Police and Detectives

    During my career research, I looked into the position of becoming a Police Officer for the City of New York. I specifically chose this profession because Kingsborough Community College has a high rate of students who are majoring in Criminal Justice and I believe sharing my findings can help anyone further their own personal knowledge about this particular topic. 

    Police Officers protect lives and property. Their responsibilities are to; enforce laws, respond to calls for service, patrol assigned areas, conduct traffic stops and issue citations, arrest suspects, write detailed reports, and fill out forms, prepare for cases and testify in court if needed. The education and training requirements to become a New York City Police Officer is a High School diploma or its equivalent with an Associate’s Degree or 60 College credits, or 2 years of Military experience. Potential candidates must be a U.S. citizen, have a driver’s license with a clean driving record, be at least 21 years old but not older than 35 years of age at the time of appointment, and must meet all physical and psychological qualifications. If applicable a potential candidate will begin a 6 month training academy provided by the New York City Police Department to further the recruits’ knowledge on specific state laws, safety precautions for the officer(s) and the public, and many other job related skills.

    New York City Police Officers starting salary can begin at $29,000.00 per year and after 5 years can reach up to $60,000.00 per year, including allowances for uniforms, accessories and equipment. Another potential outlook for this particular career is the full medical benefits, retirement, and pension plans. Despite living in New York City where public service employees is always in demand and diversity is always on the rise because of the population, taking any civil service exam is the first step in getting on the City’s list for possible employment. However, because of the population and the demand along with the very competitive job market, expect to be on a waiting list for quite some time.

    Just a few of the potential people, programs, or departments anyone can go to too further seek information is the Criminal Justice Department in Kingsborough Community College, or Dr. Chapman in Room D-309. There is also the Police explorer program and the Police Cadet program for potential candidates who are almost ready to enter into the Police Academy. Also, there are multiple web-sites a person can visit, one of them being: www.nyc.gov/dcas . This site will show you all exams that are scheduled for the month and the year. It will also tell you where you can take the exam, times and exam fees. Good luck and remember…“Everyday do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.” – Doug Firebaugh

Thank you!

Jason Duran   

Reach Your Goals – Realistically!

     Caroline M.L. Potter’s article titled “10 Questions to Create Your CareerVision,” posted on Monster.com raises many key points about discovering what you are interested in, and what foundation can be used to start the exploration of career choices. The entire article basically quotes a career coach, Deborah Brown-Volkman, as she outlines basic questions one must ask themself in order to decide the path of their careers. That is all fine and well, but what I have an issue with is how the article implies that once you know what you want (and the article puts heavy emphasis on one’s wants), it will be much simpler to progress, and to embark on the journey to a dream career.

“I believe if you write down your vision and look at it on a daily basis, it's more likely it will happen,” declared Brown-Volkman. Really? In my opinion, the tips in this article should only be taken with a grain of salt; something that should be kept in mind, but not wholeheartedly depended on. Deborah Brown-Volkman doesn’t take into account other factors that may or may not interfere with one’s success – like financial stability and credentials. She would be absolutely right…if this were a fairy tale, and everything went according to plan all the time. My opinion isn’t to discourage anybody. By all means, work for your accomplishments! But do just that – keep working at it, and don’t believe that only wanting something will make opportunities fall into your lap. Good luck!

                                                                                    -Ashley Rodriguez

Resources to Help Students Transition to KCC

            There are many resources and services to help transition incoming students into Kingsborough Community College. I recommend going to (1) the Accessibility office, (2) the Reading and Writing Center and (3) the Office of Career Development, Transfer, New Start and Scholarship Opportunities.

            The Accessibility office helps students with disabilities with various tasks. For example, the Accessibility counselors helped the students with accommodations. They helped students get extended times on a test and help other students take notes. My counselor helped make sure that I get extra time to take my exams and helped me get a Note-taker to take class notes. My counselor also helped me register for my classes. The Accessibility Office will help other students with disabilities transition into college.

            The Reading and Writing Center is another resource for incoming students. It helps the students improve their reading and writing skills. I needed help practicing for the reading comprehension test because I didn’t understand the reading passages. My tutor helped me with my mistakes by checking my grammar, punctuation, spelling, mechanics and usage. The tutor helped me make corrections to my essays. The Reading and Writing Center can help other students to revise their essays and to get a higher grade in their English class.

            The Office of Career and Development, Transfer, New Start and Scholarship Opportunities helps the students apply for college transfers, jobs and scholarships. I went to see my scholarship counselor and she helped look over my scholarship application. I also went over my job application with my career counselor because I needed help finding a job. This office will help students submit their applications.

~Richard Lam

Police Officer

It is pretty difficult to know where to start looking for small opportunities to get a step up in your career, or even careers you are thinking about. I’ll go to the Information booth to get a map of the campus or even just look at the map at the front of the campus to pin point some places I should start my search from. Since my career is to become a Police Officer, my first step would be to go to the Criminal Justice Department in D309 and find out about any internships or service learning opportunities that could advance me in field of policing. From there, I will head over to the Office of Career Development, Transfer/New Start, Scholarships, and Service Learning in C102 to speak to a Transfer Academic Advisor and hear them out, but let them know what I am looking for too.  I could even talk to my professors and see what can tell me about being or becoming an officer. When I am home, I use the Internet to look up different programs that deal with Law Enforcement. Through my research, I found out about the NYPD Cadet Program. Plus one for me!

 To really start my career, I should start doing more community work to gain more experience towards community involvement. Even outside of school I could go to police precincts, law offices, and councilman offices to see what opportunities I can access. I could go to the Career Development Center to see if they could help me find some of these opportunities. When it comes down to finding out about your career or career goals, it takes ambition and determination. It is also takes initiative to find opportunities.  No one is going to know how far you are trying to reach in life without you letting them know. Help is out there, now go get it!

Veronica Noel

The Most Successful Ways of Making a Career Decision

I think some of the most successful ways of making a career decision is think, reflect and plan.  Taking the time to think about what you wish your future would be in the world is an important and stressful way of making a career decision.  One must think about how they plan on gaining the education and experience to achieve the career status they wish to obtain.  Reflecting upon that decision and the paths that take them there is also needed.  Your thoughts on what you wish to do in the future can change over time as different perspectives and experiences come into view.  Planning on these steps that will take you to your goal must be done carefully and done with the utmost dedication.  No one wants to waste their time trying to achieve their goal so proper planning is a must.  You must also look at yourself truthfully to make wise career decisions.  What is it that you love to do?  What are your hobbies or interests?  I think most people and prospective employers would agree with me when I say that if you do what you love then you will be successful at that career you wish to pursue.  


Andy Yee

Making a Career Decision

The most successful ways of making a career decision involves techniques. It consists of who we are as individuals and what our goals are to accomplish for the future when we graduate from college. Planning is the most important steps here for the career decisions we make. Planning involves three steps. They are deciding which destination to start, evaluating another possible route, and choosing the specific path for your plan. The purpose of planning is no two are alike. They are helping to clarify, focus and research the business’s prospects. It provides a framework within the business that can develop the strategies over the next few years or so. The importance of planning plays a dynamic role in preventing mistakes and identifying the unknown opportunities. Planning helps us in forecasting the future and makes the  future visible. It is the bridge between where we are and where we would go later. 

By: Tanya Vavitsas

Successful Ways of Making a Career Decision!

Making a career decision can be such a headache and very stressful at times especially when searching what it is exactly you would enjoy for the rest of your life. I think one should question themselves: is this what I really want to do and never get bored? You may encounter many obstacles on the road, but in the end you should feel as if it was all worth it. Many people have problems in finding what they would like to do because of the lack of guidance, experience, help and research just as we have others who just don’t bother. Because of this, I think it is very important for you to do a lot of research in regards to things you think you might like or be interested in and compare them all. I also think it’s very good for you to open yourself up to many options around you and ask a lot of questions necessary or even find out if you can get help in school which would be even better. Sometimes, there are so many things going on around us and we hardly even notice or know about them so by blogging and putting helpful information out there will hopefully help others whom still have the chance and opportunity to make better choices in their lives.

The best recommendation I can give is to do a lot of research before choosing a career. In my eyes, one can never know too much about anything especially if it’s something you are planning to do for the rest of your life. I think it is very important to know how far it would take you in life; some important things you can question and find out about are the following: How much you would make? Would it be enough to support you and your family especially if you plan to have kids, a house, and a car? How long would it take for you to be where you want to be as far as the position? What does it really consist of? Aside from all of this, I think you should also get involved with internships, whether it’s paid or not; at some point, it would be a great advantage not only for you but for the employer as well and it would also look absolutely great on your resume. At the end of the day, you have nothing to lose so why not go for it and gain what you can.

Hopefully, I was able to help many of you that are in process of choosing a career!      

~ Natasha M Basurto ~

How To Make a Wise Career Decision

I feel like the most successful way of making a career decision is figuring out what you love to do. It was really hard for me to decide what my career was going to be, especially because nothing can keep my interest for long. But after researching many things, mostly those in the medical field i came to a decision. I wanted to be a speech pathologist, I knew that I wanted to work with kids but I didn't know in what way until I learned about speech pathology. Once i learned about it, it quickly caught my attention and I decided that's exactly what I wanted to do. I know how hard it could be deciding what you're going to spend the rest of your life doing but the best way to go about it is by finding out what interests you and what you wouldn't mind spending a lot of time doing.

- May Mahmoud

THINGS WE CAN DO TO EXPLORE OUR CAREER OPTIONS

In order to explore you career options, you need to choose your classes correctly, after discussing you goals with an advisor. Classes can be the first step to learn the language, current trends, and major players in your field. 


Be sure to visit your professors outside of class during their office hours. Let them get to know more about you, and ask about their advice and help if you are not sure about anything. Your professors might have connections at graduate institutions which they might share with you or introduce you to new programs which you have never heard about before. Professors who know you better as a person will also be more willing to write letters of recommendation for your grad school applications and be better able to write about you in those letters.

Also, visit the Career Development Center in Room C102 which offers free services to help you find internships, teaches you about the job search process, and listens to your goals. They also might be ale to connect you to alumni who have gone thorough this procedure and are now persuading same career as you wish to pursue.

Engage yourself in field by participating in events and job fairs.

Posted By: Shabana Baloch

Insight Through Experience

Since my interests vary so much and the options in life are endless, I have trouble making up my mind with what it is that I would like to do or what career to pursue. I am considering a field where I can expand the valuable skill of solving issues that involve the improvement of individual, community, business or social welfare through the use of environmental and/or policy changes and inspirational self development to improve the quality of life and achievement. I can only imagine how it would be a day in the life of someone of a particular field and how they live their day to day lifestyle. 


To help me clarify some of my career interests, I can volunteer with some people to assist them in their daily activities or just have the privilege to be present during important moments of their days. Some people that I can volunteer with are business lawyers or successful businessmen and entrepreneurs that use their available resources and wisdom to accomplish tasks that only a combination of skilled professionals would have the confidence to accomplish.  I can find a mentor that has similar interests and find out what they do with their lives.  A successful mentor will provide good advice and will provide me with their experiences that would save me a great deal of time and trouble to discover on my own.  I have a few mentors that are successful businessmen, but I do not spend enough dedicated time with them because of my work/school schedule and their unpredictable timeline. What I will do is set up specific times of the month that I can meet with these certain individuals, and initiate some give and take sessions that will give me some insight into my plan of action and choice improvements.  


The last thing that I can do is to improve my own attitude of how I manage my resources, my time and how I follow my goals and the path necessary to accomplish them. The persistent self development to attain a more disciplined attitude with allow me to accomplish more and to realize what I am actually capable of accomplishing.

-Vsevolod Soloviev
 June 22, 2012

How To Make A Wise Career Decision

    One of the most important decisions a person would ever have to make in their life, is the decision as to what they would like to do as a career choice for themselves and/or for their family. Some people like working with their hands or with machines, others enjoy working along with other people, plenty of people like to give lectures, lessons, or just socialize with others in general. There are also many who enjoy challenges of different kinds, such as in working with numbers, or helping people solve specific issues, and don't mind being creative and taking on new and different challenges of various kinds within their personal interests towards their field of work. There are also plenty of people who don't like to take on challenges or socialize with others and just like to do what the job requires and do the minimal just to get pass the work week. While others do more than is required of them and go the extra mile with completing a project, helping a fellow co-worker, client, patient, or customer.

    My personal opinion as to making a wise career decision is to first know yourself by being truly honest with yourself. I would also have to advise for a moment to even forget about what the job you have in mind pays and know not just in your mind but in your heart that that is what you want to do for a living. You want to be able to get up in the morning and go do on a daily basis what you enjoy doing and whether it be working with machines, people, numbers, or even doing a job that requires for you to go the extra mile or one that requires you being alone for most of the time, the end result is that if you love what you do, you'll never really work a day in your life.

Thank you!

Jason Duran

Welcome to the Office of Career Development!

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