First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers
Directly supervise and coordinate activities of correctional officers and jailers.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Management of Personnel Resources
Key knowledge
- Public Safety and Security
- Law and Government
- Administration and Management
- Psychology
- English Language
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Take, receive, or check periodic inmate counts.
- Maintain order, discipline, and security within assigned areas in accordance with relevant rules, regulations, policies, and laws.
- Respond to emergencies, such as escapes.
- Maintain knowledge of, comply with, and enforce all institutional policies, rules, procedures, and regulations.
- Supervise and direct the work of correctional officers to ensure the safe custody, discipline, and welfare of inmates.
- Restrain, secure, or control offenders, using chemical agents, firearms, or other weapons of force as necessary.
- Supervise or perform searches of inmates or their quarters to locate contraband items.
- Monitor behavior of subordinates to ensure alert, courteous, and professional behavior toward inmates, parolees, fellow employees, visitors, and the public.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (59% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (39.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (40.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 82% of occupations compared | 84% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 51% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 86% of occupations compared | 81% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 50% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 73% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 99% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 99% of occupations compared | 70% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 62% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 7.13%
- Contact with others most of the time: 8.82%
- Constant contact with others: 84.05%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 16.61%
- Fairly important: 4.55%
- Important: 22.77%
- Very important: 36.73%
- Extremely important: 19.34%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 14.27%
- Very important: 5.03%
- Extremely important: 80.71%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 1.28%
- Very little freedom: 3.36%
- Limited freedom: 22.84%
- Some freedom: 25.68%
- A lot of freedom: 46.84%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 1.06%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.73%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.07%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 35.84%
- Every day: 42.3%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.33%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.5%
- Every day: 66.17%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 12.68%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 17.56%
- Every day: 69.76%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 25.1%
- Fairly serious: 5.61%
- Serious: 17.99%
- Very serious: 21.65%
- Extremely serious: 29.65%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 33-1011.00 · SOC 33-1011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8