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Ten Common Ways to NOT Get Hired

Featured Author:

Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith

Law Enforcement Career Expert

Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith is a 29-year veteran of a large Chicago suburban police department and has held positions in patrol, investigations, narcotics, juvenile, crime prevention, hostage negotiation and field training. As a sergeant, she supervised her department’s K-9 Unit, served as a field training sergeant, recruitment team sergeant, bike patrol coordinator, and supervisor of the Community Education/Crime Prevention Unit. As a patrol sergeant, Betsy served on the Elderly Services Team, the Crisis Intervention Team, and as a supervisory member of the Honor Guard.

Betsy served as a host and content expert for the Law Enforcement Television Network (LETN) from 1999 – 2003. A graduate of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety’s School of Staff and Command, Betsy writes for numerous law enforcement and government publications and has been an instructor for the Calibre Press “Street Survival” seminar since 2003. She also manages and instructs for Dave Smith & Associates, a law enforcement training and consulting company based in Illinois and is featured in the Biography channel’s new reality show “Female Forces.” Together with her husband, Dave “JD Buck Savage” Smith, she trains law enforcement personnel throughout the United States and Canada.

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• Letting Go of Law Enforcement's Ancient Thinking
• Edged Weapons 101: The Armed Offender
• A Rookie’s Guide to Failing Field Training

4. Don’t worry about your personal finances. After all, soon you’ll have a secure job and lenders will be practically throwing money at you. Why would $25,000 in credit card debt, a defaulted car loan, or one little bankruptcy be a concern for any law enforcement agency looking to hire you? Don’t they know that’s why you’re trying to get a good job, so you can take care of all those pesky bills? Besides, no one actually pays back their student loans, do they?

3. You’re going to have to live life on the straight and narrow after you become a cop so make sure you live it up now! Whatever ethical or lifestyle choices you make before you get hired will certainly have no bearing on anyone’s perception of your decision-making abilities as a law enforcement professional later on. And why should you be held to a higher standard than your friends? That’s certainly not fair. After all, you’re not getting paid to behave like a Boy Scout just yet, so why should you?

2. Don’t spend your time prior to getting a police job working, going to school, serving in the military or doing volunteer work. Certainly no one will care about your prior work or service history, its what you’re going to do in the future that counts. Why would it matter if you just flunked out of the local junior college, held seven different fast food jobs in the past year, or spent the last six months on your parents’ living room couch playing XBOX? Life is all about looking forward.

1. Let your potential employers know right off the bat that you’re not big on working weekends, holidays, nights or on your birthday. In fact, make sure that your interviewers know that you’re really not interested in “paying your dues” in some dead end assignment like patrol or corrections. You have natural talent, you’ve watched a lot of “CSI” and “Law and Order” and you’re ready for the big time. In fact, as soon as you get in a little better shape, you’ll be ready for the SWAT team.

So go for it, future crimefighters! Party like a rock star or just hang out and wait for that great police job to come to you, after all, you deserve it!

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