Telephonist (Headquarters, Chelmsford)

Location of Role: Chelmsford 

Advert Closing Date: 06/07/2026 

Starting Salary: £24,747.00 (pro-rata for part-time vacancies)

Part/Full Time: Full Time 

Contract Type: Permanent 

Working Pattern: Shift not 24/7 

Weekend/Evening Working: Yes 

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an individual to undertake the role of Telephonist within the Essex Police Switchboard Team.

In this role you will often be the first person a member of the public speaks to within Essex Police and as such you will need to have excellent communication and personal skills.  You may need to deal with people who are angry or upset, and therefore you should have a good level of emotional resilience and the ability to cope under pressure.

If you are successful, you will work closely with the Contact Centre who deal with emergency 999 calls and other departments within the organisation.  You will deal with general enquires as well as re-routing urgent or emergency calls to Contact Centre Officers.

As a telephonist you will assist Essex Police with Police campaigns and operations, by setting up and handling calls in response to a particular event/incident.

As well as dealing with members of the public, you will also liaise directly with other departments and officers across Essex Police and will be required to research Essex Police Systems and generate emails and carry out other related administrative tasks.

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate experience of the following:

• Emotional resilience and professionalism when managing conflict and difficult situations.


• Ability to make a sound decision whist working under pressure.


• Working with others effectively; working with other teams, departments and agencies.


• A real belief in public service, focusing on what matters to the public and will best serve their needs.

This opportunity would suit a highly motivated, dynamic and positive individual.

The role is based within our Contact Management Command at Essex Police Headquarters.

In this role you will be required to work a rotating shift pattern of 6 days on, 4 days off covering 7 days a week between the hours of 0600 and midnight.  Each 6-day shift rota consists of two early shifts (06:00 – 16:00) followed by two mid shifts (12:00 – 22:00) followed by two late shifts (16:00 – 00:00).  You should therefore have the means to get to and from Essex Police Headquarters as unsociable hours of the day.

For the full job description please click here.

Your application for this role will be shortlisted on the content you provide within the “reason for application” question, within the application form itself. CV’s, covering letters or attachments are not included in the shortlist. Within your “reason for application” answer, please refer to any experience, skills, and abilities you feel you have that will make you suitable for this role, based on the role criteria stated in the job advert or job description. Please provide as much detail as possible as insufficient content may mean you do not meet the shortlisting criteria, however please note this question is limited to 9000 characters and this system will count spaces and blank lines as characters. This count may differ from the Microsoft Word word count function therefore you may wish to use a different online character counter to check the characters used.

Depending on your current vetting level and security clearances, you may be required to complete additional vetting information during the recruitment process.

Kent Police and Essex Police welcomes applications regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex, or employment status.

Please let us know if you require extra support at any stage of the application process, or for further information regarding this position, please email us at [email protected] stating ‘Application Support and Adjustments’ in the title of your email. Alternatively, you can call us on 01245 452833. Where appropriate we will make adjustments to the selection process, working arrangements and/or the working environment provided it is reasonable in all the circumstances to do so.

If you’re not from the UK, you must be a resident in the UK and have lived here continuously for the last three years. You must also be free from restrictions with indefinite leave to remain. If you’re from the UK you must have lived here continuously for the last three years. This doesn’t apply to those serving abroad in the British Armed Forces.

As a Disability Confident Leader we:

• Have subjected our Disability Confident self-assessment to external challenge and validation.


• Are taking an active leadership role in encouraging and helping other employers on their journey to becoming Disability Confident.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion are central to the values of our organisation. At Essex Police we value and embrace the unique experiences, identities and abilities that each of us bring to our roles. We strive to empower everyone to bring their authentic self openly and safely to work.

Through the dedicated commitment of our support networks, DE&I team and wider HR departments, we are on a journey to embed our DE&I commitments, ensuring Essex Police is an employer of choice; where everyone feels included.

Essex Police and Kent Police are an equal opportunities employer. Communications may be recorded for monitoring purposes.