Correctional Officer Career Path
All the insights below are based on Jobtrees users’ actual career paths, aggregated together, instantaneously, to show you the real and unique most common career progression for each role. Use this as inspiration for your next job and to re-calibrate expectations for what success is in your next career step. After you search, toggle over to the Family View to see what roles are in the same job family. Use this to get a sense of the hierarchy of roles within this job family and inspiration for other jobs you can target.
The career path for a
Based on 123 Jobtrees users who were a Correctional Officer in their career, on average, they have 2.93 years of experience and 2 jobs prior to this one. They have spent a significant amount of time in this job before moving on 7.0 years on average and earn $47K per year on average in this less senior role.
4% of Jobtrees users moved to another job with this same title in their next career step. The most common career steps after Correctional Officer are Sergeant, Driver and Police Officer. Sergeant, the most common next career step, is of similar seniority which is common to see in career paths as people will often move between jobs and roles at the same level as they build experience and explore other jobs. While Sergeant isn't from the Law Enforcement job family, there are common paths within the same discipline as Correctional Officer shown by Driver also being a next career step Jobtrees users are taking.
If you are looking for more ideas on potential career paths from this job, you should also consider Deputy Sheriff, Security Officer and Executive Director as they commonly lead to Correctional Officer as well. Find more insights below about this specific career path based on our Jobtrees users' experience.
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The roles above are the most common next steps in our users’ career paths.
Use the + button and watch the ‘branches grow’. It adds another level of potential career steps based on the most common paths taken by Jobtrees’ users.The roles below are the most common previous steps in our users’ career paths.
Use the + button and watch the ‘roots grow’. It adds another level of potential previous career steps based on the most common paths taken by Jobtrees’ users.Read insights on these paths here
Understand more about the career path
How can I become a
The most common career steps to get to Correctional Officer are Machine Operator, Sales Associate and Probation Officer based on actual career paths reported to Jobtrees.
Machine Operator, the most common step before Correctional Officer, is a more senior role which is common to see in career paths. This is a natural and common career progression as titles aren't synonymous across companies so a higher title doesn't always mean higher pay and larger scope. Focus more on the scope of the next role than title progression in building a path to Correctional Officer.
While Machine Operator is the most common, there is no specific role leading to Correctional Officer that is an overwhelmingly common path. Another characteristic of the Correctional Officer career path is that experience within the same job family as this role isn't common and as a result likely not necessary. This shows there are many potential paths to becoming a Correctional Officer so focusing on translatable skills is likely more important than a specific role.
While Machine Operator isn't from the same job family as Correctional Officer, Law Enforcement, it can help to have direct experience in this discipline shown by Sales Associate also being a common career path to Correctional Officer.
If you are looking for more potential career paths to Correctional Officer, you should also consider Emergency Medical Technician, Agent and Supervisor as they commonly lead to Correctional Officer as well.
What should I know about the career path
Career paths aren't linear with people often returning to a prior role which is what you see with Machine Operator being on the path to and from Correctional Officer. This is common when people move to companies of different sizes or choose to return to a function they fit well with.
Correctional Officer is a role that people spend a significant amount of time in before moving on. In roles like this that are less senior, this can mean there is room to grow within the role but can also mean there isn't a clear career path so make sure you have a clear sense of you path before pursuing this.
Correctional Officer is part of the Law Enforcement job family which has a variety of unique role within that discipline. Choosing to pursue a role within this family likely will mean that you will need to look outside of your discipline to find new roles and so should focus on related skills as part of that search.
Other common titles that have similar job requirements and career paths as Correctional Officer are Corrections Officer, Detention Officer.