Expert: Chris Wagoner - 2/1/2011

Question
Hello Cmdr. Waggoner:

I’ve read your many encouraging replies to questions about older police applicants.  I started applying for law enforcement jobs about 10 years ago and I’m now 55.  I live in the northeast and I’ve interviewed unsuccessfully many times with various police agencies that have no maximum entry age.  Some have interviewed me more than once yet I sense that interviewers don’t know what to make of me.  A few have come right out and said that they don’t normally hire anyone my age.  I think I’m a capable candidate for these jobs but my confidence is getting shaky at this point.

This will be a second career for me, something I’ve wanted to do for years.  I have a BA degree, a clean background and a reasonably solid work history (although I have no military or law enforcement experience).  I meet the agility standards for the 20-30 age group and I can even outrun most of them.  Hence my frustration!

So my questions are:

1)  Are there areas that might be more receptive to older candidates -- Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia or the West?

2) Should I concentrate on a particular type or size of department, i.e. municipal as opposed to state police and university?

3) Or would I be better off trying for a dispatch, corrections jobs or some other phase of law enforcement?  

Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

Answer
Good Morning Bill,

Let's address your questions one at a time and hopefully that will clarify some things for you.


1)  Are there areas that might be more receptive to older candidates -- Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia or the West?

A: yes you will find better reception for older candidates in Florida and the southeastern United States. We are used to getting retirees from the northern states no longer want to put up with the cold weather and want to start second careers here in the South. I know of agencies around my area and other areas in Florida that will hire applicants who are older and are retired from a former law enforcement or other career. So I think you would be better off looking in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and maybe North Carolina. Alabama Mississippi might also be a choice.

2) Should I concentrate on a particular type or size of department, i.e. municipal as opposed to state police and university?

A: it is easier to be hired by a smaller agency mostly because the hiring process involves a interview generally with either the deputy chief or chief of police or someone in the higher ranking area of the chain of command who makes the hiring decisions. You may stand a better chance of explaining yourself in selling yourself when you're talking to the person that will be making the actual decision rather than someone who is recommending you to someone to make a decision. I would suggest looking at departments that are less than 100 officers and more rural and small-town types of agencies.

3) Or would I be better off trying for a dispatch, corrections jobs or some other phase of law enforcement?  

A: I would leave this is a last resort if you don't find anything in the next couple of years, but one of the things that has been instituted in our area and has had great success is the reserve deputy programs that some of the agencies are now doing. The Alachua County Sheriff's office will hire you as a reserve deputy (which is a free position) and allow you to work and then after a period of time if you apply for one of the deputies positions you stand a much better chance of being hired because of your work experience with the agency. I understand this is not an option for people who are looking for immediate employment within income, but if you have a retirement or have money where you can spend six months to a year working for free basically, then this is an excellent way of getting into an agency. The Alachua County Sheriff's office is doing this with a lot of younger recruits also were coming directly out of the Academy and are finding it to be a great way of getting a preview of the type of deputy that they would be hiring.

I hope this helps explain things a little bit more and at 55 you're not over the limit yet as to what I would recommend that you are getting close. The fact that you lack any military experience or any law enforcement experience doesn't help, but you should be able to overcome that if you can sell yourself correctly to a smaller agency during the interview process.

Be well and stay safe,