under representation???
un·der·rep·re·sent (ndr-rpr-znt)
tr.v. un·der·rep·re·sent·ed, un·der·rep·re·sent·ing, un·der·rep·re·sents
To imply or suggest a lower amount, quantity, quality, or degree of than is actually present.
Suggesting i expect something to do with… erm…erm… :discuss:
Think they are looking for a personal example where you have been witness to someone being discriminated against because they were in a minority, any of the categories above.
I felt out of place in a bikers meet because I was wearing a day-glo orange leathers, while I felt that initially people regarded me in a detrimental way, I worked hard to represent myself with honour and gravitas to ensure people saw past the leathers and regarded me as a companion and eventually I became an integral member of the group.
youre not dumb - theyre just officious (i get it a lot, here)
it means describe a situation that you observed where discrimination has occured and how it was dealt with and what you learnt from it
respond with something that shows you are aware of these kinds of issues and can see the difficulties on both sides - make sure you dont show any prejudices (not that you would)…
“I received this application for the Police Force and found it extremely condescending and officious. Some of the questions were so incredibly anal and pretentious that I had to ask friends for assistance on answering them. They all gave me answers and I used them in my response. I found that Community Support is an extremely useful tool”…
+1 to PPG’s answer, but also re-read it and it does not necessarily have to be a personal experience, if you can form a knowledgeable paragraph on a current event of discrimination that could also work…
It is a very dull question but I suspect they want you to answer it with some enthusiasm. They are trying to work out what prejudices you have so watch-out. The question is so broad that if your answer is a righteous rant about discrimination against a particular minority they might perversely think that you ‘protest too much’.
The way I read it, it doesn’t necessarily have to be about discrimination… If I would be writing it, I would probably use a situation where I have been part of a group containing as many different minorities possible and how their special needs were taken into account as my example.
Thats exactly what it means, i had the same question when i applied for the fire brigade. We basically come across discrimination every day in our lives, so just think of a time you have witnessed something of that nature or had it happen to you and thats your answer. Failing that just bullsh*t them they’ll never know.
