To Apply or Not To Apply?

[babybrass]

A little bit of background: I am currently 20, a full-time college student (criminal justice, which was a mistake but at least I enjoy what I'm learning), and working over full-time (45-50 hours a week). I will graduate with my bachelor's next summer (2021; I completed my associate's degree in high school). I have recently been working on getting myself in shape. It's a slow-going process (my endurance for running is god-awful and I have very little upper body strength), made slower by the fact that I'm so busy. My local police department is hiring starting this November; because I will be 21 before the academy starts, I am eligible to apply. I know that realistically, I will not be hired on my first try; in reality, I would be grateful to get past the first oral board. I'd like to try, though, as I understand doing oral boards is the best way to prepare for the oral board. My problem, however, is that I'm unsure I'll be in shape enough to do the fitness test if I were to get that far. I don't want to waste the police department's time, especially if it were to leave a bad mark on my record for the next time I try to apply, but I also want to take advantage of any chance I get, both to get a better feel for the department's hiring process, and also just to put my hat in the ring. Would applying and doing miserably on the fitness test affect my future attempts to apply?

Because I feel like I sound lazy here- I'm training as much as possible on my schedule and am on a strict diet to lose weight. I'm seeing progress, just not quickly enough to feel comfortable in my ability come PAT time. And if it matters, I live in a large town / small city with a population of around 450,000. Applications open once or twice a year depending on need.

[not.in.MY.town]

A little bit of background: I am currently 20, a full-time college student (criminal justice, which was a mistake but at least I enjoy what I'm learning), and working over full-time (45-50 hours a week). I will graduate with my bachelor's next summer (2021; I completed my associate's degree in high school). I have recently been working on getting myself in shape. It's a slow-going process (my endurance for running is god-awful and I have very little upper body strength), made slower by the fact that I'm so busy. My local police department is hiring starting this November; because I will be 21 before the academy starts, I am eligible to apply. I know that realistically, I will not be hired on my first try; in reality, I would be grateful to get past the first oral board. I'd like to try, though, as I understand doing oral boards is the best way to prepare for the oral board. My problem, however, is that I'm unsure I'll be in shape enough to do the fitness test if I were to get that far. I don't want to waste the police department's time, especially if it were to leave a bad mark on my record for the next time I try to apply, but I also want to take advantage of any chance I get, both to get a better feel for the department's hiring process, and also just to put my hat in the ring. Would applying and doing miserably on the fitness test affect my future attempts to apply?

Because I feel like I sound lazy here- I'm training as much as possible on my schedule and am on a strict diet to lose weight. I'm seeing progress, just not quickly enough to feel comfortable in my ability come PAT time. And if it matters, I live in a large town / small city with a population of around 450,000. Applications open once or twice a year depending on need.

What are the steps in this department's hiring process? Most agencies start out with a written exam followed by the PAT. I know of a few departments that administer the fitness test as the very first step. If you don't pass, they're not wasting a paper test on you. I don't know of any agency that does oral boards (or anything else that's time-intensive or costly) prior to the PAT. I suggest you get in decent shape before applying (and in great shape before the academy).

[babybrass]

This is the timeline according to the department website-
Applications/automatic disqualifiers
Written test, must pass with a 70%
Digital one way oral board (they send me questions and I record my answers over video through their timed software)
Both of those combined and weighted gives us our bands (30% written test, 70% interview)
Personal history questionnaire
Background check
-conditional offer of employment
Physical abilities test
MMPI and 16 PF
Polygraph, psych evaluation, fingerprints
Medical evaluation

[not.in.MY.town]

Interesting. Never heard of a department doing things in that order. COVID might be the reason they're avoiding all the huffing and puffing until later in the process.

[babybrass]

They actually haven't had the fitness test in quite a while for my city. The past couple years the whole recruitment process has been done without a fitness test (due to a lawsuit) and this is the first year in quite a while where they've actually had it. I tried to ask my recruiter what would be on it, and he said they still weren't quite sure (hence some of my hesitation; I know I need to get in shape in general, but I have no idea what exactly I'd even be doing).

[Aidokea]

A little bit of background: I am currently 20, a full-time college student (criminal justice, which was a mistake but at least I enjoy what I'm learning), and working over full-time (45-50 hours a week). I will graduate with my bachelor's next summer (2021; I completed my associate's degree in high school). I have recently been working on getting myself in shape. It's a slow-going process (my endurance for running is god-awful and I have very little upper body strength), made slower by the fact that I'm so busy. My local police department is hiring starting this November; because I will be 21 before the academy starts, I am eligible to apply. I know that realistically, I will not be hired on my first try; in reality, I would be grateful to get past the first oral board. I'd like to try, though, as I understand doing oral boards is the best way to prepare for the oral board. My problem, however, is that I'm unsure I'll be in shape enough to do the fitness test if I were to get that far. I don't want to waste the police department's time, especially if it were to leave a bad mark on my record for the next time I try to apply, but I also want to take advantage of any chance I get, both to get a better feel for the department's hiring process, and also just to put my hat in the ring. Would applying and doing miserably on the fitness test affect my future attempts to apply?

Because I feel like I sound lazy here- I'm training as much as possible on my schedule and am on a strict diet to lose weight. I'm seeing progress, just not quickly enough to feel comfortable in my ability come PAT time. And if it matters, I live in a large town / small city with a population of around 450,000. Applications open once or twice a year depending on need.

Are you male, or female? How tall are you? How much do you weigh?

Can you run 3 miles?

What is your 1.5 mile time?

How many pushups can you do?

[Iamkre8]

babybrass you can do anything if you put your mind to it. Just 8 months ago I was 330 and now I weigh186. I've taken varies physical fitness test for a few different departments and passed them my weight during these test was 250-265. I am 5'6 ..5'7 on a good day. If I can do it you can do it man. If you need help feel free to hit me up.

[Aidokea]

This is the "Ask a Cop" section, and your profile says you're not a cop, so you should not be responding to any threads in this section.