|
Quodio Stotes posted:Hi there. I am another college student due to graduate with little or no idea how to embark on my job search. However, I would love to work in DC (for a number of reasons) or abroad and have an interest in working for the government (especially in the field of foreign affairs). I am wondering about my prospects based in my resume and credentials. I will be graduating with a BA from Mcgill University, Major in economics, Minor in East Asian languages. I speak intermediate Spanish, and conversational Korean. I am happy and willing to learn new languages as well. Also I am a good writer. What could/should I expect with the above credentials? Sorry if there are a bunch of others in here asking for advice as well, but I really don't know where to start. Thank you in advance For fed jobs, a lot of waiting followed by rejection.
|
#
¿
Apr 4, 2011 22:05
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 12:10 |
|
|
I have my own job success story to report: I got into the JET program teaching English in Japan, so gently caress WAITING WITH BATED BREATH FOR MONTHS ON EVERY US GOVERNMENT JOB I APPLY FOR I AM DONE WITH THIS BULLSHIT. Health insurance and a living wage, here I come  Anyways, I'm keeping up the job search because I'm contractually required to, and will actually take one if I can get it from Japan. I know a lot of government jobs, especially national security-y ones require you to be in the US at the time of application (going to Japan jeopardizes the "good faith" clause of my contract, but at this point it looks like it would be quicker and more of a sure thing to go to Japan and make enough money to pay back the scholarship if I have to, rather than eke out my pathetic post-college existence in the US another two years), mostly because of background checks... does anyone have suggestions of places that are international applicant friendly? I can deal with flying to Hawaii for a test, interview or whatever if the prospects look good, but not sitting in the US for nine months and working a lovely job with no health insurance again. Definitely going to be sitting the Foreign Service exam when I'm in Japan, and will keep an eye on the Job Opportunities section of Embassy Tokyo (plus Bangkok and Vientiane, but those have been pretty dry since forever).
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2011 21:44
|
|
|
Give me Flibbity posted:OK so I have a question: when I finish my Americorps term in November, I will receive non-competition eligibility for government jobs. What should my first steps be? Should I be lining up jobs now? Should I wait to do anything until I get the non-comp form? This year is blowing by and I'm getting anxious. Good fuckin' luck, I've had it since 2008 (Boren Scholar) and no dice. If you know somebody on the inside who can make a case for you, that's another matter.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2011 22:35
|
|
|
CherryCola posted:Just posting to say I'm still freaking enamored with my federal job!! they're going to pay for me to take a six month distance learning Urdu refresher course!! also, just got my first paycheck. I guess, I'm giving up. I sent my acceptance packet back to the Japanese consulate this morning, and 2 hours later get a call from the Border Patrol to schedule my first physical fitness test. Hey, try not taking six months next time, assholes 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2011 00:03
|
|
|
Passed the fitness part of my PFT1 with flying colors this morning. On four hours of sleep and having puked from a hangover an hour before. Also, my hearing is apparently excellent, while I thought it was poo poo. Thanks, Border Patrol!
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2011 17:11
|
|
|
The-RIK posted:Under what circumstances would a job be re-listed? Sometimes just if they don't get their asses in gear and fill it by a certain date, it has to be relisted. That's just one explanation, it could be something else. If there's a number on the posting (assuming USAJobs here), try calling them and seeing what's up.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2011 18:32
|
|
|
The-RIK posted:Yeah, it is with USAJobs, but it routes you to apply through the Army civilian personnel resume site. I will give them a call and maybe I can get through! Just put it on there with the graduation date set for when you'll graduate, they'll be able to connect the dots. If you want some help fine-tuning your resume, Resume to Interviews in SAMart did wonders for my pile of crap. I'm very good at writing, but not a resume expert by any means.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2011 19:33
|
|
|
bumnuts posted:Related to this: if I had a clearance for a summer internship, do I still have an "active" clearance for X years after that internship is over? Or is it only active for the period that you are in a job that requires it? I think it's 2 years? (If that's the case, mine just lapsed last month.) Either way, it makes it a lot easier for your next one, so don't worry about it being for naught.
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2011 00:32
|
|
|
Zoo posted:I would think that since it was adjudicated and sponsored by whatever organization triggered it, you could still use it for other jobs (you just haven't been read-on and such, which is fine; you'd need to re-do that if you switched jobs anyway). I'm not an SSO, though, so I'm not crystal clear on those processes, although there's a massive amount of misinformation out there on these topics that I've cleared away in the past for myself and sometimes human error among security personnel makes things pretty confusing. I'm just estimating that adjudication is your key goalpost. You should have an adjudicated, valid clearance in the appropriate databases, but you don't have an active SCI anywhere yet because nobody has briefed you into SCI anywhere (however, you should be eligible for SCI, if that makes sense to you). There might be some kind of active/inactive qualifier somewhere, besides SCI sponsorship, but I can't say one way or the other credibly. Oh, I didn't actually get to use it (was an alternate), so I don't think it was ever active in that sense, but I did get it approved/finished. Can only help, but I'm probably going to turn down this job with the Border Patrol because I doubt I'd be able to EOD any sooner than 9-12 months (spent 3 years of college overseas, I'm a boy scout but I know that will make things a huge pain in the rear end for a BI), and have a solid offer in Japan starting at the end of July. Given that I'm barely making ends meet as it is, I'll take the somewhat lower pay (but much fewer hours/less stress) of the other job. I'm going to talk with CBP HR about it though, I'm pretty sure they won't let me go overseas while doing a BI, but it can't hurt to ask.
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2011 12:58
|
|
|
psydude posted:They pretty much just summarized the job notices that I applied for and included my scores from the screening tests. Is it a heads up telling me that I can expect a call for a phone interview soon, or do they still need to pull my resume first? Took Border Patrol Test: Friday Received NOR: Monday Received next communication from CBP, a tentative offer*: 4 months later *emphasis on tentative, essentially means nothing
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2011 19:14
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2011 16:50
|
|
|
Zoo posted:Weird. I guess I never realized that restriction. That kind of sucks. There's that DIA Fellowship program you can apply for as a civilian, but it's competitive as hell; I think there are like 5 places a year or something. I did two BA's in Psych and International studies, took grad classes as a senior, spoke fluent Thai (that I learned as a National Security Education Program Scholar), had an active Secret clearance through State, and still got the brush-off. Didn't bother applying this year.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2011 05:12
|
|
|
mune posted:Anybody know about the hiring process for the Border Patrol? I hear the turnaround is far quicker (more like 3 months as opposed to 1-2 years) and I'm trying to get my foot in the door (and, coincidentally, also want to work for the Border Patrol). They're supposedly going to start having vacancies this summer, so I'm curious if anyone has more information on the Border Patrol hiring process, specifically, how long it takes to actually go to training from when you begin the hiring process. I went through it up to the security investigation (got a different job offer before they started it, when the guy called me up and asked if I still wanted the job I explained it and that was that). I signed up for the test in late summer, sat it on a Friday in October, got my results the following Monday... and heard absolutely nothing until mid February. Then more nothing, then a demand to schedule a physical within a week in early May or scrap my application entirely, then more nothing until the security investigation guy called me out of the blue in June. At the time the federal budget was up in the air and while the guy said they were trying to push through clearances as fast as they could (I already had a Secret, but also had 3 years overseas that would have really complicated the process), from going off the other info I found at the time it looked like my EOD would likely be 9+ months down the line, assuming CBP didn't get hosed by the budget, and I made it through all the requisite hoops. Basically, my choice was to take a guaranteed non-government job that paid 80% of what I'd make as a CBP Agent (albeit overseas and tax-free, with living subsidies) and start the next month, or keep working my dead-end job and living with my parents for probably another year or so and going slowly to pieces and hoping the government would finally come through. I have a service obligation to the federal government (thanks Boren scholarship) so I may have totally hosed myself out of a lot of money by backing out, but by that point I was really burned out on the whole federal job runaround and wasn't about to turn down a real job elsewhere. The background investigation guy who had gone over my file said I'd be a much better fit for State (easily true, but much harder to get into), so I'm sitting the FSOT in two weekends. I haven't been following the forums or anything since, but I really doubt it's as low as 3 months. Background investigations take time, as does coordinating the test/interview/physicals for recruits. Maybe less than a year, but I'd be surprised if it was less than 6 months unless there was a *huge* push and accompanying funding. I found the written test pretty easy and scored a 96 on it, but be sure you study the material ahead of time, especially if you didn't have Spanish in high school (the artificial language portion). The reasoning one can also trip you up if you don't review the study guide and just go off your initial gut assumption. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 12:22 on Jan 30, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Jan 30, 2012 12:08
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 12:10 |
|
|
Been inactive in this thread for a while... I logged in to NSEPNET a few weeks ago and found that my time to fulfill my Boren Service obligation ended in May, rather than December of this year like I thought. I'm going to go for trying to be released from my obligation, so I've got to write a two-page essay to see whether I owe Uncle Sam $16,000 or not. No pressure. Anyone got experience with this? I've tried Googling and there's really not any info I can find. Boren just stipulates that you had to have made a "good faith effort" and never really defines that. Among other things, I basically screwed up my mid-twenties putting my life on hold for them and had my girlfriend of 3 years leave me over it, although I did move to Japan to take another job in my last year, which they might take a dim view of (harder to apply for Fed jobs from overseas). I took the FSOT in February, at least.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2012 03:03
|
|