2015 civil service test ALL POSTS

Not to sound like a broken record kids, but like Edmizer I too tried getting on back in the late 80's / early 90's.

Despite lifelong residency in Boston, perfect or near-perfect marks never made it.
If you're a white male, non-vet with little or no political juice your prospects are slim.

Cast a wider net and look at some of the other New England states. These are your prime earning years, saving and building credit for a home, , working on promotions and starting that pension.

The years go quickly . Don't let Civil Service rob you of your time.

 

Once I realized that it was futile and expanded the search, everything was fine. Missing the prime earning years and the promotion clock really hurts like Pahapoika said. Not only do you miss the early earning years, you miss out on the pension years later while you could also be working a second career after police retirement. If you start too late, it is much harder to promote. No matter what anyone or the law says, agencies just don't want to promote older officers. If you have 12 years on and you are 45 years old competing for a promotion with a similar candidate who has 12 years on and is 33, there is a huge tendency to go with the younger person. Most of the guys I work with started their municipal careers about 10 years earlier than me. Their opportunity clock is so much different than mine.

 

I know it seems like the odds are stacked but just remember when taking these tests there is hope you will get a job!

I took 2 CS tests and one out of state test and got the job and/or offers for all three. I got lucky with the the timing but if you do well on the tests you never know what might come of it.

White male, Vet, no language or EMT pref. FYI, 98s on both CS tests

 

I lucked out big time and got hired off my first CS exam. W/M, didn't have vet status at the time, 100. It definitely can be done. Word is Boston is in to the low 90's for the next academy. Also heard the number of Boston residents signed up for the 2017 exam is extremely low.

 

Listen, I know a shitload of W/M/NV getting on the job. They all scored high and had clean backgrounds

 

I have been out of the game for 20 years and it looks like things have loosened up. When I was trying to break in, The were CS tests where Boston would not get close to hiring a non-preference candidate.

 

Body cameras, gps in cruisers, lack of support from public/department, no rifles, no training, getting ordered all the time, 10 year residency requirement, the list goes on lol.

 

Just wasn't our time cowboy

 

Gonna fire up the Masscops wayback machine. This thread explains what changed the game for non-minority (white males) having a good shot at BPD. I remember at the time, once this went through, my WM non-vet buddy went from 600 something on the BPD list to around 150. He's been on 11 years now.

Federal Judge Ends BPD's Consent Decree

 

WOW !
officer dunngeon
MaCop
PBC FL Cop ( he's been here forever )
And of course Gil
That thread was a true "blast from the past"

 

I walked out of my interview when they told me no rifles.

 

Tell me your kidding?

 

Bold strategy. Let me guess, next day you found another department with shiny new rifles and $150k without breaking a sweat.

 

I'm starting to think Marty's just a cheap bastard. Probably figures why spend the money when half the school's already have rifles.

 

Hi All
I received a conditional offer a few weeks ago from my municipality. Last week myself and multiple other candidates received an email from CC saying the city's budget was experiencing a shortfall and they withdrew our offers. Anyone hear of anything like this happening? Is it normal or is this a new precedent? Thanks for any insight!

 

Very normal, MSP has cut RTTs before due to budgets (or lack thereof). As I type this the 83rd RTT is still up in the air

 

Ouch, sorry brother. On a positive note, at least you know you can make it through the process. Many can't. You'll get another shot.

 

Thanks Roger, hope you are right! Definitely was jolting news.

 

Question, does signing a certification list give you a chance to an orientation at the very least? Or does it depend on if they even get to your number?

 

Good ! Would be great to have young Troopers ( think they need more women ) to slow these lunatics down on the highway
Sorry MTC, but the girls seem to be the worst offenders lately

 

More than 50% of MSP are retirement-eligible right now. They're going to need bodies badly over the next few years.

 

Yes I did. You have a lot of bad info about the feds in general. FLETC doesn't do in-service, although they do several instructor & advanced courses. The fed equivaleng to "in service" is done by the respective agencies in the feds. The last basic class I was in at FLETC, there were 4 prior feds. Everyone else had been hired off the street.

 

You're exactly right about baggage. Also, for what it's worth, I think the problem with moving on from the larger, less desirable fed agencies you mentioned is that they need a lot of bodies. They'll hire people whose resumes barely meet the (rather bizarre) fed standard. So the applicant doesn't realize that their application is inadequate, can't move on, and stagnates. However they're great places to get some experience.