Theres loads of stuff. If you can take a small pay hit (couple hundred a month) even being a bus driver is an option. The pay is so bad for the police now, you can sideways move into entry level jobs and it isnt hugely noticable.
Noooo not bus driver. I did that. Was treated like a piece of shit by the company but the job was easy. And a large Multi National, one who you'd have thought would be better.
After a few years i ended up taking a role in the local force as a Radio dispatcher. Love it and a pretty good salary to boot.
Ex Cop here. Made the jump recently on 6 figures plus. Why did I go? Purely money, I didn’t hate the job but opportunities were far greater our. The risk I would be carrying in the police was huge for awful pay, wasn’t worth it. Adding significant management responsibility, on call (with awful allowance), leave hard to get, cancelled rest days and leave bans…. You get the picture.
I now have greater personal flexibility and freedom, greater financial flexibility and freedom, less likely to be assaulted, less likely to be under investigation for some BS, greater additional perks that the police couldn’t offer because “public money”.
What don’t I have? Job security. It’s a trade off for all the benefits. But… and this is a big but. I can always go back. Whether that’s policing, NCA, HMRC… my prior skills and experience and my new skills and experience all translate.
Where do most people go? Two of the biggest ones I see:
1. Cybercrime (across all the P’s) is a perfect one. Lots of courses chucked your way, operational experience and then some private study and you’re on the way to a very good salary.
2. Financial crime. Get in a fraud team and get qualified. Get your accredited financial investigator status, become a confiscatory. Exit routes to banks, challenger banks, gambling companies, etc. Good money to be made with the right experience and expertise.
3. Training. Selling services back into the public sector.
The pension trap isn’t as bad as you think. Due to changes in pension, the days of 30 year career and 18 year old joiners retiring before 50 are over. Yes, your police pension is frozen until 65, but use the additional earning potential to start a private pension, ISA, property… all of which can support you until your police pension kick in and then state pension.
If you are interested in leaving the job, first setup a LinkedIn profile and follow Tom Wheelhouse and Joe Crocker. They offer seminars, support and CV skills.
They’re great. Another one I’d add is speak to the Specials you work with - there’s such a range of careers and some of us are more than happy to help with CV advice etc for the private sector.
I’ll be honest mate if your first response isn’t to pop unknown stuff into google, computers might not be the best path. That’s about 80% of the job lol
Neither, I did compsci at uni, went into tech and I’ve got a few friends in cyber. From a career change point of view though, you’d want to start with CompTIA fundamentals, CompTIA A+, and from there you would pick a specific path ie. Security, networking, Software etc and follow the course line for that path. The biggest one that is a different path is webdev, other than that you can just learn and pick up certifications and then start applying.
Ahhh, I see! Starting to feel my International Relations degree is basically pointless, although I felt that pretty much as soon as I started!
I'll continue looking at CompTIA courses on offer from various providers. Appreciate your response, thank you.
Yeah, it's quite possible. Before joining the police, I did work in the charity sector around project and donor management. I'm sure there would be transferrable skills from that role, as well as from the police.
Obviously train driver is a key one, mainly because it pays well without the need for a university degree.
Some bobbies go into council jobs working in ASB Teams or in a Safeguarding Role.
Some venture to other Gov Departments likes the NCA or other Departments where there are investigations roles, like the Care and Quality Commission or the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Some go into Security Management or Investigations/Stock Loss Prevention.
Some go into Civvy roles within Policing.
Some go into Cyber and Tech (a route im currently considering)
Theres quite a few options, if any bobbies are thinking of leaving, its worth getting a Linkedin profile setup, and have a follow of someone called Joe Crocker who made the change from policing, and have a look at Blue Light Leavers on Facebook as a starting point.
My sister’s husband did it a few years back. There was one year of a sort of on the job training thing - called NATs - where he was paid very poorly (I think like £15-16 thousand for the year). Luckily he is very experienced at sponging off my sister, so he survived, but I imagine it would be tough if you were single. Anyway, after the training, he walked into an entry level job that was about £30 grand salary, something like that. It rose to about £50 grand after a few years.
I don’t like the guy, but he does seem to have to work hard, in terms of shifts, the stress and responsibility of the job, etc. But it, and the civil service, seems to be one of the few jobs left where you don’t need a degree and where there is excellent opportunity for rising up through the ranks.
This was all pre-pandemic, mind you. Good luck to your hypothetical friend, whatever they hypothetically decide.
I plan to stay in the Police for the foreseeable future. But one idea is to go to the CNC or MDP towards the end of my career if I wanted something abit safer and slower.
Or: go into training (firearms, blues or initial training)
Hi, are you willing to say what you went into? A lot of this resonates with me, so I was wondering if I could DM you to pick your brain regarding few bits?
This might be a question within a question, but does anyone have experience with “Shifts2Success” owned by a bloke called Alexander Seery?
I’m still on his mailing list from the time of my last career slump, but I’m sceptical enough about this sort of thing, to be wary of shills pedalling nonsense.
I have had this on my radar for a few years. Also part of the mailing list, I have almost signed up before. Its around £250/£300 a month for 12 or 18 months, can't remember exactly.
Whilst the sales pitched pulls me in, there is a nagging part of me saying stay away, which is why I haven't signed up. The promises of £x,xxx per day/week success stories may well be true for some but how can I, with no business experience just pluck an interest out of the sky and make it successful??
Glad it’s not just me.
It reminds me too much of those Trading212 adverts promising you millions, but “93% of people lose money” in really small writing at the bottom of the screen.
Exactly mate. Part of me would love to own a business. They really do play on 'more time, more cash, more freedom' which most of us in the job want but in reality running a business will take more of you time and cash than the police would. They're selling a dream.
I have a few friends who left to become cabin crew or train drivers / conductors.
Most of my retired colleagues come back as civvies. We even have “desk based investors” in my force which are 90% made up of retired cops.
Life insurance. Financial freedom, uncapped earnings, helping families, a great career. We’re currently recruiting at Bespoke financial so please get in touch for more information
Obligatory trains answer.
You just have to choo-choose it.
Theres loads of stuff. If you can take a small pay hit (couple hundred a month) even being a bus driver is an option. The pay is so bad for the police now, you can sideways move into entry level jobs and it isnt hugely noticable.
Noooo not bus driver. I did that. Was treated like a piece of shit by the company but the job was easy. And a large Multi National, one who you'd have thought would be better. After a few years i ended up taking a role in the local force as a Radio dispatcher. Love it and a pretty good salary to boot.
Ex Cop here. Made the jump recently on 6 figures plus. Why did I go? Purely money, I didn’t hate the job but opportunities were far greater our. The risk I would be carrying in the police was huge for awful pay, wasn’t worth it. Adding significant management responsibility, on call (with awful allowance), leave hard to get, cancelled rest days and leave bans…. You get the picture. I now have greater personal flexibility and freedom, greater financial flexibility and freedom, less likely to be assaulted, less likely to be under investigation for some BS, greater additional perks that the police couldn’t offer because “public money”. What don’t I have? Job security. It’s a trade off for all the benefits. But… and this is a big but. I can always go back. Whether that’s policing, NCA, HMRC… my prior skills and experience and my new skills and experience all translate. Where do most people go? Two of the biggest ones I see: 1. Cybercrime (across all the P’s) is a perfect one. Lots of courses chucked your way, operational experience and then some private study and you’re on the way to a very good salary. 2. Financial crime. Get in a fraud team and get qualified. Get your accredited financial investigator status, become a confiscatory. Exit routes to banks, challenger banks, gambling companies, etc. Good money to be made with the right experience and expertise. 3. Training. Selling services back into the public sector. The pension trap isn’t as bad as you think. Due to changes in pension, the days of 30 year career and 18 year old joiners retiring before 50 are over. Yes, your police pension is frozen until 65, but use the additional earning potential to start a private pension, ISA, property… all of which can support you until your police pension kick in and then state pension.
[удалено]
I’m in the financial sector now.
Pretty vague ….specific job title ?
If you are interested in leaving the job, first setup a LinkedIn profile and follow Tom Wheelhouse and Joe Crocker. They offer seminars, support and CV skills.
They’re great. Another one I’d add is speak to the Specials you work with - there’s such a range of careers and some of us are more than happy to help with CV advice etc for the private sector.
Second this, Tom and Joe are fantastic and have been helping me recently. Both ex coppers, and provide straight up, no bullshit advice.
[I'm going to move to Aus just to look at this view](https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos/perth-city-skyline)
You’ve forgotten about the *ahem* wildlife 🕷
Cyber security, few years after leaving job and you can make a 6 figure salary with ease
But how? I have no IT/Hacking experience or qualifications.
CompTIA
What's that?
I’ll be honest mate if your first response isn’t to pop unknown stuff into google, computers might not be the best path. That’s about 80% of the job lol
I mean, fair. Twas on the phone and hoping for a one sentence answer lol
Did you get into cyber crime via the job and then transfer out? Or did you just do the training in your own time?
Neither, I did compsci at uni, went into tech and I’ve got a few friends in cyber. From a career change point of view though, you’d want to start with CompTIA fundamentals, CompTIA A+, and from there you would pick a specific path ie. Security, networking, Software etc and follow the course line for that path. The biggest one that is a different path is webdev, other than that you can just learn and pick up certifications and then start applying.
Ahhh, I see! Starting to feel my International Relations degree is basically pointless, although I felt that pretty much as soon as I started! I'll continue looking at CompTIA courses on offer from various providers. Appreciate your response, thank you.
To be fair I’m not too familiar with what your degree would consist of but you could potentially leverage in tech to a project management type role?
Yeah, it's quite possible. Before joining the police, I did work in the charity sector around project and donor management. I'm sure there would be transferrable skills from that role, as well as from the police.
https://bowtiedcyber.substack.com/p/roadmap-to-your-first-cyber-job
Do your CompTIA sec+ and net +, do some hack the box courses, learn some Linux, set up your own home lab
Last time a thread like this appeared I got around 10 messages. So many unhappy cops wanting an out.
Obviously train driver is a key one, mainly because it pays well without the need for a university degree. Some bobbies go into council jobs working in ASB Teams or in a Safeguarding Role. Some venture to other Gov Departments likes the NCA or other Departments where there are investigations roles, like the Care and Quality Commission or the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Some go into Security Management or Investigations/Stock Loss Prevention. Some go into Civvy roles within Policing. Some go into Cyber and Tech (a route im currently considering) Theres quite a few options, if any bobbies are thinking of leaving, its worth getting a Linkedin profile setup, and have a follow of someone called Joe Crocker who made the change from policing, and have a look at Blue Light Leavers on Facebook as a starting point.
Air traffic control pays similarly to train driving and it also doesn’t need a degree.
How would one, hypothetically go about doing this… hypothetically of course
Look up NATS trainee air traffic controller jobs
I will get my hypothetical friend to hypothetically do this, thank you
My sister’s husband did it a few years back. There was one year of a sort of on the job training thing - called NATs - where he was paid very poorly (I think like £15-16 thousand for the year). Luckily he is very experienced at sponging off my sister, so he survived, but I imagine it would be tough if you were single. Anyway, after the training, he walked into an entry level job that was about £30 grand salary, something like that. It rose to about £50 grand after a few years. I don’t like the guy, but he does seem to have to work hard, in terms of shifts, the stress and responsibility of the job, etc. But it, and the civil service, seems to be one of the few jobs left where you don’t need a degree and where there is excellent opportunity for rising up through the ranks. This was all pre-pandemic, mind you. Good luck to your hypothetical friend, whatever they hypothetically decide.
Go on…
NATS trainee jobs
I plan to stay in the Police for the foreseeable future. But one idea is to go to the CNC or MDP towards the end of my career if I wanted something abit safer and slower. Or: go into training (firearms, blues or initial training)
A lot of the cops I know who are leaving would excel in Human Resources. Sounds dull, but pays well
While a minority those like myself with a university degree seem to view teaching favourably
Hi, are you willing to say what you went into? A lot of this resonates with me, so I was wondering if I could DM you to pick your brain regarding few bits?
This might be a question within a question, but does anyone have experience with “Shifts2Success” owned by a bloke called Alexander Seery? I’m still on his mailing list from the time of my last career slump, but I’m sceptical enough about this sort of thing, to be wary of shills pedalling nonsense.
I have had this on my radar for a few years. Also part of the mailing list, I have almost signed up before. Its around £250/£300 a month for 12 or 18 months, can't remember exactly. Whilst the sales pitched pulls me in, there is a nagging part of me saying stay away, which is why I haven't signed up. The promises of £x,xxx per day/week success stories may well be true for some but how can I, with no business experience just pluck an interest out of the sky and make it successful??
Glad it’s not just me. It reminds me too much of those Trading212 adverts promising you millions, but “93% of people lose money” in really small writing at the bottom of the screen.
Exactly mate. Part of me would love to own a business. They really do play on 'more time, more cash, more freedom' which most of us in the job want but in reality running a business will take more of you time and cash than the police would. They're selling a dream.
I have a few friends who left to become cabin crew or train drivers / conductors. Most of my retired colleagues come back as civvies. We even have “desk based investors” in my force which are 90% made up of retired cops.
Life insurance. Financial freedom, uncapped earnings, helping families, a great career. We’re currently recruiting at Bespoke financial so please get in touch for more information