Adults had ambitions to join the police as a child

It’s the question that everyone gets asked throughout their childhood, ‘what do you want to be when you are older?’ – for one in five working adults in England and Wales (21%), the answer to that question was a police officer.

The main attractions that piqued people’s interest in a career with the police was the desire to reduce crime (39%), be proud of their job (35%) and to make a difference in the community (35%).

New research* shows that over a third of adults (38%) did not pursue their childhood dream job, with two fifths (39%) saying they sometimes or often regret that decision. Additionally as around a third (32%) of adults surveyed say they are considering a job change in the next 12 months, the ‘Be the Difference’ campaign is calling on people to discover the wide variety of roles within the police.

Aston spoke to career coach Alice Stapleton.

Photo by Glenn Carstens Peter on Unsplash