How Long Till Job Offer?

[jen79]

Hello: This is my first post, and I am not a sworn officer, though I hope to be soon...at any rate...

Back on March 31st, I passed the Corrections Officer Assessment here in Ohio...and here it is August, and I've heard nothing. About three weeks ago, I called the Corrections Training Academy, and the gentleman I spoke to verified that I had passed, my fingerprints came back fine, and now it's just a waiting game. He suggested I add more counties to my availability list, which I did. I'm still discouraged, though. So, my question to all of you is:

How long did it take for most of you to get your first job offer, once you'd passed your assessment? I have found nothing in the Ohio DOC website that gives any idea whatsoever on what the time frame could be, nor whether a job offer comes in the form of a phone call, or letter, or what. I'm also a little worried about my age (40) pushing me down further on the list.

Anyway, any information you all could provide would be great. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but never felt ready until now. I'm starting to get worried I'll never hear from them. Thanks for reading.

[Bowles]

I'm in NC, when I was hired I took the test in August, was interviewed in September and hired at the end of October. Pretty swift from what some of the other officers have told me. Many were on the list for almost a year before being offered a job.

[BillP]

You will find the wait, as well as the process, varies greatly between departments. Here in PA I applied when they first opened the facility 1 mile from my house. That was in November 1995 and I was hired in March 1996. I am also a veteran (good for 10 points on the Civil Service list). As for age, that was not an issue as I was 36 when hired.

I have a brother-in-law whose son applied in May of 2004 and still has not been hired. He is 23 or 24 and not a vet, so he waits.

One thing to check on is if your name, score, etc. drop off the list after a certain period of time. Some agencies do not inform you of this even while telling you that your info came back fine.

Good luck and keep asking about your status.

[richjorg]

I applied in CA in Aug 03 and I just finished the process last month. I am hoping for an appointment to the October academy.

[cdc_cop]

I'm in California. It took a year from my initial test to first day at the academy. The background investigation took the longest. The Psych evaluation took a little time as well. There was also lengthy time gaps between the physical ability test, med. exam etc, etc. Each state varies. Call your state personel board or testing department and see if you have completed ALL or the examinations. Good Luck.

[BigBen4181]

Hey Jen, i actually just got back today from orient, i passed my test, only 5 of us made it through. Everyone who was testing today was trying to get on at the Toledo facility. After fingerprinting when i went in for the interview i talked to the lady for about 20 minutes, and she asked me if i wanted to add anymore counties. I told her to add me to Dayton and Belmont, but we had a discussion that Toledo was a higher security facility and that less people wanted to work there so i had a pretty good chance of getting on there as soon as my background comes back cleared, she actually said i might not even have to wait for the background to fully clear before i get hired. But she said Dayton and Belmont were both " cake " jobs and that a lot of vets try to get on there so it would be doubtful i would. Im just sayin that maybe the counties you picked are lower security and thats why youre having trouble.
And i know im not LE yet so please dont hate on me for posting in here, we all had to get our feet in the door at one point or another.

[jen79]

Thank you all for your replies and advice. From what I've read here, there doesn't seem to be any "average" time length from testing to job offer...I guess I'll just have to keep being patient.

[RAC]

Very long wait also

I have already passed everything for state corrections and am on the waiting list for hire. It is a very long waiting list. I have been waiting for 3 months and this is already being on the list. There were others before me that have been waiting since May. It is now August and still nothing. We just all have to wait I guess.

[thirdgod]

Took the test for ADOC on Nov. 15th, started the academy Jan. 17th. It all depends on the state I guess. I can see CA and other states with peace officer status taking longer due to the necessity of a deeper BI.

[johnychipp]

test in SD

I took my test june 28 and then my oral interveiw July 15 and two weeks after that I got the job and I'm still training on the job and in a couple of weeks I get taser cerified and basic wrist locks and pressure point certification. The corrections application untill hire was short I thought.But I have been applying with a PD the last 7 months and like 3 weeks and i still have a long ways to go, but there was 1000 pople applying verses 40 for the corrections. So I really agree with alot of these other people it depends on the department, and I think how many qualified applications. Good Luck I like my job as a C.O. i keep learning new stuff everyday

[aroddakoda]

You will find the wait, as well as the process, varies greatly between departments. Here in PA I applied when they first opened the facility 1 mile from my house. That was in November 1995 and I was hired in March 1996. I am also a veteran (good for 10 points on the Civil Service list). As for age, that was not an issue as I was 36 when hired.

I have a brother-in-law whose son applied in May of 2004 and still has not been hired. He is 23 or 24 and not a vet, so he waits.

One thing to check on is if your name, score, etc. drop off the list after a certain period of time. Some agencies do not inform you of this even while telling you that your info came back fine.

Good luck and keep asking about your status.

where in Pa. are you from?

[aroddakoda]

You will find the wait, as well as the process, varies greatly between departments. Here in PA I applied when they first opened the facility 1 mile from my house. That was in November 1995 and I was hired in March 1996. I am also a veteran (good for 10 points on the Civil Service list). As for age, that was not an issue as I was 36 when hired.

I have a brother-in-law whose son applied in May of 2004 and still has not been hired. He is 23 or 24 and not a vet, so he waits.

One thing to check on is if your name, score, etc. drop off the list after a certain period of time. Some agencies do not inform you of this even while telling you that your info came back fine.

Good luck and keep asking about your status.

BillP where in Pa. are you from?

[BillP]

BillP where in Pa. are you from?

Technically, I'm not from PA. Had a forced transplantation back in '92. Just happen to reside in the Greater Harrisburg Region at this time. Lived in State College (home of Penn State) for a few years, and Clearfield County (empty strip mines as far as the eyes can see) for 11.

[Fergie]

TN varies too

I took the civil service test in july 03 interviewed august 03 and was on the floor aug 30 03 but also had previous experience in corrections and was already certified by the state but the other 6 that was hired had waited for avg. of 6 months. only me and another guy is left from that group been though about 15 since then bc we are a direct supervision facility. No bars just a red line and respect had alot of officer freak out their first night by their selfs. Our facility has very few assaults and problems due to the fact that it is always an officer in the units.our avg. is about 200 inmates with a min.5 guards withthe most on shift being 8 <----very usual. but the unit officer is always out number by at least 70 to 1 got to love them odds