Joining Reserves before regular LEO

[JsHarmon7]

I will be graduating in about ten months with a double major in Criminal Justice and Spanish. I understand that the competition for police officer positions is very intense and I'm looking to get a little advantage. Would it be a good idea to join the Reserves until I can get a full-time job after I graduate? I understand that there is a good chance I may not be hired by a police force until well after I've graduated and I want to get some experience as "leg up" over other candidates. Plus, I'm very excited about getting into law enforcement and I think it would be a great start. Any input?

[ScrapinPT]

I think it would be bro, Im in the same position as well as you though with no previous LEO experience , just alot of advice from other LE in my area. Im all about doing extra things to pad my resume, Ive even participated in some ride along programs.. may not make a deciding factor when hired but ya never know

[airbrne74]

It couldn't hurt. With a four year degree you can go to officer candidate school (OCS). This will show leadership potential and maturity. It will put you above a lot of other candidates.

[JsHarmon7]

That's what I was thinking, ScrapinPT. My problem is that I don't know how long the training takes to join the Reserves, not to mention the hiring process. The odds are that I won't be hired right away after graduation but there is always that chance that I'll get lucky. When I start to interview with the Reserves won't they be discouraged from hiring me if there is a chance I'll be gone in a year or less? Also, the department I'll be joining doesn't seem to have many openings to fill in the near-future. I think the experience will be invaluable but I worry about the interview process...

[ScrapinPT]

I dont know how things are done in your state but I believe most of our reserves are volunteer, and work maybe 10 hours a month. Would they be discouraged to hire you knowing you could leave in a year... maybe. But tell them your very interested in becoming a LEO and your looking at there department as a possible employer. How can they be mad you left a volunteer position for a partime or fulltime LEO position. Thats what I plan on saying in my interview. I would like to work for your department when Im done with school. Also I dont know what type of training there would be. Our reserves (as far as I know) just do major events , traffic work, ect. Minor stuff.. most inteligent folks can handle that with no training.

[airbrne74]

It couldn't hurt. With a four year degree you can go to officer candidate school (OCS). This will show leadership potential and maturity. It will put you above a lot of other candidates.

Just realized after getting a good night's sleep that I head read this thread all wrong last night. I thought this thread was on joining military reserves. Sorry folks

[covman454]

There are positives and negatives to joining a reserve program. The main positive being that you get street experience. The main negative is some departments will think why pay him when we are getting him for free. I did the reserve thing for years, and I was lucky enough to be with a department that treated us pretty much like the full-time officers. It sounds like you are looking to go full-time in this career. The reserves are a good place to start. You can do that while you look for full-time work. Go through as many hiring processes you can to practice your interviewing skills, stay in shape, and keep your nose clean. The majority of the new officers hired by my department have been a reserve officer at some point in their career.