Pass Your ITOP

Are you apprehensive about sitting your ITOP? Would you like to some guidance on what you need to do to maximise your chances of success?

Enter your details below to receive 20 TOP ITOP TIPS, written by the people who mark your ITOP

Name
Email
Fire Brigade
Level
Have you taken an ITOP before
Date of next ITOP
Retained Firefighter

We can prepare you for your ITOP/ ADC Stage 1

Are you thinking about promotion?

Have you taken the ITOP before and been disappointed?

Are you thinking of taking it but are not sure what to expect?

Have you heard that it is hard to pass and are not sure if you are up to it?

Do you want to improve your skills to improve your chances of success?

Do you want to improve your confidence about your forthcoming ITOP Exercises?
then read on...

We understand that the ITOP can seem quite daunting. There can be conflicting advice about what you have to do and with no old practice papers to see what is expected.

How can you improve your chances of success?

Unfortunately the strategy of 'having a go to see what happens' doesn't always work! Although it is true that you do not need to revise for the ITOP in the same way that some of you may have done for the old exams, it is not the case that there is no way to prepare. At VCA we have provided you with a number of ways to prepare, so that you can make sure you are fully equipped to meet the challenges the ITOP presents.

We know that it can be demoralising to be disappointed at the ITOP. This can have a negative impact on how motivated you feel at work, and the faith you have in the assessment processes. We want to help you avoid this.

We believe that if you have had the opportunity to prepare in a really focused and effective way prior to the ITOP you will be more in control of outcomes. Our feedback will be very clear about where you need to develop, and what you need to do in order to achieve this.

We can guarantee that the information, examples, practice and feedback we provide will give you the opportunity to dramatically improve your performance. Through our professional expertise and your preparation you will develop the PQAs you need to demonstrate to progress to the next level.

By preparing you in the right way we will:-

Familiarise you with what to expect;
Give you examples of the type of thing the assessors will be looking for;
Explain what sort of answers are ineffective and why;
Help you structure your responses effectively;
Give you the chance to take ‘mock’ exercises;
Give you realistic experience of managing exercise timings;
Give you feedback on your performance, explaining where your strengths and development needs lie;
Identify where you need to develop your PQAs and how to do this;
Assess how suitable your skills currently are;
Improve your management potential and suitability to develop within the FRS.

The ADC process is interested in how you present yourself and the FRS, how you deal with issues, how you work with others, communicate, your attitude to diversity, your integrity and commitment to standards and change. These are areas we are qualified to assess, and that we can help you develop.

We understand that although the ADC process is about development and not promotion, but for many people the link is very clear. You need to get through the ITOP and ADC to gain access to further development. From there, promotional opportunities open up. If you feel ready to seek promotion, that is an itch that won’t go away! Here is what eventual promotion could mean to you financially, which is often a key, although by no means the only, motivating factor for wanting to develop.

In a Scottish FRS? Then read on-

Although the content may be useful for professional development, these products are not directly applicable to the Scottish FRS.

Buy now!

"Very Good, far superior to other feedback reports I have received. Specific and comprehensive."
J.Benson Ryal, Essex FRS

"Potential Candidates would find the site invaluable"
C. Gibbs, Suffolk FRS

"I enjoyed the exercise and the feedback was very useful. It was very thorough for each section with good learning points"
P. Johnson, Befordshire & Luton FRS

What promotion will mean to you financially……

Promotion	Potential Salary Increase	Over 5 Years
Competent FF to Crew Manager	£2,954	£14,500+
Competent FF to top of Supervisory Manager Band	£6,518	£32,500+
Competent Watch Manager to Station Manager A	£2,406	£12,000+
Watch Manager B to top of Middle Manager Band	£11,055	£55,000+

Practicing your ITOP and developing your potential is an investment. It is an opportunity that many people have already taken. We provide an excellent value service which will have a huge impact on how you demonstrate the PQAs, in your ITOP and in the workplace.

What we have heard from you….and our answers…

(You can use the scroll bar on the right to move down the page)

I want to be ready for the ITOP but don’t know how to improve my chances of passing..

Up until now there hasn’t really been an effective way of preparing for your ITOP It was assumed that either you have the abilities or you don't, and that this would be the only influence on the result. Of course, in many ways it is true, it does come down to your abilities. But there is also a way that you can enhance these, through effective preparation. After any ITOP you will be given feedback, in the hope that you will take this information on board and use it to develop your skills before your next attempt. The service we offer saves you time and hopefully unnecessary disappointment. We give you feedback BEFORE the ITOP, so you can develop your skills and PQAs in a very focused and practical way BEFORE your assessment. Of course the drawback is that you have to pay for this, but if it saves you a year or more, we hope you feel it will be worth it! We see it as similar to having extra lessons before school exams- sometimes you need a helping hand to be able to demonstrate your true potential!

I want to prepare but I've been told there is no point revising..

We all know that to pass an exam you need to study and some people are still choosing to do this, in the absence of knowing what else they can do to improve their chances of success. In this instance revising is not a good use of your time; the ITOP is structured in a completely different way to knowledge based exams. The ITOP doesn't measure performance in facts, figures and technical detail. It measures performance of your core personal attributes- the PQAs. It can be useful to explore the PQAs, but this isn't really enough to help you understand or demonstrate them effectively in many cases. Although there is little value to revising in the traditional way, there is a great deal of value from PREPARING IN THE RIGHT WAY.

I don’t want to waste another year by failing the ITOP..

It can be frustrating to know feel ready to develop but not know how to improve your suitability for this. Now you now have the opportunity to take control and make sure your performance matches your potential. At VCA Ltd we have worked hard to create a range of options/services for all budgets, to allow you to save valuable time by preparing effectively.

What about preparing for the ADC?

We have been keen to make something available to help you as soon as possible which is why we have concentrated on getting the practice ITOP exercises on-line. A range of products to support your career progression, from the ADC and beyond will be available in the summer of 2008, so register your details and we will keep you updated.

How do you know what we need?

To help us make sure we are meeting all of your needs as we put these exercises together we would welcome your feedback, for instance on what you feel would help you and how you would like this to be presented to you to. So please do feel free to email me at hannahvallance@passyouritop.com. I can't guarantee I can get back to every message personally, but I can promise to take all of your comments and suggestions on board and create products that you will really benefit from.

Why doesn't my FRS offer this service?

For some FRS it may be that they haven't had the time or perhaps the expertise to develop services such as these. As Occupational Psychologists we are dedicated to designing packages that will help you, and have the expertise to do so. We have made an investment in developing these tools as we know how many people have requested them, but they are not easy to put together and have taken time.

For some FRS it may be a financial issue. Many FRS don't have the budget to provide the type of support that they would like and that ideally you need. Understandably, training budgets need to be spent on technical and safety critical aspects of skills development, but unfortunately prioritising these can be to the detriment of the formal development of your PQAs- the skills and attributes which are crucial to your management potential. We have tried to make the services we offer as realistically priced as possible to reflect the commitment you are prepared to make to the FRS as well as to your own development.

How can I be sure you are advising me fairly?

Our principal Psychologist, Hannah Vallance, has worked with the FRS for several years, supporting standardised assessment and development processes. She is committed to working with the FRS to improve standards, and to helping individual's take ownership of their development. Hannah specialises in developing potential, and as a psychologist takes a strengths based approach to her practice. She focuses on recognising key skills and enabling people to build on these in order to maximise their job satisfaction. She also uses assessment tools to identify development areas, and provide clear behavioural training pathways to address these. We will give you feedback that will help you develop your PQAs and improve your performance. We will help you present the evidence of your potential in the right way. It is absolutely in our best interest to provide you excellent value and genuine support. We know that in the Fire Service the only worthwhile advertising is word of mouth. And we want you to feel that you can and will recommend us

How will you work with me?

We will support your career aspirations by providing the support you need through the products you have asked us for. We want you to trust our service to help you throughout your career. We know the value of building ongoing relationships which we can only do by helping you as much as possible. We know that you are unlikely to respect our advice if you don't see us practicing what we preach, so we need to work hard to demonstrate our ability to; Work with Others, Problem Solve, Plan & Implement, along with our Commitment to Diversity, Integrity, Excellence and Development - to name but a few!

What is the catch?

With anything of value, you get what you pay for. We have spent a long time designing the tools and testing them to make sure they work well and will give you the feedback you need to be prepared for your real ITOP. We mark each paper individually and give personal feedback based upon your actual performance and not just bland automatically generated statements. We have made sure our test(s) are completely accurate representations of the real ITOPs i.e. same layout, similar content. They are also marked by highly experienced assessment professionals. So there is no catch, just a great value for a long awaited service.

How do I know this will help me?

By taking the practice ITOP you will be much more prepared for taking the real thing. You will be familiar with the content, you will know what to expect, and you will have had feedback on what you need to improve. We know that we can help you, so we have made it as easy as possible for you to try it and see for yourself by offering you a money back guarantee on anything you purchase.

How do you know you have captured what is in the real ITOP in your practice one?

Hannah Vallance has worked in partnership with the FRS for many years. She has been responsible for a wide range of projects to support IPDS, including training assessors, quality assuring the internal assessors at ADCs, marking ITOPs at all levels, preparing ITOP and ADC feedback reports for candidates, designing ADC processes for Scottish FRS. She has consulted on an ODPM steering group and has been a firm supporter of this process for many years, working hard to ensure candidates are assessed fairly and accurately. Hannah designs all of the practice exercises and guidance documents. She works with other Occupational Psychologists and assessment professionals to deliver the individually tailored feedback reports and action plans.

Why are you offering this now?

For the past couple of years we have repeatedly heard comments reflecting the huge demand from highly motivated people who want to be able to take control over their future. We have heard the frustrations and have seen the opportunity to provide a service to meet this need. We recognise that although the FRS does support development in a great many ways, there are certain aspects that individuals would benefit from taking responsibility for themselves. We wanted to provide the opportunity to do this, and create a service that no one else can or is providing. We value the role we have played in supporting assessment processes for the FRS throughout England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and are very committed to encouraging individuals to develop, and to raising awareness and standards around the PQAs. We hope this will also have a knock –on effect on standards in the FRS. If individuals have development needs in areas such as Commitment to Diversity & Integrity, and Commitment to Development, and we can help them not only identify this but alter their behaviours to improve it, it stands to reasons that standards in the FRS will automatically be raised.

Is this service applicable to everyone?

Scotland has its own ADC arrangements, in fact with VCA designing the ADC processes for the regional collaboration on Highlands & Islands, Tayside and Grampian. Therefore, preparing for the National Toolkit ITOP and ADC is not relevant for Scottish personnel.

What happens after the ITOP?

We would like to keep in touch with you and see how you are doing, and have additional services to offer to support you as much or little as you require. If you pass your ITOP and would like some help preparing for your ADC we can give you options for support in this area. If you should be unsuccessful at the ITOP, we will offer discounted services to make it more accessible to you to continue to prepare in an effective way. But as you know, it's not all down to us! Your feedback report will highlight what you need to practice or implement in order to improve your performance. You will need to prioritise this in order to make the most of the time and money you have invested in taking the practice ITOP.

What happens if everyone passes the ITOP now?!

By helping people prepare effectively we hope to raise standards, to improve the quality of candidates and increase the numbers of those getting through with top results. This will mean the FRS is really seeing the very best candidates, and have an even better pool of excellent personnel to draw on for further development and ultimately promotion.

VCA Ltd (Vallance Coaching and Assessment) has been working with the UK Fire & Rescue Service for over 6 years.

Hannah Vallance, the Managing Director, is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist specialising in the Assessment and Development of potential. She started her FRS career in-house designing and implementing Assessment and Development processes for Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Service, implementing a framework which is still in operation today. Whilst she was with Strathclyde she worked with a National Forum to regulate assessment procedures in Scotland; VCA now designs the ADC processes for a regional collaboration of Scottish Fire & Rescue Services.

VCA provides support services to UK FRS for implementation of the National ADC Toolkit. We have provided services such as assessor training, quality assurance, ITOP marking and developmental feedback report writing for a selection of UK Fire & Rescue Services. We have marked hundreds of written exercises and created feedback reports at all levels. We have also assisted with the Assessment of FRS personnel at all levels and backgrounds, from Supervisory Managers through to Chief Fire Officers, uniformed and support staff roles. We have trained personnel to become interviewers for Fire-Fighter Selection and trained individuals from Watch Mangers to Chief Fire Officers and local Councillors to become ADC assessors.

Having developed a detailed understanding of the Assessment process in the FRS we aim to use this to promote best practice and raise standards of performance. We provide individuals with the opportunity to take responsibility for their own development by offering support services through which they can develop their core personal qualities and attributes.

VCA has a core team of our principal Psychologist Hannah, our administrative support, Brigitte, and Systems support, Chris. We also work with a number of freelance Occupational Psychologists with Fire Service experience to provide our services.

The Practice Exercise

We can offer you relevant and realistic practice ITOP exercises. There is a shortened practice Situational Judgement Test which allows you to answer 12 multiple choice questions. Find out which answers you got right and which ones were wrong, with a detailed explanation why in advance of the real test. There is also the 'simulation test' part of the exercise, which requires the candidate to write a reasonably lengthy response to three main questions.


Online SJT Screenshot		Online Simulation Exercise Screenshot

Personal Feedback Report

Based on your performance of the practice ITOP we will prepare a comprehensive feedback report, covering what you did well, what you need to do to improve, and which of the PQAs you most need to work on.

Guidance on the likely outcome of your actual ITOP based on current level of performance

We will even give you guidance as to whether you could expect to pass your ITOP at the level of performance you are currently demonstrating.

Rating*	Definition
Green	A likely PASS for your actual ITOP Simulation Exercise
Amber	A possible PASS with development needed in specific areas
Red	Unlikely to PASS at current level of performance on the Simulation Exercise

* We cannot guarantee the result of your actual ITOP which will be based on both the simulation exercise and situational judgement test. We will use the same scoring guidelines as the actual ITOP and your paper will be assessed by highly experienced professionals, however the standard of marking undertaken by your FRS may vary.

Given how much a successful outcome could be worth to you, we feel our products offer extremely good value. It is an investment in your career and your future.

Taking action now will reduce some of the stress of not knowing what to expect or whether indeed you are ready to pass your ITOP. By accessing this service anybody in the FRS can improve their skills and therefore their chances of gaining promotion.

The money you invest in yourself now can be recouped in a comparatively short space of time, irrespective of level.

We are so confident that you will be pleased with our products that we are prepared to offer you a Full Money back Guarantee. If you are not happy with our service or do not think we have offered you value for money we will give you a full refund*. We take all the risk so you have nothing to lose, just the opportunity to receive specific, relevant and actionable information and feedback to help you develop your potential.
*Please see the Returns Policy on the product pages for full details.

We have a number of products to suit a range of budgets. These include the following:

	An accurate and realistic practice simulation exercise paper to read with guidance on how to structure and present your answers
	An accurate and realistic practice simulation exercise paper to complete under timed conditions
	A practice Situational Judgement Test plus explanations of each correct answer
	A comprehensive 8 page personal feedback report quality assured by a Chartered Occupational Psychologist
	A free bonus guide to preparing for your ADC Stage 1
	A personalised action plan designed to help you improve how you perform the PQAs
	The peace of mind that you have done everything you can to prepare
	A better idea of your current standard of performance through a Green/ Amber or Red rating
	A clearer picture of what you need to improve on before the real thing
	Feedback relevant to future ITOPs, ADCs, and Continuous Professional Development logs

Click the 'Buy Now' button below to see which of our products best suits your needs

Take advantage of our service now and take the first steps towards your future and your promotion.

We wish you good luck, and hope we can help you realise your potential very soon

Hannah Vallance signature

Hannah Vallance
Director of VCA Ltd
www.vca.uk.com

Committed to Helping Individuals to Develop their Career Potential in the FRS

P.S. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for our NEW 'preparing for your ADC' range of products- there will be special offers on for those who have previously purchased the Practice ITOP!

\|	Pass Your Fire Application	\|	Pass Your ADC	\|	Pass Your Interview	\|
	New Products Available!		New Products Available!		New Products Available!

'Vallance Coaching & Assessment’ is a trading name of VCA Limited
The company is incorporated in England & Wales No. 6241932
Registered Office: 3, 14 Westbourne Park Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH4 8HG
VAT registration No. 886 228 975 Tel: 01202 763240