The police officer called and stated that he was ready to move on to the next chapter of his career.
I asked the police officer to describe the next chapter in his career.
He quickly told me that he didn’t have any idea what the next chapter might look like and he didn’t even know where to begin to find the next chapter.
I was interested in this caller’s problem. In order to solve this kind of problem, two conditions had to be met.
- Someone had to know how to solve the problem. In this case, that was me.
- The police officer in this case had to be willing to face what he didn’t know in order to get out of his own way to receive help. He had to demonstrate a coachable and teachable spirit. He got out of his own way, admitted that he didn't know what he didn't know and he asked for help.
Personal Strengths Coaching
Both conditions were met and a plan of action was established. Since the police officer had never been in position in his career to truly make choices, we started with Strengths Coaching. Strengths Coaching enabled me to show the police officer how he was built and what he ultimately has the potential to be great at when he aligns his natural strengths with his chosen work.
This step opened the police officer's eyes to possibilities he had never before considered.
Personal Packaging, Branding and Marketing
We also addressed the police officer’s marketing, packaging and branding. In this case, we worked together to build a resume that was designed for the benefit of the resume’s next audience. The next audience doesn’t use the same vocabulary as the police officer’s current audience. I taught him how to blend the right mix of technical writing, business writing and creative writing in a resume format that has opened doors around the globe.
Align the Resume's Message with LinkedIn's Message
In addition to the resume work, we also worked together to build the police officer’s LinkedIn presence to match his resume with a similar message. Because the police officer was pursuing a career move, I taught him how to build his LinkedIn profile in a manner that would make it easy to find by recruiting professionals.
An Interview Door Opened...Interview Coaching
The police officer’s first success was an interview for an investigator role with a very large public utility. While this first interview did not produce a job offer, it did give me an opportunity to provide interview coaching; something he police officer had never received before.
Winner!
The police officer was and continues to be a great student. The second job the police officer pursued was an investigative role with a public defender’s officer. This time, everything came together and he got the job.
Moving from law enforcement, government or a federal agency is entirely possible but there is a learning curve. You can either approach this learning curve without guidance and figure out what it takes to crush the learning curve by yourself or you can fast-track your learning by investing in coaching that is proven to crush learning curves and deliver results.
