Military

[SR-25]

Is there a certain branch that is prefered by the CHP for aplicants to have served in? Also, do they take into consideration your Rate/MOS? If two people had the same education level but one was a Military Police officer ( MA ) in the Navy and the next was a paint chipper, would the MA get hired before they person with no LE experience?

[makakona]

bear in mind that i have no authority to make this call, it's just my own uneducated opinion... :smile:

i can't imagine there'd be much difference between rates. if someone has hacked military life PERIOD, i think it says a lot about a person and any law enforcement would do well to snatch them up. as for ma/mp versus other rates... not that i think they actually weed people out that way, but i think a military paint chipper would be preferable to a military cop because you wouldn't have to deal with a lot of, "well, the way i've always done it is..."

[Kojak]

in the same vein as makakona's comment.... keep in mind the wide range of careers chippies had before becoming officers. If the CHP preferred to hire people with peace officer experience they would allow people to lateral and probably wouldn't have a mandatory 27 week live in academy. What the CHP prefers, in my humble opinon, is to employ people with good people and critical thinking skills that will be receptive the training provided at the academy.

[Your Mentor]

What you did in the service will only be a factor if you play it up while selling yourself in the QAP. However, anyone with any rate or MOS can sell it as being applicable. A Navy cook can talk about teamwork, scheduling, supervising, etc. As a general rule, though, it doesn't really matter what you did in the service. The primary concern is the type of discharge you received. That's about it. And background investigators are quite keen on the fact that not everyone who served in the military is a desirable applicant. An honorable discharge is not an automatic sign the person served with distinction. The military background speaks of itself but they will go beyond that in the background. If you never made it past E-3 in three years it will only mean something to a background investigator who served in the military. When I first came on there were dozens of prior military in my class. However, we see more college grads going into the Academy than before. If you served in the service and thought being a Navy Seal would make you a shoe-in you'll be floored when you're sitting next to a 20 year old who just obtained his or her Associates in Administrative Justice. And you'll turn green when these folks complain and whine about the most minor things. Such is life.