Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists

Also Called:

Correctional Counselor,

Juvenile Probation Officer,

Parole Officer (PO),

Probation Officer

What they do: Provide social services to assist in rehabilitation of law offenders in custody or on probation or parole. Make recommendations for actions involving formulation of rehabilitation plan and treatment of offender, including conditional release and education and employment stipulations.

Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security icon

Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Prepare and maintain case folder for each assigned inmate or offender.
  • Gather information about offenders' backgrounds by talking to offenders, their families and friends, and other people who have relevant information.
  • Interview probationers and parolees regularly to evaluate their progress in accomplishing goals and maintaining the terms specified in their probation contracts and rehabilitation plans.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.

Adaptability

Empathy

Stress Tolerance

Self-Control

Social Orientation

Integrity

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

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Social

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Conventional

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Enterprising

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Verbal

  • Communicate by speaking

  • Read and understand what is written

Ideas and Logic

  • Notice when problems happen

  • Use rules to solve problems

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

  • Talking to others

Problem Solving

  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Social

  • Understanding people's reactions

  • Bringing people together to solve differences

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research

  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career

2. Plan your next move

  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop