One of the critical documents used in the police promotion process is your professional resume, however, there is nothing critical in building an effective one. Your professional resume is important in several ways. It serves as an illustration of who you are and what you have done, but more importantly, it creates the first impression, good or bad, of your ability and willingness to rise to the highest ranks within your organization. If you were to think of your career as a movie, your resume would serve as a preview. Abstracts require great attention to detail. They must be absolutely free of errors and the content must be designed specifically for the position you are applying for. Naturally, the content of your resume is paramount, however, its aesthetic appeal is also very important, as the format, style, font, spacing, and use of mixed type (bold, underlined, italics) achieve symmetry. visual written.

While the art and technique of writing a resume can fill a book, here are some tips for answering common resume questions.

• Can a resume have more than two pages? Of course, but only if there is a real need. Eliminate fluff, repetition and minutiae and all training courses that have no connection to your new role. Be concise and summarize, covering the highlights, not the details. Less is more.
• Candidates submit their resumes printed on quality paper. The good resume is copied and placed in the officer’s personnel file. Cheap Xerox copies are provided to the oral panel. To avoid this, please provide at least four copies on quality paper so that the panel gets the best version.
• Stick with bright white, off-white (bone, eggshell, ivory, etc.), or light tan paper. Use 24- to 32-pound paper that is 100% cotton or linen-finish paper.
• Use underlined, bold, and slightly increased font sizes to add punch to parts of your resume, but don’t slow it down. Include at the end of bulleted lists when they are written in sentence form, periods. Think clean, concise and simple. Do not use clip art or misleading graphics. Concise bulleted lists are preferable to long paragraphs.
• For internal promotions, there is no reason to include your home address, phone numbers, or email addresses unless directed to do so. This information is for entry level personnel. The oral interview panel will not call or write to you and Human Resources already has this information.
• For clarity, readability, and space on your resume, avoid unnecessary sentences. Consider replacing “with the purpose of” gold “for“with”to.“Replace”Due to the fact that” gold “for the reason that“with”because.“Replace”through” gold “Through the use of“with”by” gold “with.“Replace”at the moment” gold “at this point in time“with”now” gold “at the moment.”
• Use a single concise sentence to illustrate what your main goal is. “promotion to sergeant” gold “Provide outstanding leadership as a lieutenant with the Los Angeles Police Department.” or a similar variation will suffice. Avoid long brain words or descriptions that are obviously intended for display rather than content: “Introduce my values-driven leadership persona to the ever-changing paradigms of the 21st century law enforcement workplace.Wordy, overwritten sentences like this are not only ineffective, but will also be viewed negatively.

Let this information serve as an introductory springboard for self-directed learning on how to make your resume dynamic and representative of a professional. Taste well!