Whether you are trying to meet some of the minimum requirements to become a corrections officer such as age, education, experience or training, the time that passes can potentially leave job seekers without a steady source of income.

Below are 5 careers that you should consider if you are in need of obtaining gainful employment in a career field that would provide you with similar duties, training, and experience that you could carry over onto your job as a correctional officer, but most importantly, a paycheck!

1. Security Guard

Becoming a security guard is probably the one job you can obtain with a minimal about of training, a quick turn-around from application to hire, and that closely relates to some of the aspects of being a correctional officer is that of becoming a security guard.

Additionally, becoming a security guard also has some of the same minimum requirements that you would find for becoming a corrections officer, but again, the requirements vary from state to state.

2. Bailiff

As a bailiff, you can gain on-the-job experience transporting and escorting prisoners to and from their scheduled courtroom visits while at the same time ensuring that inmates remain in custody throughout the courtroom proceedings.

Bailiffs also can provide security inside and outside of a courtroom, conduct screening of individuals entering the courtroom and make requests for law enforcement or medical assistance as needed. Bailiffs also go under the titles of court officers, court security officers, or court bailiffs, so be sure to search out these job titles as well.

3. Residential Advisor

The role of a residential advisor in many ways is similar to that of a correctional officer. Although as a residential advisor you may not be dealing with hardened criminals, you will be dealing with individuals in a housing typesetting in which your interactions will differ depending on the type of residential advisor position you accept.

Residential advisors are commonly known for their work in college dorms and universities, but they also have roles in group homes, residential mental health, and substance abuse facilities.

4. Juvenile Corrections Officer

Becoming a juvenile correctional officer is very similar to that of a regular correctional officer with the primary difference that as a juvenile correctional officer you are dealing with individuals of a much younger age, generally individuals in their teens.

Juvenile correctional officers can really make a difference in the lives of today’s troubled and misguided youth so that they can get their lives on the right path so that they can avoid to the corrections system and any future encounters with additional correctional officers.

5. Border Patrol Officer

As a border patrol agent, you can become one of the many border patrol agents that patrol approximately 6,000 miles of land borders the USA shares with Canada and Mexico, with additional duties in Puerto Rico.

After about 19 weeks of training in Artesia, New Mexico, you will be well on your way to becoming a border patrol agent. Due to the long duration of the training, you should ensure that before you commit to this job field that you select the department that is right for you. There are detention facilities in which border agents do work in that process individuals that attempt to enter the US illegally or have been accused of some other type of offense.

These 5 jobs by no means represent a definitive listing of similarly related jobs to correctional officers or jobs that are less superior to that of a correctional officer. This list is simply to provide those job seekers with fresh ideas for there job search while they are awaiting their correctional officer test results, training academy report dates, and other delays in the hiring process.