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psydude posted:The anecdotal evidence from people in this thread suggests that you can expect a phonecall any time from tomorrow to 6 months from now.  Figured as much, thanks!
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Jun 3, 2011 04:02
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So, I've graduated with a Bachelor's in Political Science and History. I realize by looking at pretty much every job listed on USAJOBS, or even anything in on the State of Texas website that I don't seem to meet all of the qualifications for any job. How am I supposed to get 2+ years of experience in 'X' if there don't seem to be any opportunities to get experience. I'm currently going to Texas State for my Masters in the fall, so I doubt I have time for a full time job, but I was just kind of scoping out the job market. Despite having my Masters in a couple of years, I don't really see how that is going to change my job prospects as far as experience in certain areas goes. I'm personally interested in analyst jobs, State dept jobs, or Foreign Service jobs but I'd really take any sort of federal job I could get just to get started. Also, two quick questions pertaining to my ability to be hired/get clearance. At one point I made some tongue-in-cheek comments about certain Wikileaks revelations on my Facebook. I realized later that this sort of thing is likely to be seen as a major indiscretion within the analyst/intelligence community. Would this be a major problem to get clearance? Additionally, I did make the mistake of smoking marijuana 3-4 times in a very stupid/confused time in my life a few months ago. I understand that the FBI has a very strict policy and that I am discounted for a minimum of three years. Have I pretty much disqualified myself for years from any sort of federal service? Pretty costly mistake if so. (And yes, I did read the bit in the OP, I am just really paranoid that I screwed up my immediate past graduate years with an indiscretion.) eonwe fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Jun 3, 2011 |
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Jun 3, 2011 05:16
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Eonwe posted:So, I've graduated with a Bachelor's in Political Science and History. I realize by looking at pretty much every job listed on USAJOBS, or even anything in on the State of Texas website that I don't seem to meet all of the qualifications for any job. How am I supposed to get 2+ years of experience in 'X' if there don't seem to be any opportunities to get experience. Try to get a student position while you are in school. It's the easiest way to get your foot in the door. Eonwe posted:Also, two quick questions pertaining to my ability to be hired/get clearance. At one point I made some tongue-in-cheek comments about certain Wikileaks revelations on my Facebook. I realized later that this sort of thing is likely to be seen as a major indiscretion within the analyst/intelligence community. Would this be a major problem to get clearance? The Wikileaks thing is untested really. You viewed classified information willingly. As a government employee I am not allowed to do that, and in fact could be terminated for doing so. But for someone who wasn't a fed at the time, I don't know how they are going to respond. Protection of classified information is something taken seriously, so we'll have to see how that issue is dealt with. Hopefully they'll treat it the way they do with drug use. Which leads us to your 3-4 times smoking pot during college, which you're fine about really. Yes, there will be some time limits for some jobs, but that's not a big deal. Just never, ever, lie about it. Don't lie in any paperwork, don't lie in any questioning, don't lie when on the polygraph. Be open and 100% honest. Personal integrity is so much more important than smoking pot a few times in college (and hopefully, curiously browsing Wikileaks).
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Jun 3, 2011 05:27
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See, the problem with the Wikileaks stuff isn't that I browsed the Wikileaks site or posted links from their site onto my page. The problem is I was linking from like the New York Times or Der Speigel. I realize that it was likely a major indiscretion on my part, but I have to wonder how many people this is going to affect. I realize this likely goes beyond the context of this thread, but its almost as if it would be illegal for you as a federal employee to read the New York Times at the height of the Wikileaks stuff simply because they were posting and discussing classified information. I realize its a gray area, so thank you for clarifying as much as you have.
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Jun 3, 2011 05:52
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If you haven't worked for the federal government before, don't worry about having visited Wikileaks. Sites like Der Speigel and NYT are not even off limits for most federal employees wrt WL, so no need to sweat that, either. You'll be fine on this issue.
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Jun 3, 2011 06:33
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Eonwe posted:See, the problem with the Wikileaks stuff isn't that I browsed the Wikileaks site or posted links from their site onto my page. The problem is I was linking from like the New York Times or Der Speigel. I realize that it was likely a major indiscretion on my part, but I have to wonder how many people this is going to affect. I realize this likely goes beyond the context of this thread, but its almost as if it would be illegal for you as a federal employee to read the New York Times at the height of the Wikileaks stuff simply because they were posting and discussing classified information. Federal employees aren't barred from wikileaks to my knowledge... They just aren't authorized to do so on government computers. Although the information is readily available, that's spillage of classified information onto an unclassified computer.
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Jun 3, 2011 08:41
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Drewski posted:Federal employees aren't barred from wikileaks to my knowledge... They just aren't authorized to do so on government computers. Although the information is readily available, that's spillage of classified information onto an unclassified computer. Viewing news articles about wikileaks from a government computer has always been OK, just not going to the website itself. They don't want us to go from our home computers, either, but that's a lot harder to enforce.
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Jun 3, 2011 13:06
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grover posted:The issue is not so much viewing compromised classified information as that viewing it on a computer places classified documents on that unclassified computer's hard drive. Which is the BIG problem. We were told that anything to do with WL in the news was ok, home or work. However, we were also told that every Federal employee has a responsibility to protect classified information, and willingly browsing those classified documents on WL, whether on work computers or home, was not allowed. As you point out, enforcement would be hard for home computers, but I know that it was discussed with us. This article I think gives some good information on it all: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/12/wikileaks_off-limits_to_unauth.html. Basically, if all anyone did with WL was read or link stuff in the news, that's no problem at all. If someone was more active than that, for instance seeding the WL torrent, collecting the classified documents, etc... then I don't know what will happen in terms of hurting employment chances. My guess, though, is someone active in WL wouldn't be granted any kind of clearance.
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Jun 3, 2011 17:25
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grover posted:We just had a discussion about this earlier today with respect to some interviews two weeks ago. The system, basically, sucks. The person who's actually offered the job is often the only one knows about it. "Nice" hiring officials will give you a call and politely tell you you didn't get the job, but we're not even supposed to do that. You're supposed to go to the website with the announcement and see if it closed. If all you did was submit an application, that may be the only notification you ever get that your application wasn't accepted. Fortunately, DIA now sends rejection notices over email. It's pretty consistent, surprisingly.
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Jun 4, 2011 03:04
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I had a pretty good response time back when I was applying for FCIP positions, but then again those hiring managers (at least in the DA) specifically contacted applicants and worked with them, thereby limiting the sheer number of applications. Aaaaaaaaaaand then the program got shut down.
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Jun 4, 2011 16:05
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Why not just... delete those facebook posts?
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Jun 6, 2011 04:18
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I know this process is long and difficult, but what jobs should I be looking at with a Finance degree from a state college? I regret not going Accounting, but I liked analysis!
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Jun 10, 2011 00:17
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Federal law enforcement agencies like people with finance degrees/backgrounds.
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Jun 10, 2011 01:08
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xbiffx posted:I know this process is long and difficult, but what jobs should I be looking at with a Finance degree from a state college? I regret not going Accounting, but I liked analysis! A job that interests you. If you're interested in finance, there are budget analysts galore. Procurement specialists are in demand now as well. Want to work outdoors? Become a park ranger.
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Jun 10, 2011 06:25
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Evil SpongeBob posted:Procurement specialists are in demand now as well. Yeah, they look for business degrees. Lots of these jobs around, but since the FCIP was axed I'm not sure what the hiring climate for new grads is. I would assume it's the same in that you need a bachelor's and a certain amount of credits in business or law or whatever. Good field to get into, lots of opportunities, always in demand. On the other hand, there are lots of classes and it can be tedious. AndrewP fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Jun 10, 2011 |
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Jun 10, 2011 22:24
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AndrewP posted:Yeah, they look for business degrees. Lots of these jobs around, but since the FCIP was axed I'm not sure what the hiring climate for new grads are. I would assume its the same in that you need a bachelor's and a certain amount of credits in business or law or whatever. Why the gently caress did they get rid of the FCIP program anyway? Still really confused about that decision.
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Jun 10, 2011 22:38
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prussian advisor posted:Why the gently caress did they get rid of the FCIP program anyway? Still really confused about that decision. In short, because agencies were using it to bypass certain procedures (such as veterans preference) as well as hiring non-recent college graduates.
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Jun 10, 2011 23:29
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I was hired as an FCIP after getting my JD. A woman who came on the same time as me has a PhD and had been a professor for years. Not exactly "intern" level.
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Jun 11, 2011 02:38
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Beerdeer posted:I was hired as an FCIP after getting my JD. Yeah, this is exactly why I wish the program hadn't been cancelled just as I graduated. Great timing 
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Jun 11, 2011 05:42
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prussian advisor posted:Yeah, this is exactly why I wish the program hadn't been cancelled just as I graduated. Great timing Same here. I wasn't able to get into an FCIP position between my graduation last May, and when they phased it out, so I'm really hoping they get the Pathways program running before the end of this year. I'll hit my two year mark next May, so with the supposed new limits, it would kill my chance to apply.
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Jun 11, 2011 13:44
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I was about to get hired into an FCIP position when the program got axed. I'm still bitter about it.
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Jun 11, 2011 16:32
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psydude posted:I was about to get hired into an FCIP position when the program got axed. I'm still bitter about it. I've had more than a few jobs now that I was just about to get and then the program had budget cuts. Weeeeeee.
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Jun 12, 2011 22:02
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Same here. Graduated law school and had a pretty good interview for a FCIP position, then it got cut. Sweet.
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Jun 13, 2011 23:54
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Ahura posted:Federal law enforcement agencies like people with finance degrees/backgrounds. That is not entirely true. It's definitely agency specific, so you need to do some research about the agency. Look around and you'll see what different agencies are looking for. Experience definitely trumps the fact you have a degree, but having a degree is usually a minimum requirement to even be hired.
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Jun 15, 2011 03:27
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Finally got referred again for the first time in months. Let's just hope I can finally get an interview though, as this spot seems to be my stumbling block on the path to a federal career. At least its better than the large amount of Eligible-Not Referred e-mails sitting in my e-mail trash.
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Jun 16, 2011 21:21
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NintyFresh posted:Finally got referred again for the first time in months. Let's just hope I can finally get an interview though, as this spot seems to be my stumbling block on the path to a federal career. At least its better than the large amount of Eligible-Not Referred e-mails sitting in my e-mail trash. Keep your head up. I must have applied to over 500 jobs and gotten hundreds of not-referred emails (I'm still getting not-referred emails, 6 months into my new job). It only takes 1 good interview to get you over the top (well it took me two).
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Jun 17, 2011 04:03
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Training next month in VA. Nice chunk of my summer gone, which sucks. Government pays for a decent room at the Hilton though, plus that sweet, sweet per diem.
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Jun 18, 2011 15:11
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Welp, my contractor job just fell through, which leaves me (maybe) with a clearance, but no job. Wonder if I'd be able to at least use the clearance if those people don't have a job for me.
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Jun 19, 2011 08:33
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Gravel Gravy posted:Welp, my contractor job just fell through, which leaves me (maybe) with a clearance, but no job. Wonder if I'd be able to at least use the clearance if those people don't have a job for me. Did you get your clearance completed before your job fell through? If you didn't, your 'jurisdiction was lost' and you likely will not have a clearance. An actual eligibility can be practically valuable (even though they aren't that valuable from a business perspective). It all depends on your industry. I don't have any idea of how you would check to see if your clearance went through to see if you do in fact have a valid eligibility.
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Jun 19, 2011 14:37
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KennyG posted:Did you get your clearance completed before your job fell through? If you didn't, your 'jurisdiction was lost' and you likely will not have a clearance. It was completed and I was "approved for the clearance" or something along those lines. It may be active for all I know though.
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Jun 19, 2011 17:19
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I know there's been a lot of questions about clearances and how a little pot or whatever will affect you, I have something in the same ballpark; I was going to be hired as a DIA summer intern in 2009. Things were going swimmingly, I did the SF86, all the fax paperwork. Contractor booked flight, hotel, etc... I was literally taking my suitcase to the door when the phone rang and I was told not to get on the plane, 0 tolerance drug policy for the past year. Well dang. Figured that might happen though, I disclosed all my (tiny) pot usage. On that SF86 though, I answered to no to the questions regarding IT systems, #27. I truly, honestly forgot my senior year high school prank. Without boring details, we were able to steal votes through a ludicrously insecure system. It didn't even require any programming, just the ability to search through an address book but it is something I should have ticked yes to 27b to, no doubt. Fast forward to now, I still don't plan on lying on my upcoming SF86. Will they be really angry I didn't submit it on the SF86 two years ago for something that happened 5-6 years ago? Again if it makes a difference, I truly forgot, it wasn't even something on my radar last time.
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Jun 21, 2011 15:22
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Oh my dear God. I just had my midpoint evaluation. It turns out that while my supervisor sat down with all of his ratees and worked out manageable, achievable goals and standards, my director intervened and overwrote everything we came up with:my boss posted:Fully support new product briefings by preparing the statement of work, schedule, and cost plans in a power point format as scheduled and briefing your program slides. Measurement will if presentation material is ready prior to briefings and if you brief your new programs thoroughly to management. This is verbatim minus identifying information. From a GS-13. How the gently caress. Can I non-concur? Edit: I wrote non-concur on my form when I initialed the part III. But I don't know if that means anything. Drewski fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Jun 22, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 02:28
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USDA Choice posted:Fast forward to now, I still don't plan on lying on my upcoming SF86. Will they be really angry I didn't submit it on the SF86 two years ago for something that happened 5-6 years ago? Again if it makes a difference, I truly forgot, it wasn't even something on my radar last time. Any mitigating factors and time are huge deals when it comes to these things. Come clean about it and give as much narrative as you can to its omission. Remember that these are decided by people and the manner in which you give the reasoning on paper and in person to an interviewer can mean everything. I just want to throw in my two cents regarding security clearances. I'm 23, graduated last summer and work as a Project Controls Specialist for a National Lab that is run by a non-profit company on behalf of the Department of Energy. In about February I was told I needed to apply for a DOE Q clearance, which I'm told is the DOE's equivalent of a Dept of Defense Top Secret. This involved the dreaded SF-86 (33 pages) which covered everything about me. I also want to add that I regularly smoked weed for up to 6 years and stopped in March of '10 when I realized I might be able to get a job at this lab. Here's the trick; DO NOT LIE. Don't try to hide or obscure the truth. This is one case where you need to be absolutely honest and forthcoming about every question in that questionnaire. It WILL get cross-referenced, they WILL get references from the references you list until they work their way through your whole network of contacts for the last 10 years. These guys are not stupid, they know what they're doing and they will find out if you lied about smoking weed in college or are trying to hide that time you got arrested for being underage and drinking. Having a rather long history of illegal drug use, I was honest and candid with the interviewer and I just got word that my clearance was granted today. Remember, time and future intent are huge mitigating factors for past transgressions in the government's eyes. As a rule of thumb, 12 months of non-use is generally accepted as a good mitigating factor for marijuana use. Higgy fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Jun 23, 2011 |
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Jun 23, 2011 19:33
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Drewski posted:Oh my dear God. I just had my midpoint evaluation. It turns out that while my supervisor sat down with all of his ratees and worked out manageable, achievable goals and standards, my director intervened and overwrote everything we came up with: What position do you have/what were your goals supposed to be?
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Jun 24, 2011 03:42
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Drewski posted:Oh my dear God. I just had my midpoint evaluation. It turns out that while my supervisor sat down with all of his ratees and worked out manageable, achievable goals and standards, my director intervened and overwrote everything we came up with: Just be glad NSPS is gone and it's all pass-fail now.
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Jun 26, 2011 12:59
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Great timing, CBP. I'm now faxing over a letter to my background investigator ("met" him 2 days ago) saying I withdraw from the Border Patrol position, because I can't deal with another year in limbo working a poo poo job with no car or health insurance (can't do a background investigation overseas). My contract for teaching in Japan comes in the mail this week, I ship out for Kyushu in a month. Will be taking the FSOT in Tokyo each year I'm over there and applying for whatever I'm eligible for on USAJobs, but I'm basically waiting out my NSEP contract at the end of 2012 and praying that taking a huge dump on my post-college life was enough for them.
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Jun 26, 2011 16:50
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So I just got this article in the mail, I am wondering if it would be a solution to not having enough experience to get into the intelligence field: http://www.clearancejobs.com/cleared-news/346/intelligence-careers-get-jumpstart-with-analyst-training-program Opinions? Thoughts? The fact that some courses can be taken online makes it seem that it wouldn't be taken very seriously.
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Jun 28, 2011 22:00
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Gravel Gravy posted:So I just got this article in the mail, I am wondering if it would be a solution to not having enough experience to get into the intelligence field: Not sure about that program in particular, but I'd guess (wildly) that it would be better for getting hired at NASIC in Dayton. Have you looked into NDIC (soon to be NIU, the National Intelligence University under ODNI)? From the academic route, that's a sure-fire way in, especially if you already have a four-year degree and go for the MSSI. I feel like you in particular have seen us discuss this in this thread though; just making sure...
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Jun 29, 2011 00:32
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Zoo posted:Not sure about that program in particular, but I'd guess (wildly) that it would be better for getting hired at NASIC in Dayton. Have you looked into NDIC (soon to be NIU, the National Intelligence University under ODNI)? From the academic route, that's a sure-fire way in, especially if you already have a four-year degree and go for the MSSI. I feel like you in particular have seen us discuss this in this thread though; just making sure... Yeah, I've seen that. I usually find it a no-go just from reading the first paragraph of admissions eligibility: quote:Eligibility
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Jun 29, 2011 03:21
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grover posted:Besides needing some proofreading, I don't see anything wrong with what your director wrote. This looks like typical post-NSPS evaluation language. Which is to say it reads like crap, but is measurable. I bet if you go back through what you and your supervisor wrote, there's a lot of subjectivity required. You can always appeal to your director's supervisor if you're unhappy, but you don't get to write your job objectives, your boss does unilaterally. First, please let me say that I hope I'm not coming across as a lovely employee. I actually have a lot of satisfaction with the work I perform, and love my job because it directly involves the health of soldiers out in the sandbox. And despite my unhappiness about my eval, I care about my organization and want to support the Army missions. It's just so disheartening to think about what my organization could be, then see what looks like the stereotypical "federal employee slacker" mindset in so many other people around me when I'm busting my rear end every day, THEN get something like that from my boss. I'd like to say that I don't think there was hardly any objectivity in the goals my supervisor and I worked on, but they aren't available to me any longer. I also thought the goals were supposed to be personalized for me, and also include personal/professional development. For example, I remember that one of my goals was to take a set number of Project Management certification courses. Maybe we're not supposed to have developmental goals? I don't know why my director changed the goals, but they are verbatim for every single person in my division. Well, regardless of whether or not it's a goal in my eval, I've been working on the PMI certs anyway. But my biggest concern is that if I'm applying for other federal positions that require my most recent evaluation, I'm going to cringe every time I have to provide this. The errors and language are an embarrassment for both my organization and myself. My performance report last year was stellar. Could using this new one cost me a position elsewhere? If you were a hiring manager and saw an eval with that language, what would you do? In the long run I think it's best if I attempt to correct this, but there is no reason whatsoever a GS-13 should be making these kind of basic spelling and grammatical errors, especially not on official documentation. It looks sloppy and unprofessional, like something that could be thrown together in 5 minutes. Plus I think the language is 'off'. "Delight the customer"? I'm an Army civilian program manager in a 0346 Logistics Management Specialist position and my customer is the Army/DoD. The Army doesn't get 'delighted'. There are several other things I do like about the job. I've been there less than 2 years but already I'm the one person they send new employees to for training. We moved to a new software suite and I've done a lot to try to learn it and understand it... And after 8 months of working with it, I can say that I'm probably one of the most knowledgeable in my group. I appreciate the fact that my management thinks that I'm a good trainer. Plus if I can do whatever I can do to instill a good work ethic in the people I train, you can bet I'm going to try to do it. I think it's really important for new employees to be introduced to someone who is passionate about the job because I think it really does rub off. From an organizational perspective, it's great. But sometimes my projects suffer as a result. I already work a lot of overtime, so am I supposed to take time from my work day to try to correct my boss? I suppose if I can't fix it at work, then I should fix it at home... It is in my own best interest, after all. Actually, it will probably take me less time to correct it than it took to write this post, so I should just shut up, man up, stop complaining, and get started. Drewski fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Jun 29, 2011 |
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Jun 29, 2011 03:27
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