employment background

[dkl1986]

greeting all,

like many of you, i have a desire to work in public service, specifically in law enforcement. since you've all read so many posts about background questions and what not, i'll cut through the fat and get right to the chase.

for my background, i am particularly concerned with my employment history. i've had numerous jobs since i was 16. i've left some for better opportunities, i've quit some because it was a bad fit, etc. this is basically my #1 concern in my background.

as for a few of the positives, i'll be completing my ba degree in cj this next may (09), i was a police explorer in high school, am currently an intern in property/evidence and volunteer for the local pd, graduated as the validictorian for the citizen's pd academy, have had numerous experiences with volunteering, different internships, as well as staying involved in numerous community activities.

the only thing that gets me worried is the employment history. i have no criminal convictions, a credit score around 750, only experimented with marijuana in hs (haven't touched it in over 5 years)... basically, i'm clean except for some employment history. i know there's nothing that will automatically disqualify me at this point (i mean, unless you've killed someone, you're usually not dq'd), but i can't help but be nervous. i mean, who isn't, right?

i figure the activities with the pd will help. anywho, sorry about the long post, but any insight anyone has will be much appreciated.

-dAve

[SnapShawt]

"i mean, unless you've killed someone, you're usually not dq'd"....

Wrong. There are many reasons one can be DQ'd from the process.

An unstable employment history is something they will look at very hard, and you'll need to have very good explanations for it. You'll have to provide some detail if you want more assistance. How many jobs are we talking about, and what are the reasons for leaving each?

[dkl1986]

"i mean, unless you've killed someone, you're usually not dq'd"....

Wrong. There are many reasons one can be DQ'd from the process.

An unstable employment history is something they will look at very hard, and you'll need to have very good explanations for it. You'll have to provide some detail if you want more assistance. How many jobs are we talking about, and what are the reasons for leaving each?

what i meant was an automatic disqualifyer (i.e. minimum qualifications) here's one from a specific department, which shall remain unnamed.

"The first step to joining our team is to meet certain requirements.
These include:

U.S. Citizen
21 years old at time of appointment
No felony convictions
38 completed college semester units or
57 quarter units (Cadet)
60 completed college semester units or
90 quarter units (lateral)"

i know what you're saying about being dq'd. it can happen at anytime for any reason. but thanks for the info. as of this time, i'm still searching other forums for seeing what others' responses are.

but to answer some of your questions, yes, i understand things need to be explained. and if leaving on less than positive terms, i'll need to explain things further.

food for thought, does anyone have a similar situation? your experience?

[Creeker]

..., am currently an intern in property/evidence and volunteer for the local pd, ...

What do you do as an Intern in Property/Evidence? Is this a routine job or do you just watch how things are done or file paperwork?

..., graduated as the validictorian for the citizen's pd academy, ...

Who actually keeps track of your Achievement scores to determine this? Or were you just the guy who spoke at the end?

[dkl1986]

What do you do as an Intern in Property/Evidence? Is this a routine job or do you just watch how things are done or file paperwork?




Who actually keeps track of your Achievement scores to determine this? Or were you just the guy who spoke at the end?

as for property/evidence, i do sort a lot of paperwork, find evidence for the da, purge evidence, and some routine office jobs. at the beginning of it, i spent a good 50 hours preparing a court order to have narcotics from cleared cases purged. this involved much paperwork plus personally going through many types of narcotics to enter in the court order. i had to weigh them, sort them, package them, etc. good experience since i've never seen anything except mj.

and for the citizen's academy, it was just the unofficial validictorian. yeah, i gave a speech at the end. but i did get to mee tht epolice chief and he said it was a good speech.

[Creeker]

as for property/evidence, i do sort a lot of paperwork, find evidence for the da, purge evidence, and some routine office jobs. at the beginning of it, i spent a good 50 hours preparing a court order to have narcotics from cleared cases purged. this involved much paperwork plus personally going through many types of narcotics to enter in the court order. i had to weigh them, sort them, package them, etc. good experience since i've never seen anything except mj.

....

As to the Evidence Handling, were you supervised at all during the process, or did they allow you fairly free reign?

My curiosity stems from 17 years as a sworn Crime Scene/Evidence & Property Room Tech & how other Agencies handle various volunteers and interns working there.

[DeltaV]

How many jobs are "numerous?" How many of these "numerous" jobs did you leave on bad terms?

An unstable employment history is a red flag, but it's something that can be overcome with good explanations. An unstable employment history combined with questionable performance and/or bad references is probably something that you won't be able to overcome until you begin to establish a more stable work history.