ITHACA, N.Y. (WENY) -- The Tompkins County Sheriff's Office volunteered to participate in a new Corrections Officer Training and Experience Pilot program due to staffing shortages. Specifically the Sheriff's Office claims they are having trouble recruiting corrections officers because the length of time it takes to request an exam, receive scores, and then be offered a job.

"During this pilot program, the training and evaluation exam itself will replace the traditional written examination. There will be no written examination, just the questionnaires sent out," said Undersheriff Jennifer Olin.

Applicants that meet the minimum requirements will receive a questionnaire to fill out. The questionnaire will be available from December 15th through January 15th, 2023. If the candidate has an approved application on file and complete their online rating, they will automatically be granted a passing score of 70. Candidates can also be awarded additional points for those qualifiers.

"Within that questionnaire, there will be questions about around someone's education, work experience, volunteer experience, things that might be related to the job duties of a corrections officer," said Olin.

Online questionnaires eliminates the need for candidates to wait for the appropriate scheduled State exam and the need to staff said exam.  Once the submission period is completed, the State will then rate the questionnaires, and local governments will be able to access and download candidate scoring information in  weeks instead of months months.

Olin urges those that want to apply not to wait.

"You have until November 29th. We have several openings in corrections, as well as a few openings on the road patrol side. We are currently looking for lateral transfers for Deputy Sheriff as well," said Olin.

Link to the Tompkins' County Sheriff's Office Corrections Officer Application can be found here.