Some law enforcement agencies do not use a traditional Written Exam as part of their hiring process. But this doesn’t mean that getting hired is any easier. Applicants will still face a series of assessments that many consider to be more difficult that a written exam.

There are four assessment that you need to prepare for. These may be presented in any order, but the most common would be:

1. Take a BioData Profile

2. Have a Preliminary Interview

3. Take a Psychological Exam

4. Take the Polygraph

Most employers, nowadays, include some form of Bio Data assessments during their hiring process. This is especially true in law enforcement departments. These are non-cognitive evaluations that measure things like:

• Personal History Statement

• Life Experience Survey

• Work Style Questionnaire

• Personality Profile

Learn Best Practices for presenting yourself on these assessments by clicking on the image here.

When an agency does not require a written exam up front, they will frequently conduct a preliminary interview. The purpose is to verify that you meet the minimum job requirements and to gain an initial impression of what fit you will be for their department.

This is a make or break moment. They don’t want to waste more time and money testing you if you don’t pass this step. There are a few essential things you must remember before going into such an interview.

Click on the image here for a great course for Mastering the Interview.

A formal Psychological Exam will be conducted as an oral interview with a trained specialist or psychologist. It can easily take over 1 hour since it is very interactive.

The Psych exam gives the examiner a reading about your personality and character. The test can identify tendencies of being honest or dishonest, being over aggressive or overly timid, extroverted or introverted, outgoing or reclusive. These tests give the psychologist insight into traits that may or may not be suitable for a law enforcement position.

Click on the image to learn to Master the Psych Exam

In law enforcement hiring, there will always be some form of Truthfulness Test. The Polygraph or lie detector is the most common. The Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) is another form.

The biggest problem that these test create, is that hey can fail honest people simply because the honest person is nervous. Serious candidate will want to learn how to avoid Falsely Failing the exam.

Click on the image here for a great course to prepare for the Polygraph.