I left policing for a start-up 4 years ago.

Doubled my salary. 10x'd my quality of life.

Here's the biggest reason you don't get interviews.

Over the years, I have learned that most officers who want to do the same end up failing because they don't understand the recruitment process.

They think disarming a suspect with a gun or pulling children from burning cars is their best evidence.

As impressive as these stories are, they (probably) tell me precious little about how you solve the problems I'm recruiting you to fix.

It took me quite a while to learn this lesson too.

Here are some of the other reasons I've learned people struggle to land interviews:

Applicant Tracking Systems:

Software that checks CV's match the criteria in a role. If your CV doesn't directly reference the keywords in the job ad, you'll score as a bad match. For roles with lots of applicants, your CV won't even be read.

Thinking that career highlights speak for themselves:

You may have represented a subject or crime type as an SME at an international level, or in parliament... but you're assuming I recognise that makes you exceptionally good. Maybe all cops do that?

Listing Responsibilities:

"Managing highly complex and challenging cases",
"makes critical decisions under pressure"

Sure, these are all part of your role, but how do I know if you're any good?

Dont expect me to assume you are just because you do it for the police.

This generally happens when you write a CV or application as you would your PDR evidence.

The responsibilities you were given, or even the actions you took, do not speak for themselves to people with no policing background.

Results do.

Don't worry - your results and your numbers are impressive, even if you don't know them yet.

There's not a business process out there that wouldn't benefit from a police officer coming in and shaking it up a bit.

You don't see it yet, but you will.

And others already do.

The 1 Reason Most Police Officers Fail To Get Job Interviews In The Private Sector.

I left policing for a start-up 4 years ago. Doubled my salary. 10x'd my quality of life.

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