Work Background

[gtholmes]

My work history right now is terrible. I am 20 years old. At 16 I went on break and never came back to a movie store job. When I was 17 I got fired from a grocery store because I had to stay after school for tutoring and had to call in to many times. At 19 I was working at Walmart. They promoted me to a higher position after me being there for a while. They demoted me one day with no reason and I walked out. Right now I am working at a bank as a teller and have been for the past few months. I plan to stay here throughout college.

I know the stuff before the bank looks TERRIBLE. I just didn't realize how important having a good job history is. I looked at them as temporary job, or summer jobs.

On the good side. I have never been arrested, I have never done ANY drugs. I have had a total of two traffic violations in my whole life. I am getting an associates degree while also doing a two year respiratory therapist program to do that. My main goal is to become a police officer. The respiratory therapist is a back up plan.

The way I look at life now...I would never leave a job like that, EVER.

What do you guys think? Do you even think a have a chance? Will the degree help some with that? Do you think it will take time to improve my work history?

[retdetsgt]

Work very hard to establish a very good work record at the bank. That can override the earlier stuff if you show you've matured. That will do more to erase it than a degree, degrees and work records are two different aspects they look at. A lot of people with degrees have lousy work ethics.

[Kimble]

I don't think you'd have a shot with a decent agency if you applied TODAY, but take your teller job seriously (i.e. treat it like it is your career, be dependable, show up on time, etc) and it will only help. You can't change your past, but you have complete control over your present. Time to learn from your past and show that you've got the maturity and responsibility to be taken serous as a police applicant down the toad.