Rye Hunt
The Hiring Process
The position I have chosen is a probation officer. To be honest, when I started this class, I looked
at it as nothing more than an elective and hoped I would learn some of the psychology
surrounding police officers and criminals. I had no idea that I would be so intrigued by The
Justice System, to even contemplate changing my career path to something within The Justice
System. Funny how that works!
The hiring process for a probation officer differs a great deal from a police or corrections officer,
where they are more ‘hands on’ with the sentenced. First and foremost, a background check will
be performed. This is an important piece of the hiring puzzle because the department will want to
know you do not have a criminal history as well as getting an idea of your character, so this
background check will be extensive. Following that, you will need to pass a drug test at the time
of the hiring process, and most likely at random throughout your career. This is important
because if you are using drugs, you may not be of sound mind to deal with a client who may
have a history in drugs. You also may not be making the best choices, and this will affect the
department as well as your client’s life. Next up is a medical evaluation. This is just to make sure
you are healthy, and you do not have any underlying conditions that could affect you in the
workplace. And finally, in the hiring process you will have a psychological evaluation. In my
opinion, this may be the most important part of the hiring process. The main reasoning for this is
to make sure the probation officer is not emotionally or psychologically disturbed and they have
the disposition to work in this field. The key reason for this is because of the nature of the work
you will deal with. You may be assigned rapists, murderers, drug dealers, child traffickers. The
information you will be given or learn from your client may be very overwhelming and no matter
what that person was convicted or guilty of, you have to treat them the same as any other human
you encounter.
Although the main working environment would be an office, there is usually extensive travel. As
a probation officer you are expected to do home and employment checks as well as property
searches if necessary. Most probation officers work full time however some are on call 24/7 so
this leads to a lot of overtime and working hours. Most states do require you to have a bachelor’s
degree, and the two most popular would be bachelor’s in psychology or criminal justice. Many
of these offices will require specialized training that will end in a certification. This could be
dependent upon the department you choose such as domestic violence, drug offenders or
juveniles. Some of the job duties will include interviewing the probationer and their family to get
a good background on the probationer prior to and following their incarceration. Some other
important duties would be drug testing as well as keeping reports and files on each probationer.
This is crucial especially if you are out of work and another probation officer will need to take
over.
In researching probation officer positions in the state of Ohio, where I currently live, they do
require a bachelor’s degree prior to employment, however the state of Ohio will also accept
relevant experience in law enforcement in lieu of a bachelor’s degree. Within 12 months of your
hire date in the state of Ohio you are required to complete new probation officer training classes
and pass the certification test with a score of 80% or higher. In addition, in the state of Ohio the
duties are completely the same as with most probation officers.
Probation Officers hold the honor of working with probationers and assisting in rehabilitating
them back into their community. They are there to make sure their probationers stay on track,
hold a job and stay out of trouble. Most convicts are treated with the typical stigma of a convict,
less than or unimportant. Personally, I think if probation officers can stick to their job roles of
rehabilitating their probationers but also be seen as a cheerleader who wants them to succeed,
maybe they would tolerate the probation process better and have a higher chance of staying out
of the system.
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/probation-officers-and-correctional-
treatment-specialists.htm#tab-2
https://www.probationofficeredu.org/
https://www.probationofficeredu.org/ohio/
