While you might think that as a correction officer, a main part of your job is to correct people, it's not necessarily true. I mean you don't want the grammar police guarding the jails, do you? Instead, correction officers are there to keep an eye over those who have either been arrested and are waiting for their trial, or have already been sentenced a time to serve in jail or prison.
I'm going to give it to you straight. This position is one of the most dangerous jobs, as it has one of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses out of all occupations. Sometimes you may have to deal with a confrontational inmate. Or two. On top of that, you'll probably have to work crazy hours because there "ain't no rest for the wicked."
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Correction Officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.32 an hour? That's $42,266 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -7% and produce -31,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many Correction Officers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Detail oriented, Interpersonal skills and Physical strength.
If you're interested in becoming a Correction Officer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 29.4% of Correction Officers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.1% of Correction Officers have master's degrees. Even though some Correction Officers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Correction Officer. When we researched the most common majors for a Correction Officer, we found that they most commonly earn High School Diploma degrees or Bachelor's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Correction Officer resumes include Associate Degree degrees or Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Correction Officer. In fact, many Correction Officer jobs require experience in a role such as Cashier. Meanwhile, many Correction Officers also have previous career experience in roles such as Security Officer or Customer Service Representative.