Good Job To Have Before Applying For A LEO Job

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Good Job To Have Before Applying For A LEO Job

Posted: 1/21/2015 2:45:42 PM EDT

I'll be applying to become a reserve next year and am looking for a job right now. I was advised that getting a job at a bank would help give me insight on how to deal with financial crimes and might give me a leg up during the interview process. What do you guys think about it?

Posted: 1/21/2015 2:53:56 PM EDT

[#1]

EMT

Posted: 1/21/2015 2:56:52 PM EDT

[#2]

I would just try and get a good job that pays well. Then seek out actual law enforcement training like these...

http://www.policeone.com/training/events/

...If you come to them with this kind of legit training they will see your dead nuts serious about the job.

Good luck buddy.

P.S.

Like stated above, EMT is good too and depending on your location another language like Spanish.

Posted: 1/21/2015 3:01:35 PM EDT

[#3]

Any job where you have to deal with people.

As a reserve you won't be investigating financial crimes.

Posted: 1/21/2015 3:35:22 PM EDT

[#4]

Learn another language. Spanish is the most likely to be useful but your area might have another language that is more useful depending on your area's demographics.

Posted: 1/21/2015 6:49:19 PM EDT

[#5]

Go to work in a jail. As stated , the financial stuff won't apply , unless you plan on going fulltime LEO, and becoming an investigator.

Posted: 1/21/2015 8:21:48 PM EDT

[#6]

I'm only becoming a reserve in order to get a full-time gig as a police officer.

Posted: 1/21/2015 10:52:28 PM EDT

[#7]

You need a stable employment history anywhere that's legit. So, working as a bouncer at a titty bar or running a medicinal marijuana grow won't count. Everything else is good, as long as you are not constantly written up for being late or for doing something else stupid. Working a bank is fine, but every local department is looking for dependable people that can show up every day and do the job, going to hundreds of drunk domestic calls. Whatever insight you gain into fraud and financial crimes from working a bank is good, and all experience is helpful eventually, but won't impress anyone during the hiring process.

My department is simple - take a civil service test, and if your score is high enough, you are moved to the rest of the hiring process. You get extra points towards your test score for speaking one of about six foreign languages that are considered useful or being a veteran. Most of the time, they don't conduct panel interviews, so the only times you talk to someone is for your polygraph, your psych and your background. And none of those people care to be impressed, but only care that you're not trying to BS, have a right "profile", and don't have a shady personal or professional past.

Posted: 1/22/2015 11:54:50 AM EDT

[#8]

Anything stable and reputable. My last job before I started was working for a TV station as a news desk researcher. It helped my people skills and writing abilities immensely, plus was structured enough that I had time to work out.

Posted: 1/22/2015 2:39:45 PM EDT

[#9]

As noted, stable job history that can be checked, good credit and financial responsibility, (that sinks a LOT of applicants) No bankruptcies or collections, NO police involvement for famliy or dating violence, some ability at a second language in demand in your area, (don't have to be fluent, but simple questions are good)

DON'T mention guns in the initial interviews. Lots of loonies get pegged that way. Wait till you get out of the academy to locate your fellow gun nuts on the force.

Posted: 1/22/2015 4:33:21 PM EDT

[#10]

Not that I recommend it but working retail security helped me immensely when i got on this job, maybe even saving my life. I spent countless hours just watching people and how they moved and acted. Most times they stole they would give me some visual cue of some kind that alerted me. Most often they just got nervous or would look around in ways normal people didnt. You learn to pay attention to the smallest details. How they set up carts, how they would case the store. I was once standing in the fron of a store when this pro team came in, went to the drug store part of the store with shopping carts, put big plastic trash cans in the carts, and pushed them to the area in front of a customer help desk where three girls were working and where we kept the big cigarette carton display. Well these guys filled up four of those can with the ENTIRE stock of cigarette cartons right in front of that desk while the girls were working, with a spotter watching out for them, and I was the only one in the entire store that even noticed them. It was beautiful how smooth this crew was.

All I can say is it helped me learn how to read people. I think any stable work history around people would help you. Keep in mind maybe Police work wont work out for whatever reason. Its always good not to put all your eggs in one basket. Good luck.

Posted: 1/22/2015 4:49:14 PM EDT

[#11]

Quote History

Quoted:
As noted, stable job history that can be checked, good credit and financial responsibility, (that sinks a LOT of applicants) No bankruptcies or collections, NO police involvement for famliy or dating violence, some ability at a second language in demand in your area, (don't have to be fluent, but simple questions are good)

DON'T mention guns in the initial interviews. Lots of loonies get pegged that way. Wait till you get out of the academy to locate your fellow gun nuts on the force.

View Quote

Good advise. Most of the guys I work with are prior mil or grocery (I was both!). Heck, I have a partner who sold womens shoes at Macys before becoming a cop. Dont overthink it.

Posted: 1/22/2015 5:58:46 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
Good advise. Most of the guys I work with are prior mil or grocery (I was both!). Heck, I have a partner who sold womens shoes at Macys before becoming a cop. Dont overthink it.

View Quote

Laugh all you want but he HAD to have learned SOMETHING useful there.

Posted: 1/22/2015 9:05:55 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
Any job where you have to deal with people.

As a reserve you won't be investigating financial crimes.

View Quote

This.Get a job dealing with people that won't get you in trouble i.e: don't be a bouncer lol etc.

J-

Posted: 1/22/2015 10:01:36 PM EDT

[#14]

Ah, Yuh! I wuz da fuckin' bouncuh at da fuckin' Kit Kat Club. I sure kicked some fuckin' ass dere! Dere wuz dis bid (insert favorite racial slur here) asshole dat pull a fuckin' shiv on me so's I took it aways from him an' stuck it up his fuckin' ass!

Den dere wuz dis fuckin' pimp mo fro dat wanted ta steal a coupla da brawds ta whore out so I trowed him out on his fuckin ass an put da boots to him.

(Sorry guys, I couldn't resist)

Posted: 1/23/2015 10:42:15 AM EDT

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:
Good advise. Most of the guys I work with are prior mil or grocery (I was both!). Heck, I have a partner who sold womens shoes at Macys before becoming a cop. Dont overthink it.

View Quote

I was a janitor.

Posted: 1/23/2015 10:57:02 AM EDT

[#16]

EMT/Paramedic

Posted: 1/23/2015 11:23:29 AM EDT

[#17]

Just have a stable work history. And not at Burger King for 10 years.

Also, unless you are in a small department, you wont need the "insider" knowledge to do financial crimes right away.

Posted: 1/23/2015 5:33:00 PM EDT

[#18]

My prior work was at landscaping and stocking shelves.

Like they said above. It's not always what you do, but how you do it. Are you reputable and dependable?

Skip the financial crimes angle. As a patrol officer you will only take the initial report at most. The real work will be done by the trained detectives.

Posted: 1/23/2015 5:37:36 PM EDT

[#19]

mil police?

Posted: 1/23/2015 6:12:04 PM EDT

[#20]

Just a note, Financial crimes are some of the most boring, confusing crap you will EVER see. Leave that stuff to the state police and the feds such as the IRS.

Posted: 1/23/2015 9:22:13 PM EDT

[#21]

I worked at Walmart as an overnight stocker.

Posted: 1/24/2015 7:53:04 PM EDT

[#22]

Corrections.

Learn to speak shit head like an expert, deal with hostile people, read body language, and get trained.

Posted: 1/25/2015 1:27:59 AM EDT

[#23]

I was an 18Z50........first specialized assignment was...wait for it....SWAT!

Posted: 1/25/2015 4:26:41 AM EDT

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:
Corrections.

Learn to speak shit head like an expert, deal with hostile people, read body language, and get trained.

View Quote

If you really want a leg up, this right here.

Posted: 1/26/2015 9:01:14 AM EDT

[#25]

I would imagine the banking thing would only apply if you were going Federal.
We did have one older guy in the pre-civil service days who had been a banker in a previous life and came into LE when he got tired of that career
He wound up running our civil division with all of it's various judgments, fines, monetary receipts etc that come in through that division.
Probably a good fit for someone with that background

Posted: 1/27/2015 9:53:01 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
DON'T mention guns in the initial interviews. Lots of loonies get pegged that way. Wait till you get out of the academy to locate your fellow gun nuts on the force.

View Quote

If I was asked about hobbies during an interview, I mentioned IDPA, IPSC, and multigun. My interest in shooting as a hobby never seemed to get anything but positive attention from interviewer, though I was careful not to come off as crazy and didn't make a big deal out of it.

Customer service experience isn't a bad thing, people skills are important. I played up my customer service jobs a lot, even spun my security job as being primarily customer service.

Posted: 1/27/2015 11:33:29 PM EDT

[#27]

Quote History

Quoted:
Any job where you have to deal with people.

As a reserve you won't be investigating financial crimes.

View Quote

I always liked working with former bartenders or wait staff that served alcohol.

Posted: 1/28/2015 4:33:36 PM EDT

[#28]

as long as you have a job, youre on the right track.

Posted: 1/30/2015 1:40:39 PM EDT

[#29]

Quote History

Quoted:

Corrections.

Learn to speak shit head like an expert, deal with hostile people, read body language, and get trained.

View Quote

<---- Yo. Corrections guy.

Or in small town middle of nowhere like me, anything that get you connections.(according to many of the local and county LEO around here.)

Posted: 2/4/2015 12:02:47 AM EDT

[#30]

Any job which gives you real world experience and people skills. Other than that Id say parent/counselor since we also do that.

Posted: 2/4/2015 6:09:59 AM EDT

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:

Or in small town middle of nowhere like me, anything that get you connections.(according to many of the local and county LEO around here.)

View Quote

Haha yep. I was 25 and gunsmithing at the only shop in town. The SO patrol chief hung out there, saw me speak with people, watched me fix a few guns, and then recruited my ass. YMMV.

Good luck! It's an awesome job/career.

Posted: 2/16/2015 6:28:43 PM EDT

[#32]

I worked in retail for about six years... five years and change at a small mom-and-pop produce stand and about eight months at Lowes doing inventory replenishment (basically I was in charge of keeping track of the inventory of the store as it related to the sales floor - what was empty, what needed to be filled, what was missing and needed to be written off as loss, etc). Gave me people skills out the wazoo (well, the produce place... not the Lowes gig so much, that was more numbers and paperwork), which serve me well now.

Posted: 2/18/2015 1:32:45 AM EDT

[#33]

Something that gives you experience in talking and bullshitting with people. Corrections, retail, customer service fields, sales background...all of those seem to be help.

Posted: 2/18/2015 1:34:56 AM EDT

[#34]

Corrections I guess but anywhere that deals with people or decision making will help.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Good Job To Have Before Applying For A LEO Job

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