Criminal Justice Resume Sample & Writing Tips

Career development in Criminal Justice raises specific challenges due to this niche’s conservativeness and the formidable candidate selection process. The most popular path is career progression in the chosen institution from entry-level jobs to upper positions. If you’re just starting your professional career or would like to change the department, you should put much effort into winning the desired position. You need a robust criminal justice resume that will turn the hiring person’s attention to your profile and make you an interesting candidate among the rest. Here you will find expert writing tips and samples to create a powerful resume for yourself.

TOP resume formatting tips

There are multiple professions under the Criminal Justice niche. Regardless of what position you apply for, you should follow specific resume formatting standards. A perfect resume for a criminal justice position is easy and interesting to read. The look-and-feel of the document forms the first impression. To pass through this stage in your application process, follow these simple yet important rules:

1. Write the entire resume on one page: no one reads longer ones.
2. List your experience and education in reverse chronological. If recruiters don’t read the whole section, they will still get acquainted with your latest achievements.
3. Put your contact details at the top to make them visible at first glance.
4. Clearly outline each resume section: avoid being too creative with the information in the headings.
5. Apply little to no design tweaks: don’t use multicolored or fancy fonts.
6. Apply 11-14 pt font size to make the text comfortable to read.
7. Use easy-to-read font types like Arial, Verdana, Comic Sans, etc.
8. Save your resume to a PDF format that is compatible with all platforms and devices.
9. Name the resume file correctly: 12345.pdf attachment looks like a fraud and can easily get lost in file storage. Use a name like “Paul_Dean_resume.pdf” to make it easily identifiable.
10. One more golden rule: the formatting through the entire document should be consistent: the same spacing, fonts, and colors need to be applied.

To ensure consistency, you can choose the appropriate criminal justice resume templates from the proposed GetCoverLetter builder designs. All the text you put into a template will be automatically adjusted for a perfect look.

TOP resume content tips

A well-written resume ensures it will catch the attention of readers. There are specific rules for optimizing the resume content, bringing the sense into each word, and avoiding any irritating details. Following these ten rules is enough to create a perfect text flow:

1. Avoid using personal data like your marital status, hobbies, etc. Put a photo only if it is required in the job description.
2. Never use ‘I’ or other first-person pronouns.
3. Describe work history in the past tense.
4. Quantify your achievements. Everyone loves to see the results in figures. It is a much stronger argument than describing how good you are in words.
5. Avoid mistakes and typos. You should demonstrate your attentiveness and intelligence from the very beginning.
6. Don’t use jargon words. Document writing implies using formal language.
7. Stay concise: list only the information valuable for an employer.
8. Use action verbs (like ‘activated’, ‘accomplished’, ‘demonstrated’): they help avoid too many ‘did’ and ‘performed’ verbs and strengthen the sense of your resume points.
9. Always customize a resume to the position you’re applying to. A hiring person needs to see that this is not a bulk application.
10. Do not lie in your resume: mention only your real experiences and qualifications because you’ll need to prove your knowledge in practice.
11. Do not include references in your resume. This document aims to make recruiters interested in your skills and qualifications. They usually check references after the interview.

Sample criminal justice resume

As you see, there are lots of things to keep in mind when writing a resume. See how all the tips from above are utilized in a single resume.

Entry-level criminal justice resume sample

At the beginning of a career, a job seeker cannot boast a lot of experience. Most likely, beginners have no related work history or have just 1-2 years of internship. It is normal for entry-level job openings. List any practice in the criminal justice you had in your resume. Do your best to outline most of your achievements as an intern if you have such experience, especially if it coincides with the target position's specs. Here is a sample of a criminal justice resume with no experience:

If you haven’t worked as an intern, consider listing the jobs where you worked with documents, assisted in collecting and analyzing information, applied your law knowledge, etc. Having no work history, focus on your skills and education, and uncover your achievements like coursework, volunteer assistance, etc.

Personal details in a resume

Personal details on a resume include name, profession, address, phone number, email, and links to your professional social media pages and other online resources.

Right

Sample

JACK PETERSON
FBI Agent
60 Aldrich Pl, Buffalo, NY 14220
T: +1-716-924-1130
E: jack.peterson@mail.com
Ln: linkedin.com/jackpeterson

Wrong

Sample

J. PETERSON
T: 716-924-1130
E: hey.dude192@mail.com

The wrong sample is missing the physical address. Often a hiring person needs it to send some papers or shortlist candidates from a particular location. Make sure to include your full physical address. Also, mention your full first and last name so that the person doesn’t need to guess your name when contacting you.

Another mistake in the wrong sample is an unprofessional email. Most recruiters consider it enough to dismiss the resume. The only acceptable email format for a resume is your first and last name. If it is already occupied, add a number at the end or change the first and last name order in the address.

Summary and Objective

A summary is a short description of the candidate’s profile. A perfect formula for a summary includes:

• A specialization supported by your most robust characteristics (Experienced, detail-oriented, dedicated, etc.).
• Years of experience in the chosen field.
• Your best achievement expressed in figures (75 cleared crimes, 60% success rate for investigations, etc.).
• A couple of your essential skills.

The summary section goes under the header with your personal details. However, we recommend writing it after all other sections. After you have listed all your professional and educational achievements, it is easier to summarize this information and create a robust summary.

Right

Sample

A multi-tasking criminal justice expert with 5+ years of experience in crime detection, excellent investigative capabilities, and strong analytic thinking to identify relevant evidence. Proven track record of 100+ cleared crimes in the position of a police investigator.

Wrong

Sample

I am a highly motivated criminal justice specialist with diversified experience. I am a detailed-oriented problem solver capable of effectively working under pressure, looking for a criminal justice position at your company.

As you see in the wrong sample, the summary is not tailored to a specific job opening. It is unclear what position a candidate is applying for and where exactly they want to work. It seems like a bulk resume that candidates randomly send to all job openings. To make your summary look personalized, specify the position and the organization’s name where you want to get hired.

Often you may see a career objective after a summary in resume samples. The criminal justice resume objective describes your current career goal that you’d like to achieve with your next job. It should demonstrate how the employer can benefit from hiring you and what values you can bring to the company.

Right

Sample

To solve business crimes and control corruption as a dedicated member of ABC Company’s team.

Wrong

Sample

Seeking the criminal justice position at ABC Company.

Work history

Whatever experience you have, list only the past jobs that are related to the target job. A hiring manager assesses your qualifications and skills that can be useful for the open position. Don’t spend your precious one-page space on irrelevant details.

Employers like statistical proof of your professional value. Write how many crimes you successfully cleared, mention your scores in safety training, etc.

Right

Sample

Forensic Scientist
Baltimore Police Laboratory, Baltimore MD
2012/09-2015/08

• Performed DNA and biology analysis for 45-50 cases per month.
• Processed 150+ biological samples per month.
• Achieved 20% case backlog reduction.
• Applied UV, X-ray spectroscopy, chromatography, mass spectrometry, etc.
• Ensured optimal quality, efficiency, and timely analysis and result delivery.
• Supervised 3 summer interns.

Wrong

Sample

Private Investigator
Harper’s Private, New York, NY
2010 - present

• Performed investigations for a wide variety of cases.
• Specialized in criminal violations.
• Collected information through computer databases and public records.
• Consulted clients regarding launching criminal cases based on my findings.
• Acted in complete confidentiality and respect to clients’ privacy.

The second criminal justice resume example for work experience describes the general background of the candidate. However, it lacks vital details. It would be great to list the exact responsibilities you fulfilled, show some result statistics, disclose the investigation methods applied. Depending on the chosen profession under Criminal Justice, you should always demonstrate the best from your past work history, concisely and clearly.

Education

List your degrees in reverse chronological order, starting with the newest one. List the full name of the establishments where you studied, mention your major and dates of study.

Right

Sample

Master of Laws
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL - Criminal Justice

• Courses: Criminal Law Theory, Criminal Justice, Trial Advocacy, Negotiation Strategies, Mediation Training

2010/09 - 2015/07

Bachelor of Laws
Chicago State College, Chicago, IL - Criminal Law

2007/09 - 2010/07

• Related courses: Legal Issues, Criminal Law Theory, Criminal Law and Procedure, Advanced Criminology.

Wrong

Sample

Bachelor Degree
Western College, Kalamazoo
2010 - 2014

Skills

Choosing the skills for your resume, pay attention to the ones listed in the job requirements. Also include skills that are generally on demand for the target role. It will ensure your document passes the ATS systems that automatically shortlist resumes based on specific keywords. Here are the most popular criminal justice resume skills you should consider:

• Criminal Law
• Investigation
• Crime mapping software
• Legal codes and procedures
• Ethics
• Adherence to safety standards
• Communication
• Problem-solving
• Critical thinking
• Attention to details
• Firearms proficiency
• Stress-resistance
• Leadership
• Organization
• Physical conditioning
• Multi-tasking

List about 8-12 of your skills that can help you to become an efficient employee and bring value to the hiring organization. While you may have lots of other capabilities, focus on the relevant ones to convince an employer of your fitness for the offered role.

Conclusion

As with any other document, a resume needs to follow specific standards in content and look. Now that you’ve gotten acquainted with the latest requirements in this regard, you can create a powerful resume for criminal justice jobs. The GetCoverLetter builder will help you significantly save time and ensure your resume will knock out competitors in the job race. It will streamline your preparations for the application process and increase your chance to land the job you need. Go ahead, create your job-winning resume using this tutorial and our comprehensive online builder.