mtarrant……….you don’t need it you’ll figure it out.

I agree lowering the standards is crap. I remember losing my left shoe on the physical part of the exam with ¼ miles left to run. I still kept running full blast because I was extremely young and had to be able to run ¾ miles in like 5 minutes. I also remember barely passing the testing part of the exam. We lost a good portion of the class by the time both physical and testing exams were over with. But, when I was hired in we had semi physically fit officers and some damn good ones. Now I watch the rookies come in and there are a few good ones. Though we have one who gets winded walking down the hallway and up a set of stairs. This is something that people with 25+ years in and never have to get out of a tower (when we had them) or a perimeter vehicle might have to deal with. This is now what the young bloods are like. Then they wonder why the prison system is going to hell in a hand basket. The prison system will be here long after I am gone but now I get the old timers and their good old day stories. I have a few of my own and I don’t have half my time in to retirement yet.

Irish I agree with you. We have to rely upon each other to respond quickly. Often our safety is in the hands of the officers running to our aid. I lost 75 lbs (at ideal weight) so I could be in shape for hiring. Spent my time after testing waiting and reading every textbook on corrections I can get my hands on. As far as the tests, I took them back in the day (when they still had physical tests). And I decided that I would have been happier if I had accepted the job then so I went back (years later) and re tested. The tests did not seem all that different. My advice to new applicants is be patient. Look below at my timeline of the application process. Do something in the mean time because it could take a while. Wish I had known that upfront. And please remember that (no matter how well trained you think you are) things happen and your physical condition could mean the difference between life and death for yourself or your brothers…..Still waiting for my call but at least I am finally on the list. Good luck to all!

Ohio Process Timeline:
Applied 8/12/2012
Assessment Consideration Email 8/22/2012
Assessment Scheduling Email 10/11/2012
Assessment Date 10/24/2012
Passed Assessment 10/24/2012
Background Clear/Eligible for Interview 3/27/2013
*Referred for Interview Consideration 8/2013

hey knuckle dragger do you have an email I can contact you at?

mtarrant…… when you take that written like all tests go through it and answer the questions your most confident you can answer right then go back and answer the one you aren’t sure about, if the timing allows it. It wouldn’t be ethical or
legal if you took pictures of the test with your phone and studied them at home. Ask them if there’s any kind of study guide or web site you can use to help your cause.

thanks I have a written test tomorrow for Colorado DOC and then another written on Wednesday for Weld County.I will get veterans points for the weld county one so hopefully that pushes me over the edge…

Don’t get discouraged, retake the exam and you will pass it. Learn from what didn’t work out this time. Just don’t sell you soul and you will get there. As I said before its a long horseshit process and as others have said on this site, just go after it. Careful what you wish for.

Well I didn’t make it past the written test but sort of pissed they said they can’t give scores out.Kind of bullshit.So what score should one expect to get to pass?

Irish, that couldn’t have been said any better. When the stadards are lowered for reach down purposes they end up hiring future inmates and the good line staff suffer for it. I’m afraid it isn’t going to change for the better any time soon though. We are forced adopt the attitude of grin and bear it, as they say, “it only hurts the first time”.

I’m seeing what the products of reduced or eliminated entrance test standards are producing and I’m not impressed. Now expecting perfection from people isn’t something anyone should do. But if your out of shape to the point you get tired doing mail call then maybe working in corrections isn’t the best place for you. Or your coworkers for that point. Plus we all know common sense isn’t so common so that arguement is dead as well. The whole lets make it fair and dumb it down for disadvantaged people BS is just as bad. No rational thinking person will see any advantage in making headway for ignorance in a job where so much of it requires a good thought process. If you want something bad enough, like a job in corrections then work for it and good things will come. While everyone may have gotten to play on the baseball team and given nice lil ribbons and crap, this is real life with actual repercussions for what goes on and the choices you make. I’ll be sitting here silently waiting for Fat Bastard to win an olympic gold medal in the 100 yard dash cause the fact everyone else worked hard to be an athelete just isn’t fair.

Video situationals are usually quite simple. Always call for backup, never use excessive force, don’t put yourself in dangerous situations, and NEVER EVER act unprofessional with inmates in any way shape or form. Those are the basic guidelines to follow. No shame in not passing everything on the first try, but if this is something you want keep trying and earn that spot. Much more respectable that way than having it handed to you. Good luck.

“Just keep after it kid, you wouldn’t be the first one to have to retest a time or two”

At least I have a second chance to test pretty soon actually….On Tuesday I have a written with CDOCIt’s going to be Reading Comprehension and Video based situationals.Any suggestions on the questions asked from the video based one?Thanks to you guys I know to always call for backup in physical situation.

Knuckle Dragger, I couldn’t agree more. that is the only satisfaction in this line of work because you can’t fix stupid or cure a sex offender. Humor is the what gets us through the day. Regarding other staff, I feel your pain but I do work with a lot of good people.

mtarrant……….Just keep after it kid, you wouldn’t be the first one to have to retest a time or two. Normally I tell people to look for a different line of work, why would someone in their right mind want to work in a prison? We get shit thrown at us we have to work with people who literally want to kill us and it’s a dark unhappy place and that’s just the other staff. We won’t get rich but it helps pay the bills and I do get some satisfaction out of it, not that I’m helping people but I’ve developed many ways to f**k with people and have fun doing it. I assume most fellow CO’s would agree

ok thanks…Im just freaking out because I know a got a few questions wrong(that I want to punch myself in the face for getting wrong,lol) butI know I would be good at this job.I think the deputy is going to call with test results Friday or Monday

mtarrant…..There’s a ranking and a cut off score it depends on the number of positions being filled and like Ohio they go down the list to fill. The list normally lasts six to twelve months. The written just gets a pool of candidates they can choose from then the real process begins with interviews and background checks it takes forever. Occasionally some people can get on the fast track and skip some of the hoops to jump through, but they need to know someone high up the ladder.

Ok I know what it was now

I can’t remember what the test I took had on it, I remember it had a lot of what would you do questions and a picture find question. If you had no knowledge of law enforcement or corrections, this would be a common sense + guessing test.

Mtarrant, in Ohio it’s based on a score that’s keep for I think a year and they hire down the list but there is a cut off score you have be over to be on the list.

.OOP’s forgot what I was going to write.

Knuckle Dragger…. is the written test just pass or fail or do they rank people on score and if you don’t score high enough your out?

RCJ…….There is a big failure rate with the psych test here, quite a few people can’t get through it. Yet I don’t think it stops the employer from bringing in who they want, it gives an edge to keep the ones they don’t want out. The psyche test is just a percentage of the overall score but I assume if it shows someone has the desire to make shirts out of human skin they won’t get hired, I’m not positive. I took the ink blotter test once all I could see was trains and tunnels and sheep, they passed me. I would like to know what the plus or minus for success or failure is on those tests.

Shakey Jake, I agree about hiring equally qualified people, but if you drop the standards, the applicants that pass are not equally qualified because you now have huge disparity in scores and qualifications. It just allows the employer to hire who they want or need at that time. I am also of the opininon that the administrators of psychological exams are often times “nuts” themselves. When employers are allowed to reach way down on hiring lists it creates big problems in the future.

I’m a firm believer, that if you are equally qualified to do the job then you can have it, not in dropping standards to just get people on the list. I have been informed that the reason that they drop the standards, was because of the vast difference in education that the minorities/inner city kids are faced with, to a point I do agree agree with this. Now to made it better or more equal, why not get rid of the test all together and just use a psychological test and OJT as bases for employment. There will be corruption not matter what is implemented because the basic instinct of human nature cannot be denied only slowed down.

Copy- Shakey ….. It’s nearly the same here, at the state you can actually choose at what joint you want to work. Instead of having to pack up and move you can pick a facility close to home. It does limit you though if there are jobs open in other joints but not the one in your neighborhood. Now that the economy has been crap the number of people applying has increased a great deal. At my facility for each position open there are well over 2-3 thousand applicants. And of those 2 or 3 thousand if you’re a friend, relative or in-law to the admin. It almost guarantees a position. Oh and protected class regardless of ones ability to do the job. It’s not unheard of to dip down twenty or thirty spots on the hire list just to fill the quota. But that’s the norm and when they wash out there’s always someone waiting to take the spot. I assume you have the belief people should be hired on merit and nothing else. The turn over here is low because we have great pay and benefits are adequate but the humps who get hired on class or nepotism usually keep some movement alive. Thanks to a strong union it’s almost impossible to get canned.

Oh and thanks Knuckle, all those coodles are starting to make me swoon (I think it’s because my heads getting bigger and the blood is not filling it quick enough).

Hell it’s been 20 years since I passed the test, but was told I had to wait until the Department became minority balanced before they could get to me. They would mail (not e-mail) me a list of people that got hired for each institution I applied at.

Back then you took the test and then had to go and interview at each prison you wanted to work at, now the prison tells the department they need one or more officers and the department picks the next few off the list, test, evaluate and back ground checks them to see if their Correctional Officer material and bam their hired

Same here Knuckle Dragger, they like to change the rules and minimum requirements to suit their needs at any given time. It’s too bad that a lot of these people end up with promotions that are not earned.