THE emergency services include the police force (including the security industry and HM Prison Service), the fire service and the ambulance service.

POLICE
A career in the police force is far from the routine of a regular 9am – 5pm job. It's about facing challenges - from dealing with a murder, a hostage situation or a road traffic accident to giving a talk to school children.Greater Manchester Police is one of the largest police forces in the country. Serving more than 2.5 million people, it employs around 7,000 officers, 3,300 support staff and 500 special constables.

Physical and mental fitness, powers of observation, the ability to write and handle numbers, logical thought, stamina, common-sense and good judgement are key qualities.
Although there are no formal education requirements necessary to join the police, because of the qualities needed, it can be a difficult profession to enter – around 35,000 people in England and Wales apply each year, and only 5,000 are successful. On joining the force, applicants will first undertake 15 weeks of residential training at a National Police Training Centre before moving to a police station for the remainder of the two-year probationary period training.

Once in the force there are a vast number of opportunities – from a fast-track programme to accelerate through the ranks to the chance to specialise in certain areas, from special branch and mounted police to CID (criminal investigation department).FIRE
Think of firefighter and you probably imagine them tackling fires in large buildings and houses which are burning out of control. But there are many more incidents that firefighters are called to deal with, from major incidents such as road or rail crash to chemical spillages and people trapped in lifts or confined spaces.

There are 41 stations in the Greater Manchester County which deals with 120,000 emergency calls a year. Over 2,000 firefighters are employed and for every 10,000 application forms the service regularly sends out only one per cent (100) are eventually offered a job.

There are no formal educational requirements to join the service, but personal skills such as understanding, reliability, flexibility and the ability to work in a team are crucial. Recruitment is undertaken by local brigades, which are responsible for their own recruitment procedures.AMBULANCE
Greater Manchester Ambulance Service is the second largest service in the UK.

The 39 NHS ambulance services in the UK employ about 34,000 people, with other staff working in private ambulance operations such as those used by private hospitals and some large companies. Each service has its own rules and entry requirements. The minimum age is generally 18.

To train as an ambulance paramedic you must have a minimum of 5 GCSEs (A to C) or two A levels or relevant work experience. It’s a competitive industry with around 100 applicants for every vacancy. Tweet