Does Everyone Leave This Site After Recruitment?

[londonlad81]

Hi guys, it seems that after people have been brought the recruiting process and go into training money people vanish! Considering there are thousands of Prison Officers in the UK, this site seems very underused!
The Army and Police chat forums seem very busy, shame this site gets little traffic.

[JCOX4]

Apparently there is a hidden section on this forum only for verified officers. Im assuming they are all in that bit and only a handful help new recruits on the open forum.

[scotsrock]

I think so too. I notice there is absolutely no SPS Guards on here. Shame really.

[Bearguy]

It’s mostly people who are excited about starting !! Shame there is not much recent input from serving officers, maybe not allowed to say too much on a public forum perhaps ?

[Taff86]

They probably too busy laughing at us newbies.

[Bearguy]

I pity the fools !!!

[memphis]

I'll give you my personal take on this....
A lot of questions on here relate to the application and vetting process, focusing mainly on how long certain stages take. This is a topic I'm not too sure of now so can't really answer questions on it.

There doesn't seem to be too many questions asked about specific aspects of the job. If there were and I am logged on I would try to answer them.

This brings me to actually being logged on. Being a prison officer is a demanding and often physically tiring job, when I finish a shift and get home, I have something to eat, have a shower and pretty much go straight to bed. There isn't a lot of time free to come onto here and log on (although I have promised myself that I will try and get on more now after a extended stay away).

I've been in the job a few years now and feel I've gained a good amount of knowledge to pass on to people. The first year to two years are spent learning and you don't really have that knowledge to give to others during that time. You also learn what you can and can't pass on.

So, with all that said, ask questions and hopefully myself and others who are still hanging around here will be able to help and offer support. Support is a big thing in the Prison Service, you have support from your fellow officers but theres always going to be questions you have that you arent comfortable talking to your workmates about. Come on here and ask them instead. Don't bottle anything up.

[Paddy]

Yeah I think that's a valid point. I'm due to start the old POELT in a few weeks but I'll be no use to those doing the new apprenticeship from may as it will be different again

I do have one question that I can think of. In your experience, what's the general feeling from staff and inmates when a group of new staff come in? I believe theres about 15 of us starting at our establishment on the same day. I'm sure each prison is different but just wondered if they are well recieved from what you've seen.

[memphis]

I love nothing more than seeing new staff arrive. I always greet new staff and introduce myself and shake their hands. I'll also tell them a little bit about what I'm doing at that time and explain why it has to be done and why I'm doing it. Its finding a balance between showing them the job, not overwhelming them with things they might think they need to remember and also just being friendly and welcoming. Starting a new job is hard enough, starting a new job in that environment is another level, I would like to think that they remember the chat they have had with me and start to feel like one of the team from then on. However..... it's a high pressure job so don't be disheartened or think less of anyone who doesn't give you what you would consider a warm welcome, they are probably just so busy doing what they are doing that they might not have time to stop for a chat.
Prisoners on the other hand will try it on as soon as they can. You wont be left alone with prisoners on your first week without an experienced officer so just let that officer do the talking. See how they deal with that prisoner and try and take it in. The officer showing you around will have been hand picked because of their knowledge of the job and how they interact with prisoners. You'll learn a lot from that officer in your first week.

[Paddy]

Thanks for the response, appreciate it. Pretty much what I expected. Nice to see you always try and give a warm welcome too.

[Bearguy]

Good afternoon Memphis, great posts and I think you may have your work cut out answering questions from all of us future new starters.....I’ll have to think of a few to fire at you !!!

[memphis]

Fire away! Just make sure to start a new thread so others will know the question is there and are able to chip in too.

[gaboo]

I would have to agree with memphis regarding having the time / not being too shattered to come onto here.

admittedly after i finished training i stopped coming on here a couple of months later, but agree completely with memphis with liking to see new officers coming through and if i can pass on any of my knowledge / experience to them which may help out, then i am all for that

[Bearguy]

Everyone is in the same boat, so why not make every day as easy as possible for each other !

[gaboo]

Exactly. everyone was new at some point. surely it makes more sense to help than hinder