Why this matters:
You’ll want any correctional officer candidates you’re considering to understand how to search inmates and inspect rooms for contraband — and also grasp the important role these inspections play in preventing violence and wrongful accusations. Your team will be relying upon and trusting your hire for personal safety and order within the facility. A candidate’s answer may also indicate if they need further training.
What to listen for:
- Familiarity with search methods like scans, acoustic emission tests, and thermographics
- Reverence for officer safety and protecting the human rights of inmates
- Expressed willingness to learn new techniques and abide by the facility’s protocols
Why this matters:
Whether transporting high-risk inmates or responding to emergency situations, your candidate will need to understand how and when to deploy various restraint techniques. This question provides an opportunity to demonstrate knowledge from a crisis intervention or self-defense course, law enforcement training, or work experience.
What to listen for:
- Foundational understanding of physical, chemical, and environmental restraint types
- Experience using handcuffs, flex cuffs, leg braces, leg irons, and belly chains
- Knowledge of when to use restraint, like during pre-admission booking or transport
Why this matters:
A candidate who possesses skills in learning and adapting to new technologies can champion efforts to improve safety and accountability in your facility. If the candidate has experience using new technology, they may be able to train other employees to use it and oversee implementation efforts. Someone with an eye toward the future of the industry can add value by suggesting facility upgrades.
What to listen for:
- Knowledge of how RFID tags, surveillance cameras, and airport scanners work
- Interest in pursuing the latest technology to identify contraband and illegal activity
- Demonstrated ability to work with software, devices, and tools that enhance safety
Why this matters:
This open-ended question invites your candidate to reflect upon interpersonal skills and conflict resolution techniques that are necessary to perform the daily work of a correctional officer. Candidates can even pull from experiences beyond law enforcement or corrections work. Working as a teacher, breaking up a bar fight, or talking to a bereft friend all require crucial communication abilities.
What to listen for:
- Proven ability to keep a situation under control using the power of words and persuasion
- Calm under pressure and quick thinking, with an ability to problem-solve
- Desire to reach a nonviolent resolution using the least amount of force necessary
Why this matters:
With a single correctional officer sometimes tasked with overseeing over 100 inmates, it is imperative that your candidate possesses above-average organizational abilities. Candidates should be able to reflect upon a time when they were tasked with a large amount of responsibility. They should also be able to explain what systems or processes they used to keep track of all personnel and activities under their care.
What to listen for:
- Experience managing a large number of people single-handedly
- Understanding of unit management practices and organization methods
- Expressed sense of responsibility, accountability, and duty
Why this matters:
Verbal or physical abuse is an unfortunate reality in many correctional facilities. This question provides candidates with an opportunity to describe how they used an even temperament, knowledge of protocol, and communication strategies to handle conflict and maintain control. You’ll be counting on every member of the team to minimize psychological distress in the workplace and keep everyone, from inmates to officers, safe.
What to listen for:
- A response that indicates strength, empathy, and problem-solving abilities
- Experience defusing aggressive behavior with a calm, composed demeanor
- Reflection on lessons learned from past situations involving de-escalation
Why this matters:
While you hope such chaos and commotion would never arise at your facility, inmates staging events to cover for an escape attempt remains entirely possible. Accountability is the most important aspect of a correctional officer’s duty — and the answer to this question reveals what the candidate views as the top priority, as well as what response could be expected in a crisis situation.
What to listen for:
- Emphasis on keeping inmates secured and accounted for at all times as top priority
- Analytical skills, recognizing that the fight could be a planned diversion
- Confident response in radioing backup to handle the fight
Why this matters:
Given the high rate of correctional officer burnout and resignation, questioning a candidate’s resilience and stress-coping skills can help you look out for the long-term interests of your facility. A candidate who prioritizes self-care at the end of a shift will return to work refreshed and ready to contribute on a reliable basis. This question also allows a candidate to share hobbies, interests, and pursuits.
What to listen for:
- Understanding of the role self-care plays in remaining fit for duty
- Experience handling rigid shift work, long shifts, and overtime demands
- Participation in activities designed to reduce stress and refresh
Why this matters:
Through introspection, candidates explore what qualities make them the right fit for this role. While every candidate will come with a unique personality, you can assess their values against what your facility needs and prizes most. Answers will ideally include traits like compassion and empathy that may not have come up elsewhere in the interview, along with examples.
What to listen for:
- A list of several personality traits that are directly relevant to the position
- Specific examples of how the candidate demonstrates these traits
- Areas of strengths that can benefit the facility and ensure smooth operations
Contact a sales consultant.