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ToShinTim
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Location: Muncie, Indiana

11 Jan 2014, 9:53 pm

Despite the will of my mother, I have decided to fill out an application for employment at a "correctional facility". I included quotation marks there because this establishment isn't quite what is suggested. To describe further, the position I am applying for involves dealing with troubled youth who have been neglected by their parents, who have abused drugs at an early age (or any other law-breaking activity), or simply have nowhere to live, due to either not having any eligible family, or otherwise.

Side note - the reason my mother doesn't want me working there is due to the fact that I live with my siblings (and do not get along with them well at all) who most likely have similar behavior to the people who reside at this location. It's called the YOC, so that's how I'll refer to it from now on.

My older brother, who has moved out of state with his wife used to work at the YOC, and was very good at what he did, from what I can gather. By listening to the "stories" that he would come home with, occurrences such as armed violence towards himself/other staff (scissors, fists, etc..) were not uncommon, as well as having to restrain the youth, which is to be done by the standards of YOC/Indiana state government (so not just pinning someone down on the ground with your own "techniques"). I have achieved the rank of black belt in a martial arts program, though I have the feeling that the procedures there would not be very similar at all to what I have learned.

Now for the main part of this thread.

In the section of "list and describe your specialized skills/awards/training", would it be appropriate for me to include my black belt? Also, I was in a Boy Scout troop, and earned both the First Aid and Emergency Preparedness merit badges. Could I include anything from that, or would I be better off leaving them out?

I plan on contacting an organization close to where I live to enroll in a CPR/first aid training class, and I believe that (if I pass) these will be skills that would be more than appropriate to include in the section mentioned earlier.

I'd really appreciate any sort of advice anyone has to offer.



Meistersinger
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12 Jan 2014, 2:12 am

ToShinTim wrote:
Despite the will of my mother, I have decided to fill out an application for employment at a "correctional facility". I included quotation marks there because this establishment isn't quite what is suggested. To describe further, the position I am applying for involves dealing with troubled youth who have been neglected by their parents, who have abused drugs at an early age (or any other law-breaking activity), or simply have nowhere to live, due to either not having any eligible family, or otherwise.

Side note - the reason my mother doesn't want me working there is due to the fact that I live with my siblings (and do not get along with them well at all) who most likely have similar behavior to the people who reside at this location. It's called the YOC, so that's how I'll refer to it from now on.

My older brother, who has moved out of state with his wife used to work at the YOC, and was very good at what he did, from what I can gather. By listening to the "stories" that he would come home with, occurrences such as armed violence towards himself/other staff (scissors, fists, etc..) were not uncommon, as well as having to restrain the youth, which is to be done by the standards of YOC/Indiana state government (so not just pinning someone down on the ground with your own "techniques"). I have achieved the rank of black belt in a martial arts program, though I have the feeling that the procedures there would not be very similar at all to what I have learned.

Now for the main part of this thread.

In the section of "list and describe your specialized skills/awards/training", would it be appropriate for me to include my black belt? Also, I was in a Boy Scout troop, and earned both the First Aid and Emergency Preparedness merit badges. Could I include anything from that, or would I be better off leaving them out?

I plan on contacting an organization close to where I live to enroll in a CPR/first aid training class, and I believe that (if I pass) these will be skills that would be more than appropriate to include in the section mentioned earlier.

I'd really appreciate any sort of advice anyone has to offer.


I would definitely include the training as a black belt and include the degree of black belt you have obtained. As for the First Aid and Emergency Preparedness merit badges, I would not mention them, unless you have further training and certification in First Aid by the American Red Cross.



Woodpecker
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12 Jan 2014, 8:48 am

If I was you, find out as much as you can about the place you want to apply to.

I know a little about the UK prison system where a prison officer is expected to have a given level of physical fittness to allow them to deal with a violent person, but they are also expected to be able to use their mouths to talk to a prisoner to resolve a problem rather than only being able to deal with a problem using their fists.

I would suggest that while you can mention the black belt, do not give out the message that you are planning on beating the living daylights out of the kids using your thai kickboxing, ninja skills or whatever the black belt is in when you are in the interview.

How soon do you have to submit the application, the normal UK first aid at work course which includes CPR only lasts about three days. You could take the course at the red cross or some other service supplier and then be truthfully able to put it on the application.


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Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.