As a retired police officer, is a Police Staff role an option to consider or are you ready to hang up your boots?
As police officers, most of us really look forward to our retirement date. When it finally arrives though, are we happy to just meet friends, spend time with family, holidaying? Some are. But for others (myself included), we decide for several reasons we still need to be doing something.
We have the comfort of a police pension giving us a fairly decent income – hopefully, it will have to last us a long time. But it may not be enough for all; Are you divorced or have children going through university or further education? Are you struggling to cover bills, or just want more for holidays and enjoying life. It can be a costly time – what can we do?
Finding another job, even if it’s part time, can mean with a pension and a salary, we have more money than when we worked as police officers.
Are you just too young to just hang up your boots? For me, I retired just before the COVID 19 pandemic. Instead of being able to meet up with friends I was determined to stay connected with, I was at home for months with a grown-up family. I became unsettled and felt like I needed to be doing something.
For many of us, we may have worked for the police for 30 years; training was always necessary. However, we leave with no formal qualifications and question what we can do.
Choices
This is the point where we can go one of two ways. We either recognise that the skills we had as a police officer are transferable and look ‘outside the box’ to different career opportunities. Or, we revert back to look for police staff roles, that we know we can do, because we did it as a police officer – our comfort zone.
One of the best pieces of advice anyone gave me is, what did you most enjoy doing as a police officer? How can you continue going forward to use these skills?
As a police officer I was passionate about recruiting the right people for my team. I loved helping people get a job they really wanted, whether it be as a new police recruit, police staff or helping someone apply for a lateral move to a different unit. I was still being asked to help people applying for police jobs, why did I not try and make a business of it? That is why we have Careers In Blue.
For most of us, as police officers when we reach an age we can retire at, we are happy to be able to continue to use certain skills we enjoyed using. We don’t miss the physical side of the job. Few of us after ‘retirement’ would choose to be back in the confrontational situations we used to experience as police officers.
Going Forward
Those of you that feel that way may start to register with agencies specialising in recruitment for retired police officers. You may sign up for job alerts. There are lots of companies out there that can help you. Job Search | Indeed
We will naturally look at the kind of jobs we feel comfortable doing or working for the employer we worked at for many years.
Many of our friends have returned to roles in the police. They have been successful (some with our help!) gaining roles such as Intelligence Development Officers, Researchers, Firearm Registration Clerks and Delivery Drivers to name just a few.
One golden rule – ensure you alter your CV to match skills to the job you are applying for. Prepare yourself as best you can for your interview. Many of you may not have had an interview for many years.
If you were a good employee, police forces will be happy to have you back. Let’s face it, they have trained you for years. They know you and can check your track record!
The only thing you may have to do is pass an interview….
Help if you need it for Police Staff Interviews
Careers in Blue excel in preparing you for police staff interview. With our training, you will give it your best shot. You will be fully prepared and understand what you are being asked. You will have a structure for answering the questions. We can even give you a mock interview. What better preparation could you do?
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