
Your Ultimate Guide to the Best Resume Formats
Want to choose the best resume format? First, you must understand the differences between the three main types. See examples of various resume formats and make an informed choice.
Kickstart your career with a police officer resume that highlights your strengths. Check our law enforcement resume template and see the top skills for police officer resumes.
There are 100 cadets and seasoned pros out there cruising for any good law enforcement job. How can you ensure the chief wants to hire you?
Don’t fret. To get the interview, just show the right law enforcement achievements on your police officer resume. I will show you how.
In this guide:
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Do you need something other than a resume for police officer jobs? See our guides:
Haven't found what you're looking for? Check all our Resume Samples.
Mia Wozny
Police Officer
Personal Info
Phone: 216-315-8251
Email: miawozny@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/miawozny
twitter.com/miawozny
Objective
Community-minded police officer with 4+ years of experience promoting public safety and preventing crime in an urban environment. Seeking to enforce laws as a peace officer at the Kelton Police Department. At SSPD, wrote request facilitating $60K in new vehicle funding and logged 15% more traffic citations than average.
Experience
Police Officer
South Side Police Department, Cleveland, OH
2016–Present
Key Achievement
Security Guard
Elkington Hotel, Cleveland, OH
2014–2016
Education
OPOTC Certified Peace Officer
Apollo Basic Police Academy
2014
Certifications
Additional Activities
Hard Skills: legal knowledge, weapons training, police procedure, documentation
Soft Skills: interpersonal skills, leadership, communication, conflict resolution
Here’s how to write a police officer resume that gets you on the force:
Whoops!
Your resume format is sloppy. To the chief, that’s as bad as stains on a uniform. Let’s fix that.
For a police officer resume that passes the glance test—
Use these tips:
Shocking:
The chief won’t read your police officer resume.
He’ll skim it.
But you can make him read yours like Hank Schrader wrote it. How?
With an outstanding resume profile (in the form of a career objective statement or career summary statement or summary of qualifications).
Use:
See these police officer resume examples:
Heads up.
The last of those police officer resume samples is just a skills list. The first shows you reached police officer goals.
That’s probable cause for hiring you.
“But my police officer experience is still in training!”
That’s when you need to list transferable skills from non-law-enforcement jobs.
See these entry-level resume samples for police officer jobs:
Notice anything?
The second of those new police officer resume examples with no experience is hearsay.
The first shows on-the-job skills.
What skills should you put in a police officer resume?
See these resume skills:
Hard Skills
Soft Skills
Don’t jam all of them into a resume for police officer jobs. That’s dubious.
Instead, target your resume with keywords from the ad online.
These police officer resume samples show how:
Let’s say the job wants skills in investigation, patrolling, DUI arrests, and emergency response.
Experience
Police Officer
South Side Police Department, Cleveland, OH
2016–Present
Look at that.
The second of those police officer resume examples is just a police officer job description.
The first adds 20 square-mile, 15%, 30%, and other details that prove your skills.
Next—
What if your police officer experience is still in the locker room?
An entry-level resume needs police officer skills from other jobs.
See these entry-level police officer resume examples with no experience. They’re for a job that wants skills in patrolling, collaboration, and writing reports.
Security Guard
Mall of Ohio, Cleveland, OH
2014–2016
That last police officer resume is criminal. It doesn’t show the asked-for law enforcement skills!
But even if you worked in an unrelated field, you can prove skills like communication and problem solving.
Expert Hint: A study in the journal Policing shows high stress levels are a significant threat to police officer health. If you engage in self-care like working out or running, list it in your resume for police officer jobs.
The ResumeLab builder is more than looks. Get specific content to boost your chances of getting the job. Add job descriptions, bullet points, and skills. Easy. Improve your resume in our resume builder now.
Nail it all with a splash of color, choose a clean font, and highlight your skills in just a few clicks. You're the perfect candidate, and we'll prove it. Use our resume builder now.
What should a resume education section look like for police officer jobs?
It should list your academy’s name and date. But—
It should also show training and achievements.
See this police officer resume sample:
Education
OPOTC Certified Peace Officer
Apollo Basic Police Academy
2014
Milton Klinger High School—Diploma
Bam.
You showed police officer skills in your education section.
Your application needs to shine like a new badge.
But your education and experience sections can’t do it all.
So—show extra skills with special sections in a resume for police officer jobs.
You can list:
See these police officer resume examples:
Certifications
Additional Activities
Additional Activities
See that?
The first of those police officer resume samples shows you dig into your work. The second would be better with details.
For instance—what did you achieve in sport fishing? Did you win tournaments? Lead outings? Grow membership in a group?
You can show peace officer skills with any pursuit.
Expert Hint: Learn how to write a cover letter for your resume for police officer jobs. A cover letter should prove you care about the department, and show highlights of your history with evidence you’re a great pick.
Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter generator and make your application documents pop out.
Want to try a different look? There's 21 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
Some cover letter examples that may be useful to you:
Here’s how to write a police officer resume:
Got questions on how to write good resumes for police officer jobs? Not sure how to put police officer duties on a resume? Leave a comment. We’ll be happy to reply!
Want to choose the best resume format? First, you must understand the differences between the three main types. See examples of various resume formats and make an informed choice.
To land a perfect job, you need the best-looking resume. This guide will show you what should a good resume look like, and what you need to do to have one.
False starts, knuckle-cracking, hair-pulling, and groaning are no way to spend an afternoon. Learn how to start a resume so you feel good, finish fast, and land the interview.