Test scores = everything?

[dinarguy]

I was talking to a friend of mine, an officer for seven years with the same department. He keeps asking me when Im coming out to become an officer with him. I keep telling him that I want to go into the military first, then possibly become an officer if I still have the passion to become one.

He explained to me that military experience is not necessary. He was actually in a car with three other officers. They were all undercover in a completely unmarked beater car, non-uniformed. None of them in the car had any military experience. My friend has an economics degree, a Bachelors. The other three officers had no college, no military. Two of the officers went together to the dept to apply, and did everything else together. They say that over 800 candidates showed up on the testing day, and that was for one single department! Out of 800 people, about 600 passed the physical, and out of 600 people, they got hired. No military, one with a degree.

His exact words were "hey man, if you come to the next testing and score a 90 on the test, you're gonna get hired plain and simple".

I was thinking that maybe I should just finish my degree, then skip the military and try it out?

The point of this thread, is to see what you guys think about military/CJ degree vs. test scores?

[JCP1976]

I can tell you from personal experience that is NOT true in all departments. I wish it was, because I did well on the exams that I took. I did decent on the physical, passed the oral boards and polygraph for two places and got the rejection letter for one (still pending with another). I scored a 34 on the Wonderlich test the first place administered, which was the highest the polygraph guy had seen in 8 years. It didn't matter, I got rejected. There may be some places where tests scores matter a lot, but that is not the case in Central AZ right now at least. High test scores don't automatically equal a good cop, nor does military experience. But the difference, at least here, is that military gets bonus points on the application, so without it you have to shine that much more in the other areas like the interviews and physical test-which I have not done yet. Just my situation, I am sure others have different stories to tell.

[Roger Dat]

Not to discredit your friend but more goes into the hiring process then a simple test score. Anyone who tells you otherwise is feeding you a line of BS.

[AmarulaCream]

I lost my train of thought...

[Samuel]

nevermind....

[bell4fan]

Im in the Navy now, just got my conditional job offer from the Tx highway patrol. Almost all para-military organizations will look favorably on military service. because it doesnt take a genius to figure out an average military guy is more disciplined than an average college grad. And most of your military guys adapt alot easier/quicker to academy life than a college grad.


** If your non-prior military and a college grad in LE, dont flame me, Im speaking in general terms and mean no offense to anyone.**

[DeltaV]

Most agencies have veteran's preference points, which means that a certain amount of points are added to your score just for being in the military. Whether or not test score is the deciding factor depends on the department and the civil service rules. No matter how high the score, everyone still has to pass the physical, background and polygraph (which are usually unscored). Some departments MUST base hiring of eligible applicants solely off of test scores because that's what their civil service rules say. Other departments (most of them) don't have to go down the list from top to bottom.

I find it hard to believe that in a department with 800 applicants, a 90 on a test would be good enough to get hired if hiring is based solely off of test score. With those departments, it's the veteran's preference points that usually end up giving those with military experience an advantage. I've seen eligibility lists where the top candidates score over a 100 because of those points.

[dinarguy]

Yeah I dont know, that is basically what I was thinking (test scores are not everything), but the other three officers agreed with him. Weird. Its like every officer I have ever talked to, friend or not, makes it out to be a run through Mcdonalds playground when talking about the hiring process.

I dont even know why I posted this, I dont know what I was thinking. I need to finish my degree before I do anything else. Thanks for the replies.