Can you do more than Policing?

Firstly, I wanted to create this post to show you that Policing can be the stepping stone to gain a better future. To show or highlight my experience to others that this is possible to break free from the feeling, am I good enough?

For years I had been locked into the world of Policing, with little experience in the "corporate world" and thinking, "if I leave this role, I have no experience or skills to show, so how do I fit?". With a limited salary, in order to gain more you had to work more which meant home life will be impacted and the mental strain increased.

I wanted to do more with myself, I had this feeling of hitting a glass roof, knowing I could go higher and really show what I am capable of. Issue, the red tape, the hurdles and strict "box ticking" that goes on within Policing in order to better yourself. Hence, the glass roof feeling.

Now, don't get the wrong picture, I loved the Policing life. The people you meet and the variety of work every day, kept you captivated. Everyday was a new day, a new task to accomplish, new problems to solve and new people you will encounter. It was hard to let go of this and think, I need to focus on ME and HOMELIFE.

So, I did the unthinkable at my service level and experience...I jumped ship. I believed that I could really push myself in the private sector and show the skills obtained and hopefully, incorporate that into a new role.

The first few months were hard...really hard. With multiple officers saying "you will miss this" and others agreeing, stating that the private world isn't safe. Well lets address these points. Yes, I do miss the teams, the people, the driving and day to day differences. However, wouldn't the private sector offer this? New projects, new people, new skills to learn and more importantly, a home life? Secondly, is the private sector unstable and unsafe? Agreed, your role may go, poor performance could lead to loosing your job. This is surely something that is mainly down to you as well. If you are not willing to learn, adapt and really look deeply into roles and join companies that may be unstable then inevitably that will happen. These are risks, risk that we take in policing even more than privately. So its how you tackle these issues, furthermore in order to succeed you sometimes have to fail and come back better. Therefore, I have never agreed with people questioning if I have made the right choice or not.

With all these comments and thoughts that pounded through my dense cranium, rattling around like a marble bag carried around by a child on copious amount of sugar...I decided to test the water. I created, what I believed to be an amazing CV. This CV was not amazing....the feedback from companies, friends and CV writers was....eye opening. Firstly, it was confusing and full of policing terms and incidents. Which doesn't translate into the private sector. Secondly, what I believed to be a really impressive scenario to talk about just did not translate into a skill that could be used in a new role. Finally, this personally hit home and made the doubts and questions reappear. Like a lurking monster under the bed ready to grab my feet whilst sleeping.

It wasn't until I really done my homework. I spoke to multiple advisors, writers and recruiters to understand what I could really offer. Change my thinking, adapt my writing skills and pick apart my policing history to put into skill brackets. For instance, dealing with a large crime scene on a motorway. To the outside world, this looks like officers standing by the road and waiting for people in white suits to come and do the real investigative work. How very wrong. As an officer, you are managing a scene, getting officers to look at how this has happened, CCTV, witness statements, speaking to outside agencies such as TFL and Highways, family liaison etc.... So how does that transfer over to skills? Well, the skills being used are, MANAGEMENT, STAKEHOLDER MEETING, CRISIS MANAGEMENT, INCIDENT MANAGEMENT, PLANNING, INVESTIGATIONS. Something as simple as a scene covers multiple skills. Granted, you haven't sat in a lecture room learning these skills. You have stood in the middle of a high pressure scenario and dealt with it directly. That's better experience than a lecture.

Could you put this into a job role outside of policing?

Absolutely. With multiple scenarios like this and the training obtained from the policing world you are more than capable of investing yourself into a private company. You are tuned into dealing with high pressured environments, pressure to deal with incidents as soon as possible then move to the next, complete meticulous reports in quick times and do it all again with no breaks. Officers usually have over two thousand life changing moments that they deal within their service. A normal civilian will usually have two to three on average. Do you think you are good enough? Again, yes, yes you are.

When I had changed all my ways of thinking, readapted my CV and proceeded with a new thought process. I finally had the recognition I deserved. I had recruiters coming back to me, asking if I was interested in job roles. Private messages from security companies asking for consultation work and job offers and messages from other Police Officers asking, how do I begin this journey?

Can you do more than Policing?

With the right frame of mind, the faith in taking the first step and picking apart the skills you have acquired over all these years...100%. Do not listen to other peoples opinions on why you shouldn't, be assertive in yourself. Do not let others self doubt you, usually its because they are too afraid to jump themselves. Take a step back and clear those voices and look through job roles and see if anything excites you. Get rejected by multiple companies and build from that because you will only grow and get a better role. Mentally focus on you, you will always be good enough. Show the skills you have obtained and prove to others that there is a life outside of policing.