Finding your footing in the job market
LinkedIn, the CV, applications and ATS. Translating policing into language civilian employers actually search for. Nobody outside the job is looking for “grade one domestics”.
The Police Exit Manual
129 pages · PDF
What actually happens when you leave the Police.
Practical guidance on recruitment, money, sectors and the move itself. Written by a former Police Sergeant who learned it the hard way.
Get the Manual · £19.99
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Who it’s for
If you’ve started doing the maths, this was written for you.
You don’t hate the job. Something has shifted, and you can feel it. You’ve quietly started weighing it up.
You want to know what actually happens if you leave. Not encouragement. The mechanics.
You’ve realised your rank, your pension and the way you describe your own experience don’t carry over the way people assume.
What it isn’t: motivational. It doesn’t sell shortcuts or promise a six-figure salary by Friday. It’s about clarity and preparation, and avoiding the avoidable mistakes that cost time, money and confidence. If that’s not what you’re after, this won’t be for you.
“When I left, I didn’t have a map. I made almost every avoidable mistake available to me. This is the guide I wish I’d had.”
Connor Crespin
Inside the manual
Six sections. 129 pages. The order you’d actually work through it.
Navigating recruitment processes
How private-sector hiring really runs, from application to offer, and the points where officers most often fall down.
Adjusting to civilian work culture
The part nobody warns you about. The structure, urgency and noise disappear, and the quiet takes some getting used to.
Money, expectations and reality
Salaries, progression and the pension comparison. What rank is worth on the outside, and what it isn’t.
Qualifications and professional standards
Which qualifications matter, which are decorative, and which ones I paid for so you don’t have to.
Sector deep dives
Ten sectors where ex-officers realistically land: fraud, compliance, project management, Trust & Safety, investigations, HR, the railway, the Civil Service, cyber and security. What each one actually wants.
A worked example
The same experience, in language they read.
Chapter 02 · the CV
What you wrote
“Response Officer responsible for initial attendance at incidents.”
What you should write
Triaged risk. Made rapid decisions with incomplete information. Managed volatile situations, and took responsibility when things went sideways.
“Most officers treat LinkedIn like Facebook wearing a tie. Used properly, it’s the difference between being found and being invisible.”
Connor Crespin
The author
Credibility first. The work, not the credentials.
My name’s Connor. I spent ten years in the Police before I left.
British Transport Police, then Wiltshire. Response PC, response sergeant, custody sergeant, stints as a PACE inspector, and finally a full-time Federation conduct rep handling misconduct cases.
When I left, I didn’t have a map. I paid £150 for a CV that read beautifully and performed terribly. I bought memberships I didn’t need because LinkedIn told me to. I learned how the market works by trial and error, mostly error.
I’m not anti-police. I met my wife through the job and she’s still serving, as are many of my closest friends. What changed wasn’t my belief in the work, but in the environment I was doing it in.
I’m a dad to two young boys, which keeps me busier than any late turn ever did.
I now work in Trust & Safety. This manual is everything I wish someone had handed me on the way out.
Reader feedback
From people who’ve already used it.
“My first application since tailoring my CV for the JD and using AI referencing ATS, and I’ve been shortlisted for a screening call. Really positive move forward.”
“Thank you so much for everything, your guidance and advice has been invaluable. Your guide is incredible, and it formed the basis of what I ended up looking for in terms of opportunities. It’s crazy how little we often value our own skillsets sometimes. Thank you for helping me find value in mine.”
“Refreshingly honest, practical and credible, stripping away the myths around transition and confronting the realities many avoid. It tackles a genuine gap in policing by helping officers translate their experience, identity and leadership beyond the uniform. A grounded, important and highly useful resource for anyone preparing to leave well.”
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Everything I learned, in one place.
129 pages. Instant PDF. £19.99. Read it in an evening; use it across the whole move.
Get the Manual · £19.99
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