Period: 4
9/26/14
Career Essay
Probation Officers are an important part of our justice system today. They are a great help to offenders who need help with their behavior. While trying to change an offenders behavior, probation officers make a decent amount of money while also requiring special attributes/abilities, certain amount of education, and need to complete specific core tasks.
Probation Officers don’t make a huge amount of money, but its enough to maintain yourself. In about May 2012 "The median annual wage for probation officers was $48,190" (Bureau of Labor Statistics). The wage hasn’t changed since then. In 2012 about half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less than the median annual wage. In addition the lowest 10 percent earned less than $31,590, and the top 10 percent earned more than $83,410 in a year.
Like any other job, Probation officers require special attributes and abilities. For example, they need to have communication skills, leadership abilities, good judgment, sense of community responsibility, and be good with people. They need to have the ability to make the best decision possible on the basis of an open-minded judgment of known information while avoiding influences of peer pressure. Furthermore, good judgment can't be identified directly, but can only be firm by the loss of bad judgment. Probation officers are also open "for giving advice" to their clients whenever they need someone to talk to (Career Cruising). They're basically like a guidance counselor to their client.
When it comes to getting a job, you're always going to need a certain amount of education. The requirements to become a probation officer usually vary by state. Most states require a bachelor’s degree in criminology, social work or a related field which take about 4 years to complete. Some states also require work experience in the social