Posted on Jul 31, 2016

What is the best kind of cover letter for Law Enforcement jobs?

8.22K

I have researched different tips and tricks for writing a cover letter and I am at a loss. I have seen ones that can be funny and others that are really professional. I am wondering how to go about doing this as I want to stand out but not lose a potential interview because I was too professional or too much on the lite side. I am in the process of getting one made for a position that I'm applying for next month. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Posted in these groups:

Law Enforcement Military civilian 600x338

Transition

Posted 8 y ago

Follow this discussion

Responses: 24

CW3 Dylan E. Raymond, PHR

Posted 8 y ago

Steve I want to be honest with over the last 10+ years as a recruiter I have yet to look at a cover letter. Me personally I want the meat and potatoes to see what you have done and if you have enough experience to do my job. I will give you a perfect example true example of a job that I am recruiting for now. I have a 90 day timeline to have the person in seat from the day I post the job.

So i post for 2 weeks......I have about 700 applicants that have applied. I have to dwindle that down to about 200 to test of which I am doing tomorrow and Tuesday. So I have built questions into the posting so I can easily identify who has experience. You have to have a fair and equitable way of selecting the 200 to test in the event that you are audited.

Now once I receive the results of the people that passed I may have to view 150 or so that is probably who will pass and already have taken and passed. I am hiring around 7 positions. Because I am the expert and know what the Hiring manager want I am trying to make a short list of about 50 people to send to him so that we can schedule face to face interviews. I need to do all of that in a week or so I do not have time to look at cover letters personally it would be nice but I have a client I need to deliver so the new hires can start generating revenue......

So I would say focus more of you effort on the resume vs cover letter maybe 80%/20% because you will pull your hair out trying to zero a cover letter to qualify for an interview. Just my two cents based on real life experience.

Dylan

(9)

Comment

(0)

show previous comments

SN C J Brown III

8 y

Mr. Miller is correct. An employer does not want to read your resume twice. The method we teach in FROM DEPLOYMENT TO EMPLOYMENT get's the attention of the decision maker. We have a 95% hire rate and 98% retention rate.

(3)

(0)

SPC Michael Griggs

8 y

SFC Steve Harris - Whole heartedly agree. No one should ever compromise their personal integrity.

(3)

(0)

FN Mike McCormack

8 y

CW3 Raymond gave you some sound advice...in my experience...cover letter is useless, but be professional in your resume (no spelling errors etc.) and make it easy to read! 2 pages is OK...1 is better. That's my 2 cents.

(1)

(0)

CW3 Dylan E. Raymond, PHR

8 y

PO1 John Miller - No problem hope it helped

(1)

(0)

Capt Gregory Prickett

Posted 8 y ago

When I was working police applications, cover letters only mattered if you said something really stupid in it. Otherwise they were just glanced at and filed. I don't think that it will matter at most departments.

(5)

Comment

(0)

TSgt Steve Waide

8 y

Thanks for the info. The police officer that I have been in contact with us said that as long as you have their (city of Tucson) questionnaire filled out completely then the resume and cover letter won't matter as much. I still want it to be the best it can be so that I can get the invite to the boarding process.

(2)

(0)