Ok I have been down in the middle of IL for a little over a year now trying to find a job on a PD.

I had a test in August that I passed but I was crossed out because I was to white and had a was a male. I had another job offer as a bouncer at a local night club but I was not Italian and do not look like I eat steroid's as a part of my everyday diet.

Then I go to Wal-mart to get a job. I go through two interviews . I was told that the Monday after Thanksgiving  to come in and I will get my last interview with the store manager. So I go there at the time the guy tells me to and then I was told by the assistant manger that "The Manger of the store only does interviews on Tuesday and Thursday. We will get back with you so that we can arrange a interview." So Friday rolls along no call so I call Wal-mart and ask to talk to the guy who was hieing me. They tell me he is in a meeting and he would call me back. But no one ever does.  

So I call back to talk to the dairy manger everyday for two weeks and everyday it's he's in a meeting. Finally I get a hold of him he tells me because I was not flexible enough that he gave the job to someone else. Now I have a 20 month old son to worried about and a wife that is a nurse. This is a 24/7 Wal-mart  this guy gives me the wrong day to come in and never calls me back when I left him about 20 massages? I'm the one who is not flexible.

Now is my time I find out that one county that are near me and one I'm in are hieing for correctional officers. So I find out the dates and there both on the same day and same time. So right now I don't know what one to go with. One has the pay up and the other does not. The one one county that I'm trying for is the largest in IL. I just don't know what to do.

edited to try to clean up this mess.

Is this a joke?

Shitty situation to be in, Brother.

Best you can do is call around, maybe talk to the local gunshops and see if they can put you in touch with officers from each county who'd be willing to give you some real feedback. All you can do is arm yourself with as much info as you can and make the best of the deal.

Good luck![(:)]

No why do you ask? This has been the worst year of my life(Don't worry I'm not going to kill myself. Just drink a lot) I could not even get a job at Wal-mart. But yes this is all true.

In the summer of 2000 my wife had my son and had her RN. So I stayed home because she would be making twice as much as I was($20hr) as a public safety officer.

Then we moved down to southern IL and I got a job where I worked 60+ hours and when I got home I had to take care of a 15 month old son who got in to everything so my life was only getting about 2-4 hours a sleep and working about 8-12 hours a day for $7.25 an hour and working the 8pm-8am shift weekends,4pm-12am shift,7pm to 3am shift and last the 12am to 8am shift.    

Thanks for the info!!! I did not even think about doing that. The place I go and shoot does host to most so the county's around here so they should know.

I would suggest that you work on your grammar. Law enforcement requires mountains of paperwork, all of which must be written clearly and succinctly.

I agree, I have trouble following your posts.

Sorry,
The grammar and spelling in your first post made me think that it was a joke.

It definitely sounds like you have had a rough time. I was a Corrections Officer for awhile at a County Jail. WORST JOB OF MY LIFE!!! I would not advise it. You are dealing with the scum of the earth, you are closed up in a small space all day and are susceptible to all of their diseases, lice,(genital and head)tuberculosis, aids or hepatitis if you have to break up a fight with an infected inmate. Simply fingerprinting an inmate can give you genital lice. One of my Police Academy instructors was fingerprinting a inmate one time and forgot to wash his hands before he went to the restroom, when he touched his crouch he transferred the lice from his hands to his pubic area. He then went home and gave them to his wife!!!

Anyway there are more jobs out here than being a C/O. I used to manage a grocery store so I can tell you what I looked for in an applicant.

1.Clean cut/free of visible tattoos.
2.Semi-stable work history.
3.Availability to work anytime.
4.Proximity to work.

The most important thing for me was how the person conducted themselves during the interview. If the person shifted around a lot in their chair, or failed to make eye contact with me that was not good.

As far as availability to work, the person had to be willing to work anytime or I didn't hire them. I didn't need someone to dictate a schedule to me, it is hard enough to run a store without having to worry about when someone has to have off. If someone calls in sick on your day off you had better be able to come in. My advice is if you have a certain time you can work, look for a job that only requires you to be there at that time. You will be a lot more appealing to management if you don't come in and tell them when you can work and when you can't.

Take some classes at a local college, English composition, business management, sales, etc. if you want to be in white collar world. Take technology classes like welding, heating and cooling if you want to be blue collar.

Basically your going to have to have more than a high school diploma to get a decent job in todays market.

What about the military?

Or even the local National Guard unit.

You get a part-time pay check (not much, but...) and you make contact with a lot of like minded (probably) locals that could lead to something. Plus you don't have to move anywhere.

Listen to these people. From what I have read in your posts, I wouldn't give you the first interview if your applications are like your posts. I am sure you are a great guy and a hard worker, but you sound like a high school dropout. I have to assume that your verbal skills are better than your written skills. Read your own posts, then read others. You will notice a big difference. Once you can form a sentence and spell reasonably well, you will find doors opening for you. Hooked on phonics is only a start, some words like "interview" sound like "enter view". Just read your first post and see all the errors in it. Now imagine you are the person reading the application. Now you might see that it's not just because you have a "peins" (I'm sure you meant "penis").
Good luck.

I am still inclined to believe that our collective chains are being pulled.  If not, tayous1, listen to the good advice these people are giving you.  Again, good luck.

It's all about apperance. I've passed people by if they have visible tattoos showing while I am interviewing them.

I don't have a problem with the tattoos, but if I can see them, I won't hire that person.

Last thing I want is someone with visible tattoos walking around one of the schools.

Av.

Is this a joke?

tayous1, if you're really serious about a law enforcement job, the prison job would be a good "in."  The question is, how revolting of a job will you take to help your chances to get the job you want?z