Getting Hired and Staying Committed

Getting hired as a police officer is one of the hardest things to do nowadays.  With so much competition and a trend of consistent laying off of police officers, its only getting tougher.

But why do so many new recruits keep making statements like "I don't want to work here," or "I'm not going to apply there?"  When I hear these statements, I think to myself, you have no clue what you're saying.

At first, you pretty much have to to take anything you can get.  You can't be picky and selective.  This isn't a normal job; its police work.  The jobs are only available from time to time, and sometimes there are areas that can go literally years if not decades before hiring again.  The reason?  A lot of departments do (or did) a lot of hiring at one time, which means that until that group retires, there are no openings.

But even when that department has an opening, now you're going against 300 more applicants applying for the same job.  Not a good position to be in.  And for this reason, its extremely important to keep an open mind about where you apply "in the beginning."  You can always apply to other departments later.  But getting your foot in the front door is critical in the beginning as the clock is running, which brings us to our next point.

A lot of recruits don't believe, or don't realize that the time frame that most states give recruits to find a job isn't long enough for the lengthy processes of police departments.  Background checks for example could take several months alone, which is only faze to getting hired.  The average time it takes to get hired is about a year, or very close to it.  Most states however give you one year to find a job, or up to two years by taking a recertification class that costs around $500 and extends it for one year (again, can depend on location).  But that's it.  If you can't find a job within that last year, you lose your ability to get hired and are forced to go back through an academy again.

In summary, its critical to be willing to apply at any and all department at first.  Of course we all have our eye on the department of choice, but don't be one of those people who never get hired simply because you were too picky at first.  This job isn't a dime a dozen.  You need to get in to hold your certification, then start applying at other departments.  I know guys that had to move across state for a low paying part time job just to hold their status.  Good luck!win the case. This is called a conditional-fee agreement, or a "no win, no fee" agreement.

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