Preparing for your Pre-Employment Law Enforcement Psychological Evaluation

The biggest question that most candidates have is: How do I prepare for my psychological interview?

There are a number of blog posts and forums out there that provide advice for preparing for an interview. The advice ranges from advising you what clothes to wear to how to manage your own stress or anxiety about the interview. While these are of course all important factors to consider, the most important words that should guide your interview are honesty and integrity.

Here’s what I mean. It is up to you to present the evaluating psychologist with an accurate account of your life, in other words, you must be ready to be honest about your past due to the importance of integrity for all law enforcement positions. There are often aspects of our lives that we may not be proud of; however, in psychological interviews, it is important to discuss these aspects and show that you have grown as a result of your life experiences. Hiding or obscuring facts about your life will work against you, as these facts would ultimately be discovered either during your psychological or background investigations.

Think about it, if you cannot be honest and answer questions with integrity during the interview, what reason is there to believe that you would carry out the duties of your position with integrity?

If you consider the guiding principles for police departments, most will contain some combination of the words professionalism, integrity, and respect. Being suitable for a job with these departments means that you can exhibit that you understand what these words mean in practice and the best way to do that is to be open and honest during your interview.

I have found that disqualifications based on concerns about integrity and honesty are among some of the hardest to appeal, so try to not put yourself in that situation. There’s a reason that most candidates are stressed about the psychological portion of the hiring process, and rightfully so. However, some of that stress can be resolved by simply showing up and being honest. As a psychologist who has completed hundreds of these evaluations, take my word for it, no matter how well you dress for the interview or how professional you are, if you cannot answer the questions being asked of you with integrity, your path to securing a job in law enforcement will become difficult, if not impossible.