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gently caress these personal narratives. I hate them.
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Jul 19, 2009 14:52
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Ganguro King posted:Does anyone know which cones are the most/least difficult to get in to? Political, economic, Public Diplomacy, Management, Consular.
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Jul 21, 2009 13:05
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Haji posted:For the FSOT, should I bother getting dressed up? Does anyone even care at that point? And if so, just how dressy do I have to be? For the written? No, I wore shorts and a t-shirt.
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Jul 25, 2009 00:41
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pragan4 posted:Just got word that I didn't make it past the QEP. I'm not sure what that means, but I guess I'll wait until next June/July and take the test again.
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Sep 15, 2009 03:03
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Huge long shot, but in case someone knows for sure and can get back to me within 30 minutes or so... Any chance of being able to walk into the testing center at a different time than my scheduled testing time and be able to take the test? I'm supposed to take it tomorrow at 1:30 and have a conflict with something else. I'll do the FSOT over it, but it could potentially cost me a lot of money. I remember from last year they're a lot more casual on the timing now that they've got us doing it on computers. I got there 15 minutes before my scheduled time and there were already people taking it, and people continued to show up well after the start time and weren't turned away. So if I showed up a few hours before my time...? Yeah, I don't think this will work. Oh well, paychecks are overrated. quote:I work for a contractor currently and we are supporting several efforts internationally.. if you have clearance I can probably hook you up with something in Iraq/Afghan/NATO if you want in that bad. But don't want to poo poo up the thread. (and I also kind of recommend you work for State/USAID over contractors.. its another world, I guess you can say) And what if you don't have a clearance? Nothing? This sucks. I'm easily clearable, I'm willing to go anywhere, I consider 50 hour workweeks light. You'd think someone would be interested, but nope.
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Jun 8, 2010 14:41
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Just got back from the FSOT. Felt about how I did last year, a bit better actually. Really looking forward to doing the QEP again. I'm really confused about what they want on the biographical section. If the question is: Are you: a) The best b) Great c) okay d) bad e) incompetent And they don't ask for justification, what are you supposed to put? Am I an idiot for ever putting anything other than the best answer? Do they somehow look for answers to justified and unjustified questions to match up?
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Jun 9, 2010 21:23
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Back to the QEP for me!
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Jun 30, 2010 16:12
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Personal Narratives away! Now I wait for a couple months and then get told I haven't been selected for the orals.
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Jul 20, 2010 06:16
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Homie S posted:This popped up in my email over the weekend; State is going to start accepting applications for DS Agents tomorrow. quote:Congratulations, you have just successfully completed the SA-10-01 Online Assessment process. Is that what everyone gets upon completion or did it score the multiple choice portion which means I've at least passed some sort of minimum score? Kase Im Licht fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Aug 17, 2010 |
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Aug 17, 2010 04:27
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Last night one my PNQ references/verifications got a call from State asking if my story was accurate (and unless he secretly hates me he said it was). By noon today I'd received the letter telling me I'd failed the QEP (again). I'd only had a couple hours to wonder if him getting a call (none of my references got a call last year) meant I'd passed.
Kase Im Licht fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Sep 9, 2010 |
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Sep 8, 2010 17:45
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From what I understand, if you are a DSS special agent, you will be going overseas. And you'll be doing it soon, and very frequently. Your first assignment will be domestic, probably DC, but you're going to get sent all over the place. Apparently its not uncommon for people on "domestic" tours to spend the majority of their time overseas. Here's a very long thread with lots of information (also with lots of people repeating the same questions and getting the same information, but if you're serious about the job it wouldn't hurt to read through the whole thing). http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?55598-bureau-of-diplomatic-security-opening
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Nov 21, 2010 03:24
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Woooo, finally heard back from DSS. Test/interview in mid February. I thought they were passing on me after so much time had passed after applying without hearing anything. Maybe State doesn't have it in for me after all.
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Dec 29, 2010 09:08
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Pompous Rhombus posted:The preparation I did helped a lot, but ultimately it wasn't good enough with my mediocre work experience weighing me down. I'm looking in to starting training as a reserve deputy with my local Sheriff's department, and can probably make some changes at my current job to have stronger answers for the QEP. Will sign up for the FSOT tomorrow if registration for Feb is still open.
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Jan 14, 2011 03:07
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Failed the DSS BEX this week. Boooo. Went pretty well at least. And had a nice conversation with one my examiners afterward. I get the feeling I answered the diplomat questions better than the DSS questions or something, because he spent a lot of time talking to me about being an FSO and how great it is.
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Feb 26, 2011 00:45
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Passed the written. Again. Time to do the QEP. Again. I hate that loving thing. Nice that they just give you the score breakdown now, it was always annoying having to separately request it. I think my score on the multiple choice parts was better than previous years. 177, with a 60.67 on the biographical part, I'm getting better at BSing that crap. Playing on a volleyball team with a bunch of foreigners helped on several questions. Why would that make me a better FSO again? For some reason my essay score has dropped every year though. That's probably not good. 8 this year, 9 last year, 11 the year before. Oh well, its always pointless. loving QEP.
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Jun 30, 2011 00:48
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Where are the QEP results from the June exam? I'm going crazy here. Looks like they came out 9/8 last year and 9/14 the year before.
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Sep 15, 2011 14:30
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the_chavi posted:My boyfriend's waiting in your ship too. I'm so sorry. =( Apparently some people got to submit their QEP stuff late because ACT hosed something up?
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Sep 16, 2011 05:02
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gently caress you State Dept. gently caress you right in the rear end.
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Sep 20, 2011 03:43
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The first real snowstorm of the snowpocalypse year didn't even happen until a week before Christmas. I doubt we'll get anything serious by mid-November. I guess places got hit pretty bad this weekend and they weren't THAT far, but mid November isn't usually that miserable.
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Nov 1, 2011 00:52
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Skandiaavity posted:Yay! On the Register!
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Jan 19, 2012 00:14
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So the DSS Special Agent BEX has added a case management section. Does anyone know anything else about it? Is it just a shorter version of the FSO CM exercise? FSOT next week and BEX two weeks after that. Very State heavy June.
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Jun 2, 2012 17:49
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FSOT #4 taken today (actually #5, but the first was like 12 years ago under the old pencil and paper system). Pretty sure I passed, the trivia section seemed to hit all the areas I know well and skipped the stuff I'm less strong on (hooray for questions on using Internet Explorer!), and the biography section gets easier every year. Hard not to be so negative about the upcoming QEP. Maybe going consular will actually get me past it for once. Oh well, time to forget about that and gear up for the DSS BEX. Where the hell are all those notes I took last year?
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Jun 7, 2012 01:20
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[ask] me about passing the DSS Special Agent BEX [tell] me how to learn a language in a year so I can actually make it off the register.
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Jun 21, 2012 23:58
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Vasudus posted:What the gently caress are your credentials because 4 years of military, another 3 of generic job experience and a semester of graduate school hasn't gotten me a callback. Either that or they haven't gotten to my application yet They said they're inviting about 2000 people to BEX. Pretty sure they're just getting started and they go by geographic area. I think they were doing DC in June, no idea on the rest of the schedule. Be patient? Last year I got the BEX invitation about 6 months after I applied.
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Jun 22, 2012 20:53
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On July 19, 2009 I wrote the 15th post in this thread:Kase Im Licht posted:gently caress these personal narratives. I hate them. Three years later, here I am still hating them.
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Jun 22, 2012 21:42
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Passed the FSOT too. Less excited about that since I'm 0-3 on the QEP stage and I've got the DSS COE, but will still give it a shot. I think my biographic score was the highest of the three MC sections. How times have changed. I don't have to pick one between generalist/specialist until I would actually be on the register for both right? Or am I making that whole thing up?
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Jun 28, 2012 03:22
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Since we're on the subject, I've got a business class question that I may have asked before here but can't remember if I got an answer. One FSO friend told me super tall folks could get business class, another said that wasn't the policy. Both were tiny so they had no reason to actually know. At 6'8", it's kind of concern for me, since 14 hours in coach would not only be horrifically painful, but somewhat dangerous for my health.
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Aug 2, 2012 14:02
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No idea what to say. Terrible.
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Sep 13, 2012 05:10
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Salah-al-diin posted:I've seen plenty of mention about .mil Os making their way into the FS as generalist and specialist. However, I'm a little worried that my status as a lowly enlisted will be a severe speed bump to any FS aspirations of mine Whether you get a conditional offer from DSS is based 100% on your performance when you do the BEX. Maybe an officer has an easier time thinking of an answer to a question about his experience say, managing a group of people. But if you can be creative and pull experience from somewhere and answer the question confidently and intelligently, you can get just as much credit, even if you were just leading a small group on a short assignment rather than regularly leading an entire company. These kind of interviews are all about creativity. You need to go through your background and go through sample behavioral interview questions and have some sort of answer for everything that might come up. I ended up talking about silly school clubs and rec sports leagues in some of my answers. It's not always easy to explain, but after you do a few interviews in this style (Fed Law Enforcement loves these things), you'll see what kind of questions and experience they're likely to ask about so you can comb through your background looking for things. Officer/enlisted experience will also have nothing to do with the written portions of the BEX. You have 4 sections, two of which are written.
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Sep 16, 2012 18:44
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I'm one of those enormous dummies that enlisted with a degree, and I'm concerned that enlisted experience is not looked on as highly as Officer experience unless I happen to be a special operator with crazy high speed experience. Have any of you FSgoons come across a significant former enlisted population in your ranks? I'm particularly interested in DSS and their noble-to-enlisted former military ratio.
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It's a little ridiculous that they make you reenter that stuff each time. Even if you save it you're still entering a poo poo ton of information that they could pretty easily save.
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Sep 27, 2012 00:33
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Vasudus posted:The faster I get put on the register the faster I can get out of school and pack my poo poo. I doubt I'll get on the register in time for the January A-100 class, so probably whatever after that. I don't think I would say this. I found the DS interviews to be a lot more friendly than other LEO interviews I've done. I've had others where intimidating you and keeping you on the defensive was a part of the interview, for DS it feels more like the interviews are trying to help you pass. Listen to the things they say, they'll give some hints on answering questions. Confident, yes. I'm not sure there's a big rush to say things quickly. Don't ramble, but I don't think I was close to running out of time on either interview portion. And the third? I don't know about that at all. I'm not totally sure it's really relevant. But I'd just be careful about not adapting to changing information. Like all State things, make sure you're selling yourself, even if you're going back to high school to find examples. And I am seconding that suggestion to KNOW THE JOB. Go study the info DS puts out about the job. Don't miss easy points. Also the essay portion is no longer like the online essay. But it's still an essay, not really any way to study, just write well. It's not particularly hard, on my computer the keys were messed up and pressing B could end up in any of about three letters appearing on my screen. Still had plenty of time. Also, Tyro, didn't you pass around when I did? I think I got the email from my investigator saying he had everything he needed just a couple weeks ago. Haven't heard anything since.
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Oct 11, 2012 00:33
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Vasudus posted:So uh, random question: For the medical component, does State send you off to an approved medical center to do their thing or are you expected to see your private doctor and have them fill out ye olde form? Are you anywhere near DC? If you are you just go to their facility and they take care of it. Otherwise I think you have to go to your own doctor. They'll reimburse you wherever you go, so you can go to a private non-VA facility and pay upfront out of pocket. Well, not totally sure how the VA thing will work. I had to do a couple things at non-State places, and they said they'd cover me as secondary insurance - i.e. whatever my insurance didn't cover, but I had to use my insurance first.
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Oct 26, 2012 04:23
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Questions are both knowledge and aptitude, but the knowledge isn't law enforcement knowledge, but more general/world knowledge.
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Nov 12, 2012 17:47
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Since this thread has lots of people interested in working overseas for the government, thought I'd mention that USCIS is hiring for refugee officers. Applications are due tomorrow. There's an announcement for spanish speakers and one for everyone else. I assume you can apply for both. In one sentence, the job basically involves going overseas and interviewing/investigating refugees to determine if they really are refugees and make sure they aren't terrorists or criminals and determine if they can come to the U.S.. Travel is 6 months of the year, otherwise you're based in DC. I know a few people who do it and they're pretty happy, though the travel can eventually burn you out and there are the usual government bureaucracy/lazy worker complaints. It's something like one month overseas, then back in the states, then heading out for another month elsewhere. Or maybe longer than a month. Apparently they're trying to limit Spanish speakers to the Caribbean/Central America/S. America. It's something of an issue, since Spanish speaking officers are feeling that they are getting screwed out of going to other parts of the world. My friends have been to Africa, Nepal, Thailand, the Mideast, as well as Caribbean and Central/South America.
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Jan 16, 2013 00:44
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Got an email that my clearance was approved last week. Just need to pass the Final Review Board or whatever and I'm on the register. Now I just need that extra money for DS to actually happen, and for them to decide they want all that money to go to extra agents.
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Feb 21, 2013 04:39
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psydude posted:How long did your clearance take? I heard they've sped up the process considerably (they're in the middle of doing all of the interviews for me right now). Mine took longer than the timelines I've seen for other people. I think I had my interview around early September, and got some additional information to the investigator a week or two after that. Initial contact with me was sometime in mid August. I completed the EQIP in late July.
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Feb 21, 2013 06:27
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CronoGamer posted:An interesting opinion on security clearances from a former boss of mine. I haven't had to go through the process of getting one yet but I thought some of you might have some thoughts or anecdotes similar to his... I got my current job about 18 months ago. It was just a public trust clearance, which I guess isn't even really a clearance. That would be handled by OPM. I got the COE from State last spring, maybe 8 months ago. My interviews for the two investigations were about a month apart. State's was more in depth, going back farther and asking more questions. Both interviews took about the same time, largely because the OPM one involved reading the entire form back to me line by line. Maybe agencies don't trust other agencies entirely, but it seems unlikely that whatever your standards for are for public trust, that they could exceed another agency's standards for a TS. The OPM interview was ridiculous for many reasons. One, it happened a year after I'd been given my offer and something like 10 or 11 months after I'd started on the job. Two, it was stupid, as the article mentions. And three, there should be some way to know that multiple investigations are done and just let the highest level one go and see if it clears since that should make the others pointless.
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Feb 22, 2013 03:05
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Tyro posted:drat, good news and bad. My ranking is low enough that I don't see myself making it off before I expire. But hey there is always a chance. I don't have a ranking yet, but given no language/military I'll probably be low, so the scenario I dream about goes something like this: With all the budget uncertainty, DS is holding off on putting up any announcement because they have about 75 people on the register and only one more class planned this year (September). However, sometime later this year, Congress goes and approves everything they've requested for Diplomatic Security. House republicans have already proposed giving DS an extra $2 billion this year. Hopefully that goes through and some of it trickles down to a few new agent classes. But since it takes at least six months to go from announcement to getting people on board, all those classes get pulled out of the current register and everyone makes it. Hooray!
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Mar 9, 2013 03:56
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SCRwM posted:For #2 - if you are considering working for the USG (regardless of if it is with the DoS or any other agency), and especially if it requires a security clearance, I would go ahead and start seriously consider renouncing your dual citizenship. Renouncing shouldn't be necessary. My girlfriend has dual citizenship (with a US friendly nation) and holds a TS. She just can't use her foreign passport, vote in elections there, etc. Not for State but she works overseas quite a bit and I can't imagine USCIS and State are that far apart in how they feel about it.
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Mar 10, 2013 18:07
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If I manage to get hired by DS I'll just be sticking with my current place since I'm local. Should still be easy enough to get to Dunn Loring from here. And I'm walking distance to FSI, though I guess I'd only be there a week. I am also known to enjoy consumption of beers.
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Apr 16, 2013 04:42
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