OK, got a letter saying thanks for applying blah blah blah, 70% is required to move on, blah blah, and you got a 61.33%. What the hell is that?

Here is why I am confused.

I was only asked one question where I could give more that a 3 word answer. And that question was, "Tell us a little about yourself, and why you think your qualified for this position. I had an answer ready for that question and said it with no problems.  

Every other question after that had to do with the following:

Credit history: Do you have a credit card? How much debt are you in $ amount? Do you have any delinquencies?

My Answers: Yes, 2 cards, about 10K in debt. Then had to explain why I was in debt.

Drinking history: Have you been drunk? When was the last time? In the past 2 years how many times have you been drunk?

Tobacco use: Do you use tobacco products?

My Answer: No

My Answers: Yes, I have been drunk. Last time about 4 months ago. In the past 2 years I've been drunk under 8 times.

Drug use: Ever try any drugs? Hold, transport, or sell drugs?

My Answers: No, No and No.

Work related: If we contact your employer would they have anything negative to say about you? Have you ever called in sick when you were not?

My Answers: They would say nothing negative. Once, because I couldn’t get out of a prior engagement.

And the final question, "What was the worst thing you have ever done in your life?" There is one vague subjective fucking question.

My Answer: I stole a magazine when I was 12.

Ok, so I answered all the questions honestly. What the fuck do these people want from me?
What are they looking for? Yeah I have an occasional drink, and I'm in a little debt. Other than that I am a model fucking citizen who wants an honest, paying job as a police officer.

From what I have gathered from talking to other cops and looking on the net, I was expecting some questions dealing with:

Why do you want to be a cop?
Scenario questions
Questions about my knowledge of the city and the department

And I didn’t hear one of those.

Anyone who could shed some light, please, turn on the goddamn switch!

you must of fallen into the Rob Favra percentile

they want people that are from the street, You gotta be a criminal to catch one.

I recommend doing some drugs, drinking more and start smoking- then take the test again honestly this time.

They dont want MR. Rogers tackling bad guys...

Thanks for the insight, dick!

I wonder how I would score???


Credit history: Do you have a credit card? How much debt are you in $ amount? Do you have any delinquencies?

My Answers: Yes, its a secured card that I am using to establish credit.  So while its shows a $100 balance, I gave the people $500 so I actually not in debt.


Drinking history: Have you been drunk? When was the last time? In the past 2 years how many times have you been drunk?

My Answers: Yes, I have been drunk. Last time about 4 days ago. In the past 2 years I've been drunk under 30 times.


Tobacco use: Do you use tobacco products?

My Answer: No


Drug use: Ever try any drugs? Hold, transport, or sell drugs?

My Answers: yes, yes, and only to friends.

Work related: If we contact your employer would they have anything negative to say about you? Have you ever called in sick when you were not?

My Answers: yeah.  I sometimes have a bad attitude and will talk shit to asshole customers.

And the final question, "What was the worst thing you have ever done in your life?"

My Answer: Under the advice of my lawyer, I am unable to answer this question due to fears it may incriminate me.

LAPD will hire anyone...ry there.

Sgtar15

You sound like a rageaholic.  Why the anger young padawan?

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark Side

Try a different department, who knows why they didnt accept you, I say if they didnt except for for some BS reason why would you want to work for them anyhow?

Are you a white male?

If so then the problem is that you were too honest.

They would prefer individuals who either fit into the quota catagories or dirtbags that kill women and children and violate the Constitution with impunity.

I know law school graduates who aced the phys/written/background who know more about the law than the whole police force put together who couldn't get hired because they are too straight.

I just found out this guy I know on a local dept. is into some really freaky deviant sexual shit and they hired him right up.  He coundn't add two plus two either.  You do the math.

No rage friend, just don't appreciate a pointless remark from a stupid movie when I am looking for intelligent responses.

Maybe if you knocked off the drugs and stop treating customers like assholes you wouldn’t feel the need to come on this board and stir shit.

Yeah, I am a white male.

The kicker is that the department I am trying for is pretty much just that, white males. This is a pretty upscale city and I figured I fit into the mold. Guess I might have been wrong.

tell them your ARFCOM user name......that might get you some points! [;D]

The truth is that the whole process is subjective, and the interviewer didn't like your face.  Don't dwell on it.  Don't try to understand it, just move on. It's their loss. Redirect your frustration to into Motivation.  Persistance wins.  Nobody can stop you but yourself.

I am planning on applying at a few police departments this fall. SO I have a question for all you guys in the know.


Your saying that if you have had a few "bumps" in life they rather hire you because you have some street smarts?

I didn't see the movie, or I'd recognize the name - which one was it?

Oh yeah, the interview.

Sounds like you are very wound up about this, and have a real short fuse, to boot.

Did any of this attitude seep out during the board?  Did you pepper you answers liberally with the word, "fuck"?

Or maybe it's the "worst thing you ever did in your life" answer.  Maybe they were expecting something bigger than that.  Was the background check done already?

Who knows?   I score near the top on a civil service exam once, out of a room full (I'd guess 30-40) of people.  

The oral was like doing stand-up in a morgue.   Then I remembered that one of the guys that took the exam was already employed in the office where the opening was.   Hmmm.  

Yep, he got the job.  That was planned from the beginning.  Then I couldn't figure out why it was an open exam instead of a promotional one.

Maybe they just had a lot of time on their hand.  It was civil service.  Lots of weird stuff goes on with these things.  Like the time the Mexican group was suing because the local department was counting people with names like Castillo toward their Hispanic hiring quota & in promotions.

try different department.

I have a friend in LAPD, he wanted a lateral transfer but couldnt pass the city PD's background that he wanted to go to...take it with a grain of salt and try another one.

Sexualchocolate,
I had two oral boards in the last two months and didn't score high enough on either of them to continue in the hiring process.  I was able to talk with the personnel technician that was the protoctor during the second interview and learned a lot about the interview process and what they were looking for.  I scored an 80.50 - was well qualified or highly qualified in all categories - but only scores of 90 or higher were taken for background investigation.  The jist of my conversation was I didn't interview that well, only my second oral panel interview, and I'll be much better prepared next time.  The interviewers were looking for key words used in some of the responses and I didn't hit on those key words in some cases.

Try giving the HR/pesonnel contact a call.

Brian

Care to fill us in?

About 10 years ago, just for laughs and giggles, my friend and decided just to take the written exam for the LAPD. After the test, the proctors called out a few of names, and told those folks to step outside, and they were told they failed and to try again. Then the people that passed the exam, were seperated into 3 groups. The white males on one side, the non-white males in the middle, and the women on the other side. The women were told that they were in, the non-white males were told, they had a chance, and the white-males, were told to forget it.

I don't think you got the message when they told you it was an "oral" exam...

J/K, I have no idea.
Your'e too honest to be a cop, they don't want honest guys on the force.

Actually I'm not upset about this. And no I don’t have a short fuse. Most people I know would say that I can put up with more than most people before freaking out.

What I posted above is more out of the frustration of not understanding where they are basing all of the scoring. I had the interview on Wed 5-7, the letter was written and posted on 5-8, and I just got it today, 5-9.

I was not expecting to get shot down so soon.  I know they must be in need of people, the dept is testing monthly. Roughly 20-30 pass the written/physical each month, then the orals happen, background, poly, psych, etc.

As far as them not liking the answer to what is the worst thing I've done. Well damn, as far as I know that would have to be my only answer. The background check was the next step. As far as that goes, I have no background.

I've been a law abiding person for the 23 years I've been on this planet. 1 speeding ticket, 1 parking ticket, no drugs, no convictions or charges, never hurt anyone, never stole anything more than a magazine when I was 12. Sure I've been in my fair share of stupid situations, and done stupid things. But no one got hurt, except me sometimes.

Like I said, I dunno, but I'm confused topped with a sprinkling of frustration.

Written and physical were about a week prior to the oral. Obviously I passed those.

I kid you not about the worst thing I ever did. Unless you consider my friend illegally off roading in his truck with me as passenger and me getting a broken arm out of the deal the worst thing I did.

Background was next, and all answers would have matched perfectly.

This was my second time applying to this dept. First time I failed the written by 2 questions. This is the only dept I have applied to because it’s where I want to work.

And I'm 23, I don't know what you consider a small dept, they have about 150 on the force.

Why don't you try posting this at the "Brothers..." forum where they might actually know something about law enforcement.

Here, fire away:  [url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=1&f=76[/url]

my worthless opinion -- your debt is waaaay too high, $2000 would be normal, anything over $5000 would be too extreme. they want to see that your stable with your finances and they know people with money problems can cause on the job problems. they dont want you quitting after a short period for financial reasons.

drunk 8 times in 2 years? IMO thats too high, maybe 2 times in 5 years would be ok. i guess they would look at it like, your going to be drunk 8 MORE times in 2 years while as a cop.

worst thing ever was steal a mag at 12yo? it may be the truth, but they are prolly thinking that your just trying to throw them a bone. when they know full well that most everyone has done something illegal in there adult life. an answer like that, im sure they have heard similar MANY times, might look to them as trying to outsmart the interviewers or cover up a criminal past.

-HTH

Like it or not they may be trying to increase their minority and/or female percentages.  A lot of time Federal and State money grants require organizations reflect the percentages of the locale and/or percentages of the applicants and recipients to make efforts at reaching those goals.  That could be it.  Life isn't fair.  

Or a more likely scenario in todays tighter economic climate there may have been better qualified candidates.  If I had to bet, this was it.  A department has say 3 openings and they get 15 applicants and winnow down to 6 for interviews and 3 make it.  Heck the ratios may be even worse.  You might have been up against a few lateral transfers.

As noted your debt ratio may have been higher than they like.  Your language as used here was to say the least flowery.  

Maybe your answers were too short too often.

I've been interviewing for a Federal position lately and I know I somewhat overwhelmed them at the interview.  They used a pre-determined set of questions, (gives a good basis for comparison if everybody gets the same questions)  most of which dealt with computer and interviewing skills, and were for relatively junior positions.  I've been consulting lately but have over 20 years in Aerospace and Defense recruiting and staffing and program management and have used PCs extensively.   The first question was "Have you any experience in interviewing?"  the second was "Do you have any experience with computers?"   And follow on questions were in the same vein.

Will you get a reasonable answer on where you were lacking?  Probably not officially.  There are a lot of reasons for that.  If you have friends at other departments, or the Academy or local Police Science Department at a community college try and get some practice interviews and have them critique them.  Go over some of the questions and what your answers were.

I used to have a few questions that were guaranteed to give me a BS level on the interviewee.  After a few years of interviewing, you can often tell in the first few minutes if the candidate is going to be considered further.

NIW USGI 30 with a Green Follower, or what?

dude, that's what the EE is for!

Drugs? YES, caffeine and ibuprofein.

Tobacco? RJR used to be RJR/Nabisco... so if you've ever eaten an Oreo!

My reccomendation is to keep trying and move on to the next department.  From what I've seen on the internet there are tons of PD's hiring.  Ive worked for a couple of Sheriff's departments and from the caliber of people they hire they really get some low quality people.

At the next oral board you attend, show confidence, answer promptly all questions and don't be afraid to blow your own horn.

I passed my interview but I played the Marine Corps card.  I know it was a cheapshot but they bit like a big mouth bass.

Kidding aside I wasnt asked about debt, drugs, criminal or anthing else like that.  I got the feeeling that they wanted to know who I was and if they would like to be on the same shift as me.  Remember you need to sell yourself, they dont want a stiff in the same ranks.  Remeber to look them in the eye and make sure you smile when you walk in....worked for me.
Good luck

In my current academy class, not one person is under 24. Most of the recruits are between 27-32 years of age.  And at age 23 the debt of 10 grand is WAY too high.

A couple of suggestions;

1)Don't answer any questions that require more than three words to answer.
2) Never confess to a crime.

[:D]

Its called an 'oral' board, not a 'verbal' board.  Didn't you notice you were the only one in the room wearing pants?

[b]Nothing, you did nothing wrong, the oral interview is the way the system provides for the good ole boy network to function, it is a way to get Old Joe's boy on the force, he is to dumb to score high on the test, but we will max him out on the oral, and then hire him. You fell victim to the corrupt system, don't feel bad.[/b]

Having interviewed many folks in the last 20 years, the debt answer would stand out. This much consumer debt(without a good reason) illustrates two or three things. A severe lack of fiscal responsibility and self control( I had the wants at the same age). They might have a guideline as to average debt (outside of home and automobile). I think the average is appx. $6000 per couple. Are you married? They might think that this excessive debt might lead to other problems, that have nothing to do with "their job" and is a distraction needed by neither you nor them.

Good thing is, you can fix it!

You should have answered every question with "Shrink, I want to kill.  I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill.  Kill.  I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth.  Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL."  And then you should have started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and the interviewer would have started jumpin up and down with you and you both woulda been jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL."  And then the sargent would have come over, pinning a medal on you,
sending you down the hall, saying, "You're our boy."

SexualChocolate:  I had the same thing happen to me last year.  Took the oral board for a police department in NH.  I'd taken other oral boards before and passed those with flying colors.  These yahoos weren't impressed with me though for some reason.  

I did get asked who the mayor was and who the chief of police there was.  They seemed kinda ticked at me for not knowing the answers to those two questions.  It's not like I lived in that city or anything, so I don't know why they had an attitude about me not knowing, but they did anyway.

I got asked all the other same questions that you were asked as well.  2 credit cards, no debt except for student loans which were always paid on-time, don't drink or smoke, never did any drugs, never held, transported or sold any drugs either.  However, they still weren't keen on passing me for some reason.  Oh well, their loss.