While there has been recent trouble attracting qualified police officer applicants over the past few years, it seems to be changing.
I believe that the state of our economy has made people realize that the private sector is just not as stable as it once was.
And to counteract that, people are turning back towards the security of government jobs.
Because of this, there has been a surge of new applicants applying for positions as police officers.
However, for those that had never considered a job in law enforcement, they have been finding themselves behind the curve, unfamiliar with the testing process.
Most of these applicants are intelligent enough to pass the written exam and they're strong enough to meet the physical demands of the job, as demonstrated with the passing of the physical agility test.
The roadblock, however, seems to come with the dreaded oral board interview.
This is the portion of the testing process that seeks to assess the reasoning and judgment abilities of the applicant through a series of tough scenario questions.
The fact is, these oral board interviews are responsible for eliminating more police applicants than all other portions of the testing process COMBINED! To me, it really doesn't matter where you worked prior to applying for a position in law enforcement.
We need people from all walks of life.
But to make it in law enforcement, you need to demonstrate your ability to make reasonable and sound decisions.
Last year, I wrote a guide to help people prepare for the oral board interview.
I did so because i knew there were many qualified applicants out there that just weren't prepared for the tough questions on the oral board interview.
They were reasonable people, but because of the difference between there job and the police job they were applying for, they had trouble connecting there judgment with police work.
My goal today is to stress upon you the need to prepare for your police oral board interview, just as you would any other job interview.
Learn as much as you can about the job and the department you are applying with before your interview.
Let them know you've prepared.
Basically, know what's expected of you and get familiar with the types of questions that are going to be asked.
With fierce competition applying for jobs in law enforcement, you need to do more than just pass the oral board interview.
You need to score high so that your chances of actually getting the badge is closer to a reality.
I believe that the state of our economy has made people realize that the private sector is just not as stable as it once was.
And to counteract that, people are turning back towards the security of government jobs.
Because of this, there has been a surge of new applicants applying for positions as police officers.
However, for those that had never considered a job in law enforcement, they have been finding themselves behind the curve, unfamiliar with the testing process.
Most of these applicants are intelligent enough to pass the written exam and they're strong enough to meet the physical demands of the job, as demonstrated with the passing of the physical agility test.
The roadblock, however, seems to come with the dreaded oral board interview.
This is the portion of the testing process that seeks to assess the reasoning and judgment abilities of the applicant through a series of tough scenario questions.
The fact is, these oral board interviews are responsible for eliminating more police applicants than all other portions of the testing process COMBINED! To me, it really doesn't matter where you worked prior to applying for a position in law enforcement.
We need people from all walks of life.
But to make it in law enforcement, you need to demonstrate your ability to make reasonable and sound decisions.
Last year, I wrote a guide to help people prepare for the oral board interview.
I did so because i knew there were many qualified applicants out there that just weren't prepared for the tough questions on the oral board interview.
They were reasonable people, but because of the difference between there job and the police job they were applying for, they had trouble connecting there judgment with police work.
My goal today is to stress upon you the need to prepare for your police oral board interview, just as you would any other job interview.
Learn as much as you can about the job and the department you are applying with before your interview.
Let them know you've prepared.
Basically, know what's expected of you and get familiar with the types of questions that are going to be asked.
With fierce competition applying for jobs in law enforcement, you need to do more than just pass the oral board interview.
You need to score high so that your chances of actually getting the badge is closer to a reality.