Police Officer Resume Example + Salaries, Writing tips and Information

Examine our police officer resume sample for a model of what a great resume looks like. Your resume is your calling card, so you want each section to flow effortlessly from one portion to the next. Most hiring managers only spend about six seconds reading a resume before deciding whether to throw it away, so ideally you want the most important information at the top of the page. Your resume should also contain various keywords, so your application can get through an Applicant Tracking System. Fill your document with keywords an ATS may scan for.

Police officers need to possess many hard skills, which are quantifiable talents such as a proficiency in a certain software. However, officers should also have soft skills, which include things like public speaking, psychology, and social perceptiveness. Soft skills should go among hard skills in the qualifications section of your resume, which comes after the professional summary. Other soft skills that are great to add to your resume regardless of the industry you want to get into include problem-solving, written communication, and attention to detail.

The preferred format most hiring managers want to see is chronological format, which is what our police officer resume sample uses. This formatting places emphasis on your work history and should show how you have progressed through your career over the years. Your work history section should be in reverse chronological order, and an ATS is most likely to scan this format most accurately.

Another format some jobseekers may want to consider is the functional format. In this layout, your skills section receives more emphasis. In general, people with less work experience should utilize this formatting.

You should have two or three jobs listed in your resume. Each of these jobs requires between five and eight bullet points, each one describing a different responsibility you held. Begin each bullet point with a strong active verb; there is no need to begin the statement with “I did” or “I performed.” When possible, include details and quantifiable facts to support the evidence you present.

There are several techniques to make an application stand out. One helpful guideline is to only focus on what is relevant. If you want to apply to become a police officer, then you should focus on skills and work experiences that will aid you in that effort. Mentioning extraneous information in the work history section, such as your time working at a retail store, will not come in handy. You may be able to include it, but it should not take up a lot of space if it is not a primary achievement. Stand out more in the hiring manager’s mind by creating a personalized resume with our resume builder tool that looks just as great as our police officer resume sample.