How To Write A Police Resume

Police Officer Skills And Qualifications

• Communication skills – police officers use written and verbal communication skills to talk to citizens and other officers, and to create written reports
• Physical fitness – police officers need the physical ability to lift, carry, run, and sit for sustained periods of time, and to work outdoors in all conditions
• Observation skills – police officers must pay exceptional attention to detail to spot suspicious behavior, search crime scenes, and monitor suspects
• Interpersonal skills – because police officers conduct interviews and act as representatives of the law, interpersonal skills are required
• Mechanical skills – police officers proficiently handle and operate various equipment and vehicles

What Is A Police Officer Resume Objective

A police officer resume objective is an introductory statement that introduces you as a candidate for hire. A successful resume objective communicates to a police department that you would make an excellent officer and encourages whoever reads your resume to invite you for an interview. In a few sentences, it describes your professional qualities, skills and goals.

Your resume objective is often the second section of a resume, following your name and contact information. It provides a police department your reason for applying and specifies the role you want to fill.

Write A Police Officer Resume Summary That Showcases Your Strengths

A resume summary is a brief statement at the beginning of a resume that introduces an applicant to the employer. This summary should contain key information, such as your years of experience and specializations, as well as specific examples of notable achievements.

Here is an example of a weak police officer summary, followed by a corrected example and explanation:

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Police Officer Resume Key Sections

Your skills are what matters most to a hiring body. Once you have the much-needed skills, you pass the first qualification test and recruiters take the much-needed steps to further evaluate your resume.

Thus, this section is equal in importance with the professional experience section. Perfecting this section is key as it encourages a recruiter to further evaluate your resume in its entirety.

This is why you need to endorse your police officer resume skills impeccably.

It should be a reflection of the skills that you have accumulated over the years.

Here’s what you can do to optimize this section:

• Compose this section only after you have concluded the professional experience section: Once you have textual documentation of your roles & responsibilities, identifying your skills becomes a walk in the park. All you have to do is evaluate your resume and identify your core skills.

• Incorporate keywords to make this section ATS-compliant: Keywords are skill-sets that a hiring body looks for in an ideal candidate. Showcasing these skill-sets will dramatically elevate your chances of getting shortlisted. Your only job here is to identify these keywords and replicate those keywords that you are skilled in. This will show a prospective recruiter that you have the right skills and that you are qualified for the job that you are targeting.

To learn more about perfecting your police officer resume skills in your resume, read Hiration’s 2020 Guide on what skills to put on a resume.

Civilian Police Officer Resume

Objective : Civilian Police Officer offering one plus year of law enforcement experience comprised of jailer experience. Adept and efficient in working under high-stress conditions. I also have the discipline to remain meticulous and maintain zeal throughout the most tedious of tasks. Possesses expert problem-solving skills and leadership ability marked with a keen sense of basic human psychology and behaviorisms. This basic knowledge of psychology allows me to analyze, empathize and effectively relate to a diverse workforce or civilian population.

Skills : Communication, Analytical & Research Computer & Technical Literacy, Adaptability & Flexibility, Managing Multiple Priorities, Interpersonal Abilities, Leadership/Management, Multicultural Sensitivity

Description :

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Make Sure Your Cover Letter Isnt Too Long

Police departments in bigger cities have to sort through stacks of cover letters whenever they hire new officers.

To make sure that your application doesnt go overlooked, your cover letter needs to communicate all your strengths while being short enough to keep the hiring managers attention.

The most effective cover letter length for police officers is between 200 and 400 words, which should all fit on one page with standard size text.

Choose The Right Resume Format As A Police Officer

The first step to writing a resume as a police officer is to choose the proper format according to your experience level. Every resume format differs in style and purpose, making certain formats better for different applicants.

Here is a breakdown of the 3 main types of resume formats to choose from:

• Reverse-Chronological: The reverse-chronological resume focuses on work experience, listing the applicants most recent job first and working backward from there. In this resume, the work experience section will serve as the focal point and make up the largest section on the document.
• Functional:The functional resume removes the focus from work experience and places it instead on education, skills, and unpaid experience. This format is commonly used by recent graduates who have many years of academic experience but little experience in the formal workforce.
• Hybrid: The hybrid resume combines elements from both of the above formats. It spreads out the focus of the resume more evenly between all sections, allowing for a more diversified resume. This format is commonly used by applicants changing careers or working around large gaps in their work histories.

Generally speaking, the reverse-chronological resume is the standard expected by most employers. However, the other formats can be just as effective when well-written and can be massively helpful to applicants who lack relevant work experience.

Choose your preferred template and make your resume shine.

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Can I Edit Resume Examples According To My Needs

When it comes to resume writing, you control the situation completely. It is up to you to create a great resume that is well-suited to a particular position or industry.You can use this opportunity to transform your previous job experience into a sensation and catch the eye of your potential employers.If you want to pull this off easily, you can edit samples of resumes.The sole purpose of an example is to provide you with the right context required to craft a resume for a certain industry or job title.Every tip, resume format, or phrase you will find is designed to help you target industries specifically and show your worth.It helps you to prove to your employers that you are a professional who understands the demands of a position and the goal of the company.With the aid of this guide, you can easily draw the attention of the company’s management to your skills, dedication, knowledge, and expertise.Regardless of the industry, you plan to begin or continue your career in, there is an example available for you to use.This implies that if you want to impress employers in industries like Information Technology, Real Estate Management, Accounting, and many others, there is one for you to edit according to your needs. No one is left out.

Police Officer / Detective Resume

Summary : Dedicated Police Officer / Detective skilled at dealing with the general public and handling high- stress situations and emotionally disturbed persons, including domestic violence and child abuse victims. Courageous Police Officer with 18 years leading gang and drug task forces. Extensive knowledge of gangs and vice crimes. Police Officer who possesses situational awareness and integrity, as well as dedication to safety. Resourceful Police Officer focused on maintaining order and public safety, responding to emergencies, protecting people and property and promoting positive community relations. Dedicated Police Officer trained in all aspects of the highway patrol.

Skills : Highly Dependable, Government Security Clearance, Fast Learner, Weapons Training, Theft Prevention, Training, Security Guard License

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Police Officer Resume Summary

Your police officer resume summary is an overview of your entire resume.

It gives the recruiter a glimpse of what to find in your police resume. Thus, your job here is to concisely write an impactful resume summary.

Heres a list of what you should do to perfect this section:

• Write your summary at the end. This simplifies the process of perfectly drafting the summary by eliminating the need to revisit your resume summary which happens if you write it in the beginning.
• Your resume summary is a brief pitch of what you can do for the prospective recruiter. Your job here is to make it powerful and make it short.
• Make sure that you pick the best highlights of your career and write them in this section. While you do this, make sure that it does not exceed the 5-line limit.
• Keep your resume summary limited to 3-5 lines. Anything more is not as ideal as the whole point of composing resume summaries is to give a brief account of your professional proficiency.
• Write a resume summary only if you have worked for over 3 years. If you have less than 3 years of work experience, write a police officer resume objective instead.

Read Hiration’s 2020 Resume Summary Guide to learn how to write an impactful summary for your law enforcement resume.

If you’re running short of time, feel free to use Hiration’s Online Resume Builder for a hassle-free resume writing experience.

Show Your Passion For Police Work

Police work isnt a casual day job. Officers are responsible for a communitys well-being, and are regularly put in potentially dangerous situations. So police departments need to know theyre hiring someone whos seriously passionate about the work they do.

Use your cover letter to show employers that youre personally invested in providing excellent police work, and that they can rely on you to exceed the minimum of whats expected of you.

If you have life experiences that made you want to become a police officer, highlight those experiences in your cover letter to show that youre dedicated to doing excellent work. Let departments know your personal values inspire your dedication to law enforcement.

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Common Key Skills And Action Verbs For Police Officer Resumes

It is essential that a candidate for a police officer position possesses the skills that a specific department of community needs, but some characteristics and attributes are universally desired. Applicants for these positions need to understand the importance of the words that they incorporate in their resume: Many law enforcement Human Resources departments utilize an automated Applicant Tracking Systems that filters out applicants whose resumes do not contain the keywords that they are looking for. To avoid being left out of consideration, you need to make sure that the words most frequently used to describe police officer skills and actions are included in your resume.

What Are Resume Samples

As the name implies, they are ideal examples of what resumes in different industries look like. For instance, they provide you with suitable resume structures and recommended details to include in your resume.Additionally, they also show you the most effective way to portray your skills and experience to your potential employer.With the aid of these samples, you can create your resume faster and boost your chances of getting the job that you crave.This is why we have gone all out to show you how you can use them to edge out your competition . You will also discover some key details about resumes.Read on!

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Police Officer Resume Examples

• Resume Tips from Experts

The need for a robust police force is reflected in the 5% growth in demand that the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts over the next ten years. This represents an additional 40,600 jobs added between now and 2029. Becoming a police officer also represents tremendous opportunity for career advancement. Once you have completed the training academy and the required on-the-job training, you begin a path that can lead to promotions and related law enforcement career options including detective, air marshal, or federal agent.

Whether youre looking for your first job or youve been on the job for years, you need more than word-of-mouth and your reputation to open doors and get your foot in the door. You need a solid resume that highlights your strengths, experience, and accomplishments. To set you on the right path, weve included four downloadable police officer resumes, ranging from rookie to ten years or more of experience. Following the tips provided will prove extremely helpful in winning the job that you want.

What Does A Police Officer Do

If all your ideas about what police offers do were based on TV shows, you would envision constant chases, either by foot or car, or daily murder and mayhem. While police officers are tasked first and foremost with preventing crime and upholding the law, they also spend time building relationships with the public, negotiating disputes and writing reports.

Police officers encounter stressful situations and must respond calmly even as they are expected to make split-second decisions. On the flipside, 56 percent of police officers responding to a study by Nuance, an AI company, said they spend three or more hours a shift completing paperwork.

Some parts of a police officers job are not crime-related, but help ensure public safety. They direct traffic when there is a collision or hazard in the road or in storms when traffic lights are out and organize emergency personnel like firefightersat accidents and disaster sites.

Police officers may work for a municipality, state or highway patrol, a sheriffs department or in a special jurisdiction. These special jurisdictions include schools, parks, transportation centers, hospitals, housing authorities and government buildings.

• Firefighter resume sample

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Police Officer Resume: Certifications

This section ideally communicates the following information:

• Certification course name
• Name of the institute of affiliation
• Location of the institute of affiliation
• Enrolment and completion date of the course

Arrange these points in the below format:

| | |

The certifications section is really helpful for those professionals who are writing an entry level police officer resume.

In other words, if you are writing an entry level police officer resume, the certifications section can help. Someone who has relevant certifications almost always gets picked over someone who doesn’t.

So if you have done relevant certifications that complement your target job, list them down in this section.

If you are just beginning your career, are looking for your first job, don’t lose heart.

Do the relevant certifications and list them down in your resume!

Is this too vague? Would you like to learn more?

Mentioned below is a police officer resume sample illustrating the perfect certifications section for your resume for police officer.

Entry Level Police Officer Resume

Use this template

Why this resume works

• When applying for an entry-level job position, you probably dont have a lot of experience to include in your resume. Rather than fluffing in your resume, get creative by adding a resume objective.
• But heres the main thing about a resume objective it should stand out and provide as much information about yourself as it can without seeming too long and boring. You need to customize this for each job you apply to.
• If a job opening specifically says knowledge of law, public safety, etc., then by including that in your resume objective you demonstrate youre qualified for the role.

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Study The Job Description

Closely examine the duties listed in the job description. As a police officer candidate, you might also research crime statistics for the relevant jurisdiction to better understand the law enforcement activities you’d perform on the job. With a good idea of what the role you’re applying for entails, you can make sure your resume objective anticipates the department’s needs. For instance, if you know a town has several highways where speeding is a common issue, you might discuss the skills that help you monitor traffic.

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Police Officer Resume: Additional Information

Important pieces of information about you such as your hobbies and your multilingual skills should be endorsed in the additional information section of your police resume.

This section is the miscellaneous section of your resume where you can incorporate information about you such as the ones cited above.

Here’s a police officer resume sample illustrating the ideal additional information section for your resume for police officer.

In the meanwhile, feel free to get your existing resume professionally reviewed by our AI-powered Resume Review Service.

Get valuable feedback on your resume and learn how to reverse the blunders that you are unintentionally making in your police resume.

Just keep an eye out on the bottom-left corner of this page to avail our Resume Review Service!

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Why Is It Important To Include An Objective On A Police Officer Resume

Including a clear and confident objective on a police officer resume shows hiring managers that you have the specific skills and qualifications you need to work in this role. For example, highlighting your ability to handle extreme situations like car crashes and homicides lets them know that you have what it takes to perform the job’s duties successfully. A resume objective also gives hiring managers a preview of what’s to come in your resume, which can entice them to keep reading. Ultimately, a strong police officer resume objective can increase your chances of getting employed.

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