What skills should a Correctional Officers and Jailer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Correctional Officers and Jailer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes 3M Electronic Monitoring, Adobe Acrobat, Corrections housing software, Facebook, and Guardian RFID. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Correctional Officers and Jailer work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Correctional Officer, Corrections Officer, CO, and Detention Officer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Correctional Officers and Jailer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 92% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Correctional Officers and Jailer role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Correctional Officers and Jailer resume example

A resume for a Correctional Officers and Jailer needs to show the work itself: guard inmates in penal or rehabilitative institutions in accordance with established regulations and procedures. Day to day that means work like this: conduct head counts to ensure that each prisoner is present; inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Correctional Officer
Corrections Officer
CO
Detention Officer
Jailer
Booking Officer
Community Services Officer
CSO
Deputy Jailer
Detention Deputy
Jail Officer
Jailor
CCO
PSO
Certified Detention Deputy
Civilian Jail Officer
Community Corrections Officer
Confinement Officer

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Conduct head counts to ensure that each prisoner is present.
Inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes.
Monitor conduct of prisoners in housing unit, or during work or recreational activities, according to established policies, regulations, and procedures, to prevent escape or violence.
Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs.
Guard facility entrances to screen visitors.
Record information, such as prisoner identification, charges, and incidents of inmate disturbance, keeping daily logs of prisoner activities.
Inspect mail for the presence of contraband.
Maintain records of prisoners' identification and charges.
Use weapons, handcuffs, and physical force to maintain discipline and order among prisoners.
Use nondisciplinary tools and equipment, such as a computer.
Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.
Take prisoners into custody and escort to locations within and outside of facility, such as visiting room, courtroom, or airport.

27 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Conduct head counts to ensure that each prisoner is present, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Monitor conduct of prisoners in housing unit, or during work or recreational activities, according to established policies, regulations, and procedures, to prevent escape or violence, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

3M Electronic Monitoring
Adobe Acrobat
Corrections housing software
Facebook
Guardian RFID
Jail management software
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
Web browser software
Word processing software

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Air-supplying respirators
Cut resistant gloves
Data collectors
Desktop computers
Electroshock weapons
Emergency fire extinguishers
Emergency fire hoses
Expandable batons
Firefighting respirators
Hearing protection plugs
Laptop computers
Law enforcement flashlights

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

guard facilities

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Monitoring
03Social Perceptiveness
04Speaking
05Critical Thinking
06Reading Comprehension
07Coordination
08Persuasion
09Active Learning
10Complex Problem Solving

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Public Safety and Security
English Language
Law and Government
Customer and Personal Service
Administration and Management
Computers and Electronics
Psychology
Administrative

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

92%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
8%Associate's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Correctional Officers and Jailer do?: Guard inmates in penal or rehabilitative institutions in accordance with established regulations and procedures. Day to day that includes work like conduct head counts to ensure that each prisoner is present and Inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes.
What skills should a Correctional Officers and Jailer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Correctional Officers and Jailer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes 3M Electronic Monitoring, Adobe Acrobat, Corrections housing software, Facebook, and Guardian RFID. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Correctional Officers and Jailer work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Correctional Officer, Corrections Officer, CO, and Detention Officer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Correctional Officers and Jailer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 92% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Correctional Officers and Jailer role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.