Citizens' academy

[EagleEye]

I just learned that there will be a citizens' academy offered in my county. I'm wondering if this is something that will help me down the road if I'm seeking employment with either that department or another in the area.

I realize it's only a citizens' academy, but is it something worth listing on a resume or application, or bringing up at an interview in response to the "What have you done to prepare yourself for this career?" question.

Thanks for your opinions!

EE

[k9cop21811]

I see you working here EagleEye and I respect your effort to improve your resume, but while the experience certainly can't hurt I don't think it will do much for you either. Not on its own anyway. It will allow you the chance to meet some officers, which my help in the future. Networking is rarely a bad thing. What about trying to work somewhere as a reserve officer? That would take more time obviously, but look better on a resume.

[TTRAIN222]

The department I did an intership with this past spring has a citizen's academy every three months. I believe that going through the academy will not give you much of an advantage on a resume or application, mostly because it is an academy for citizens. I know the academy at the department I was at was created to show those citizens who are interested, how the department serves the community. Though they do get to do a couple ride alongs, I think that if you went through it, the only thing it would really help is your decision if you want to work in that depatment. And as k9cop21811 said you may meet someone who could be a future contact. So I would say don't expect it to "prepare yourself for this career", but then again, it wouldn't hurt if you went though it.

Take care,
Steve

[Tampa_#63]

I would have to disagree slightly with the two previous posts, on whether or not attending the citizens academy will help you in your job search. I say it can help you greatly if that is the agency you want to apply for. I know in my own experience, attending a citizen academy with my spouse, for an agency I wanted to get hired with, helped me. I was attending the police academy during this time, and several academy instructors, taught the citizens academy. Name recognition through word of mouth, goes a long way in the hiring process. Myself and another academy attendee(who went to the same citizen academy with his spouse that I did), were hired with this particular agency. I'm not saying the citizen academy got me hired. But I bet it went a long way to ensuring our applications got processed in a very timely manner. Now if you have no inttention of applying to this particular agency, then I agree attending this citizen academy would not add much weight to your resume'. However, it couldn't hurt, and if you have a significant other, it might go along way in getting rid of some of the fears they may have towards you going into LE.

[k9cop21811]

Tampa,

So it was the networking that you were able to do that helped you at the citizens academy. HMMM, seems like I've heard that somewhere before.