Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Highway Patrol Officer?

Many of our students at Shelton State Community College are enrolled in Criminal Justice courses in hopes of working with the Department of Public Safety. Career Services is focusing on the careers of Alabama State Troopers this week. As you know, this is an honorable career that can be risky but necessary in order for the great state of Alabama to continue to be a safe place to live.

The following information was found on the Alabama Department of Public Safety’s website. Go to http://dps.alabama.gov/Home/Default.aspx for more information.



• State Trooper – Not just a job…a great career choice.

• Job as a Trooper

• Is a Trooper’s Job Right for Me?

• Physical Fitness Entry Level Standards for Trooper Applicants

• What is State Trooper Training Like?

• State Trooper Pay Scale (As of September 2008)

• Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission



We also found the following article under the Newsletters section using the DISCOVER program. Many of you have an ID to this program and are able to explore other articles and access the many resources DISCOVER offers. If you would like more information regarding the career assessment program, DISCOVER, please call the Career Services Center (205.391.5874) for more information.

Highway Patrol Officer

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Jim Smith has been a state patrol officer for five years. Men and women who do this work are sometimes called state troopers. Jim's particular job differs from that of a policeman in the city because he is expected to be familiar with and patrol an assigned area of the county. Working mostly alone, he provides a variety of services to the motorists who use the highways. Jim enjoys the challenges and responsibilities of his work, and has become well-known and a dependable friend to many people. As part of this occupation, he wears a uniform, carries firearms, drives a special car, and is trained to respond to many types of emergencies. In order to become a member of the state police force, Jim had to get his bachelor's degree and then be accepted into and successfully graduate from the Highway Patrol Academy.

State police officers are best known for issuing traffic citations to motorists who break the law. Jim knows this part of his job is very important because it encourages motorists to follow the rules. Reminding motorists of the laws and pointing out their mistakes prevents accidents. Jim is often called to accidents, where he may direct traffic, give first aid, and call for emergency equipment. He might take photographs to determine the cause of the accident, gather evidence in criminal cases, and write reports. He also appears in court as a witness when necessary.

Jim starts his day early. He is in the car and on the road by 6:00 a.m. Although his hours are part of a regular schedule, he is expected to be "on duty" 24 hours a day. Whenever he sees someone in trouble, he gives them help. His training has equipped him to work with minimal direct supervision, and his main responsibility is to ensure public safety on the state highways.

Today is a national holiday, and that means more cars than usual will be on the roads, and a greater probability exists that there will be drunk drivers and accidents. Jim will be on the lookout for those who are speeding, going to the scene of any accidents in his area, and possibly giving first aid to crash victims. By mid-morning, he has covered one crash involving bodily injury, called medical rescue technicians to take that person to the hospital, and answered a call from someone whose neighbor was threatening him with a gun. Later in the day, he will help with traffic direction at a large outdoor concert. Thousands of people will be arriving, and patrol officers will direct traffic flow towards the parking lots.

By the end of the holiday, Jim will have, perhaps, prevented loss of life and property destruction. His quick decision-making and good communication skills will have found help for people at accident scenes and stopped an argument from ending in a shooting. These are the results of his good training and dedication to his work.

There are other duties that highway patrol officers perform. They investigate crime scenes, pursue and arrest criminals, and inspect motor vehicles for compliance with weight and hazardous materials regulations. Officers are members of the community and often give presentations at schools and civic group meetings where they teach public safety. They also help with the training of new highway patrol recruits. Jim Smith is proud of his job as a highway patrol officer. He is in a special group of people who help protect the public from crime and keep the roads safe for travel.

Making Contact with Employers

With classes starting back and students getting back into the swing of the start of a semester, many students are searching for part-time and full-time jobs. Career Services offers job searching assistance on Shelton State’s website. Students will find job search websites and information on the current labor market. Visit https://www.sheltonstate.edu/current_students/career_services_center.aspx for more information.

The following article was found through DISCOVER's website:

Making Contact with Employers

When you are hunting for a job, getting your foot in the door is difficult. How do you get the attention of the employer? How can you find out about job openings? How do you find out more about an organization than is provided on their web site?

Know What They Need and What You Can Offer

Rule #1: Identify the kind of job you want. Know how your skills, education, and/or experience "fit" the job for which you are applying. If you have particular strengths or weaknesses, be sure you think about how you will explain them to employers. Use the occupational description in DISCOVER to decide which skills will be useful and how you will use them in this kind of work. Then use the Internet to find job descriptions in your field. Look at other people's resumes to see how you can strengthen your resume. Visit the websites of companies that employ people in your field, or use a search engine to identify employers in your field.

Find-a-Friend

Rule #2: Find people who either do the kind of work you want to do, or know people who do the kind of work you want to do. Ask for their help. Good places to find such people are professional organizations in your field, such as the American Marketing Association or Teacher's Federation, or general professional associations like the Chamber of Commerce or Lion's Club. Attend meetings or subscribe to listservs to strike up conversations with "pros."

Other ways to network with people who can help you are college alumni associations, mentoring programs, and jobshadowing partners. Use directories, such as professional association guides, telephone books, and on-line directories to make contact with employers. Your local library can also provide helpful ideas.

Getting in the Door

Rule #3: The phone is your friend. We may live on the Information Superhighway, but business is still mostly done by phone. Use the phone to find out:

• Who you should bring or send your resume to

• What the current issues are within the company

• Who the people are who do the kind of work you'd like

• If there are job openings now or whether there may be openings soon

A good way to prepare for the phone call is to write a script. That way you'll have the right words in front of you when need them. When you contact a person by phone:

• Introduce yourself and briefly tell her or him where you went to school, when you graduated (if you have, of course), and why you are calling.

• Highlight your qualifications in a few sentences. Ask if you might stop by for a short visit. If not, offer to drop off your resume.

• Whether you get a chance to follow-up or not, be sure you ask the person if you can check back in a month or so.

• Be sure you are upbeat and thank the person when you hang up.

With these tips, you should be working in no time. Good luck!

Many students are seeking fall employment

The Career Services Center has been hopping this week with students preparing for fall employment and seeking career guidance. One service the center offers is help with resume writing. If you would like for the CSC staff to take a look at your resume, give us a call at 205.391.5874 or 205.391.2204.

Also, you can get started writing your resume by using your DISCOVER account. This is an excellent tool in building a basic resume for you to elaborate on as you add skills to your repertoire. Career Services visits all orientation classes each semester to administer the DISCOVER assessment. If you do not have a log-in name and are interested in learning more about it, call the CSC to set up an appointment.

To help you get started, we have included a description of the 3 most common styles of resumes. The following article was found at www.careerperfect.com:



THE MOST EFFECTIVE RESUME FORMATS

Each individual possesses a unique set of talents, skills, abilities, experience, and training; as a result, one must consider all factors in order to determine the best strategy.

Although there are dozens of different formats, a resume will fit one of three basic categories: Chronological, Functional, and Combination.

1. 1. Chronological

A chronological format emphasizes professional experience; however, it is best if a chronological resume utilizes a focused summary of qualifications that quickly conveys essential skills to an employer. This provides an opportunity to immediately capture attention through vital keywords and employer-centric language, thereby ensuring you make a strong first impression during the critical 15-second initial human screening.

Without a summary of qualifications, the chronological format can be risky as it will simply stress the past rather than target your goals and the employer's needs. With potentially hundreds of resumes to review, the employer cannot be burdened with interpreting a candidate's work history during the few seconds of an initial screen. Rather, the summary of qualifications does the work, ensuring you get the attention you deserve...and that relevant skills won't be missed.

Generally, the chronological format works well if one's past employment meets certain criteria, including:

 The work history directly relates to the targeted position; ideally the history will show progressive responsibility in a specific career direction.

 The years of experience fall within a marketable range and include present (or very recent) employment.

When work history is not directly related to one's current employment objective, a Combination format is likely the best approach.

2. Functional

This largely obsolete format seeks to present qualifications that relate to the targeted position by focusing on skills and qualifications only; this is achieved by using functional headings that are strategically developed around one's transferable skills without developing details about the work history. If work history is presented, it is generally only as a simple list at the end of the resume.

The traditional functional format was historically used to hide unfavorable elements in a candidate's employment history, so it is often viewed with extreme caution by human resource and management professionals. In particular, they may wonder what the candidate is trying to hide, especially when the work history is omitted entirely (which we do not recommend).

While the functional format was once considered effective if a job seeker's current employment objectives were completely unrelated to his or her work history, recent advances in resume parsing (screening) technology make it impossible for a functional resume to survive in most online job boards or employer applicant tracking systems. Virtually the only time a functional resume may be effective is when the resume will be delivered directly to the hiring manager and there is no chance that a resume parsing system will be applied. Even then, it is best to avoid combining non-complementary skills (e.g., truck driving and office management) as doing so simply conveys a lack of focus.

In most cases where one is considering a Functional approach, a Combination/Hybrid format will prove to be more effective.

3. Combination/Hybrid

The combination format incorporates the functional treatment's strengths without posing the same risk; it, too, will demonstrate, at the beginning of the resume, a candidate’s key strengths, skills, and core competencies that are strategically developed around one's career goals and transferable skills (if applicable), thereby placing greater emphasis on one's overall skill set. Unlike the functional style, the combination resume includes details of the work history, including responsibilities, dates, contributions, and achievements. This makes the combination format superior, except in extremely rare circumstances, to the traditional functional format.

While in most instances the combination format is the best choice for the majority of job seekers—it quickly illustrates one’s core skills in the 15-second human scan—it also works best in resume parsing systems where recent work history lacks a direct correlation to current employment objectives (such as with new graduates or those changing careers). By demonstrating, through functional headings, relevant skills, education, training, and accomplishments, the connection between your transferable skills and the targeted position will be clear.


Reference: http://www.careerperfect.com/content/resume-writing-help-effective-resume-format/