Tiarna first applied for the Tasmanian Police Career Development Program whilst in Grade 11 (2018). Her application was not successful, but Tiarna was convinced that the Police Force was her future. In preparation for applying for the Program in 2019, Tiarna added to her skills base so that her application would be more attractive: she applied and was accepted into the Tasmanian Fire Service as a volunteer; she improved her fitness; she attended information sessions – both at school and at Police Station; she talked with the Police Officers working at Don College; and she got feedback on her written application from the Career and Life Planning Team.
Tiarna was successful in 2019, and she travelled to Hobart to attend the four-day live-in course at Rokeby Campus. The days started early, and candidates worked hard all day – but Tiarna also said that they were fed very well – and went to bed early! Tiarna was the only candidate from the North West, with most candidates coming from Hobart. Tiarna received very positive feedback about her ability to step out of her comfort zone, to approach strangers and initiate conversations, to ask questions and respond to discussions, and to show leadership in team-building activities. In addition to the practical activities, there was also a day of written testing. Tiarna has studied pre-tertiary subjects in Maths, English and Psychology and feels these may have given her an edge over other candidates (being only one of two candidates to pass all the written assessments). She was unaware that there were practice tests online – so would recommend these to future applicants.
Tiarna said that talking to the 2019 recruits about the training was amazing. That they were very friendly and were willing to share their experiences and information about the course and the job. She also really enjoyed the driving test, which was better being a licenced driver!
Tiarna was very keen after this experience to be accepted, but there was quite a wait (until after classes finished for 2019) before she received notification that she had been accepted for the 2020 intake. She is very excited for her career in Tasmania Police to commence.