You’ve been on patrol for a few years and now you are thinking about moving up the ranks or maybe moving to a bigger department with more opportunities? Your resume can help you stand out above other candidates.
The job search for police officers is not like a normal job search. It’s a different world in law enforcement. You may be looking to make a lateral move in your department or moving to a bigger department where more opportunities are available. Or maybe it’s time to see if you have what it takes to move up in rank? Even though the process is challenging, extensive, and technical, your resume doesn’t have to be. We’ve compiled some easy pointers for you to use to help find the right fit for your resume and your career.
Don’t worry about the length of your resume. Unless you’re switching careers, your resume will need to hold more information than the customary two pages.
Write an attention grabbing career objective that should reflect the next rank or position you are aiming for.
Strive for clarity when explaining your experiences. This can help filter out the least important info the reader needs to see.
Use action verbs in your descriptions to present a picture to the reader, rather than a list of job duties. Ex: patrolled, inspected, implemented, enforced, assessed, etc.
If you completed your professional development with the same organization, try lumping the classes you took together to avoid repeating yourself. If you didn’t, just list your training courses with specific organizations, locations, and years.
When adding your affiliations and community involvements, try only using a few lines and use symbols to separate each listing.
Your resume can be a strong first impression with the right format and verbiage. These tips can help yours stand out from the other candidates. For a resume example, click here. For more law enforcement resume examples and tips, click here.
Congratulations to the five 2019 California Teachers of the Year who were recently honored during the annual gala for their exceptional impact on students, schools and their communities.
2019 California Teachers of the Year
The 2019 Teachers of the Year, who represent thousands of dedicated educators across the state, are:
Rosie Reid, Mount Diablo Unified School District
Eric Boomer, Upper Lake Unified School District
Kim Holtz, Manhattan Beach Unified School District
Michael Henges, Redondo Beach Unified School District
Angel Mejico, Corona-Norco Unified School District
Ms. Reid will also represent California in the National Teacher of the Year competition.
“These teachers are a critical piece of maintaining California’s leadership in education and we thank them for being an inspiration to us all,” said California Casualty CEO Beau Brown after attending the annual ceremony.
“This year’s California Teachers of the Year ceremony was a celebration of the wonders of education and the amazing instructors who have dedicated their lives to our children,” said AVP Lisa Almeida. “We at California Casualty are so proud to support these awardees and all of the amazing educators across the state of California.”
As the Presenting Sponsor, California Casualty’s continued support is helping to make possible these other California School Recognition Programs:
California Distinguished Schools – honoring exemplary public schools which demonstrate significant gains in narrowing the achievement gap
California Exemplary Districts – celebrating the achievements of districts that have implemented model practices with positive impact on student outcomes
California Green Ribbon Schools – recognizing schools and districts for excellence in whole-school environmental sustainability
Classified School Employee of the Year – highlighting those who symbolize the profession’s commitment to education
California Casualty is proud to join the California Department of Education, the California Teachers of the Year Foundation and California Teachers Association in honoring educators who make a difference for their students and communities. California Casualty field representatives will present awards and attend other special recognition ceremonies, enhancing the company’s 67-year commitment to educators.
Icy roads. Traffic jams. Black ice. Snow conditions. All of these can make a parent go crazy just thinking about their teen driving in these conditions. How do you talk to your new driver about driving in the winter season? We have some easy tips to get the conversation going.
Decrease your speed. The faster you’re going, the more room you’ll need to stop.
Be extra careful on bridges and overpasses.
Avoid cruise control or overdrive.
Don’t pass snow plows – their drivers may not see you, and the roads are clearer behind them anyway!
Turn on your lights to be more visible.
Steer into a skid – this means if your rear wheels are going right, gently steer in that direction.
Gently tap your brakes, if you have ABS brakes, gently apply constant pressure.
Keep your windshield wiper fluid filled and keep your headlights clean.
These helpful ideas do not have to just be for your teen. Share with friends and family.
Our Education Blogger is a public school teacher with over a decade of experience. She’s an active NEA member and enjoys writing about her experiences in the classroom.
Your personal life is yours, and it is precious. It is also necessary. Especially during winter break. There is no need to feel guilty about leaving work behind each day when you exit your classroom door. Enjoying your time outside of school makes you a better teacher. Relationships with students, parents, and colleagues may also improve when you maintain a balance between work and home. Over the years, I have learned, but not yet quite mastered, several ways to create a balance between my work life and home life.
Don’t Give Out Your Personal Information To Parents or Students
If you must communicate with parents and students outside of the school day, sign up for a social media account you can use for your classroom. Don’t give out your personal phone number, email address, or home address. Many parents and students are able to set respectful boundaries. However, there may be some parents or students who will abuse this communication privilege. This can sour your relationship with a parent or student if they continue to overuse your attempt to be “available.” You don’t want to find yourself in a sticky situation that could get you into trouble.
Keep Work At Work
Leave all of your grading and planning at school. Home should be your sanctuary, not a second office. Your family, pets, and brain will thank you for it.
Maintain Consistent Work/Office Hours
Try to arrive and leave at the same time each day. Make sure parents, students, and colleagues are aware of your daily “office hours.” Each day, I make a point to arrive no later than 7:15am and leave no later than 4:30pm. My “office hours” are 7:30-7:50am and 3:15-4:00pm. If a parent or student needs to meet with me, they know when I will be available.
Enjoy Family Time
Savor each moment you have with your own family. I love my job, and I adore my students, but I refuse to sacrifice precious time with my own family. I can never get that special time back. Grading papers, planning lessons, and returning emails can wait until the next day. So, file away those tender memories with your family without the guilt.
Protect Your Personal Social Media Accounts
Being “friends” on your personal social media with students and parents is not required. I am protective of myself and my family, so I stick to a few of my own rules for my personal social media account:
1) never be friends with a current student
2) students must be at least 13 years old (most social media services and apps require users to be 13 years old to join)
3) never be friends with a current student’s parent(s) or other family members
4) keep profile set to private
Social media can bring with it negative talk, upset feelings, and online bullying. I have no desire to get myself, or my family, involved in anything of the sort.
Don’t Check Work Email At Home
I review my work email on my school computer throughout the day, and in the moments before I shut the computer down to leave for the day. Then, I don’t check it until I arrive at school the following day. I used to have my work email synced to my personal cell phone. Big mistake. I found myself getting emotionally worked up at home about the occasional negative email from a parent or colleague. When there were “security” threats to our district email system (mostly viruses), my personal phone, along with all of my personal accounts, were at risk. Forget about sleeping when all I can think about is how I’m going to respond to the angry parent, or wondering if my phone would be affected because of a naive colleague who opened an email attachment from an unknown sender! Ditching my access to work email from home has significantly lowered my stress level (and I’ve even gotten a few more zzzz’s)!
Recruit Help
It’s okay to ask for help. Get a neighbor, a friend, a babysitter, or a grandparent to help you out at home if you need it. You aren’t superhuman! We all need a little extra support from time to time.
Be Realistic
Be realistic about what you can and can’t do. There may be nights that you won’t be able to cook dinner. That’s what delivery and take-out are for! It’s okay to bring a frozen, microwave meal for lunch (although that 5-minute cook time really eats into my lunch time). I promise, no one will judge you! Yes, it’s okay for dirty laundry to sit around in the hamper for a few days. You’ll get to it when you can.
Be Disciplined
Stick to it and mean it. If you crave more personal time, then be picky about your work hours, how you spend your time outside of school, and choosing to leave work at work. If you don’t think you can be disciplined, ask someone to help you by holding you accountable. Your partner or spouse can make sure you’re not checking work email, or bringing home papers to grade. Your best friend can check in on you to see if you’re keeping the right company on social media.
We’d love to hear from you! How do you create a balance between work and home?
This article is furnished by California Casualty, providing auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters and nurses. Get a quote at 1.866.704.8614 or www.calcas.com.
It doesn’t take a natural disaster or tragedy to learn that you might be underinsured. An example comes from the holidays. The warmth of the season can turn into an economic nightmare if someone slips and falls at your home or apartment, your dog bites a guest, or someone gets food poisoning. Without enough liability protection, you could be in real financial danger.
Just do a search of personal liability lawsuits and settlements. You might be shocked by the results and the number of law firms filing such cases. You may think that a guest wouldn’t sue you for damages, but it does happen, especially if the injury is serious.
You’ve worked hard for the things you own; you don’t want to put them at risk.
Financial experts advise that as long as you can earn a livelihood, you should have as much liability insurance as you can afford. Most home insurance policies come with $100,000 liability coverage, but boosting your limits to $300,000 or $500,000 offers greater protection at a reasonable cost.
If you have a lot of assets or other exposures for a possible civil suit, you should consider an umbrella policy, which provides $1 million to $5 million coverage.
While you’re at it, what liability limits do you have with your auto insurance? You may be severely underinsured if you opted for the minimum liability limits required by your state. Just like home insurance, you should purchase as much liability coverage as possible, especially if you have a younger, inexperienced driver.
Accidents happen every day, but California Casualty can help you be prepared.
TAKEAWAY: If you don’t know what your liability limits are, or you’d like increase your coverage, Contact California Casualty’ Customer Service at 1.800.800.9410 option 3, or at service@calcas.com.
