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Boondock Saint posted:This. This times a loving thousand. I went to an invite only job fair in St. Louis for a Geospatial Analyst position. I have zero relevant work experience but I do speak Arabic and I had a govt. scholarship so I think that's the main reason I got invited. The interview was a disaster, they didn't have a copy of my resume so they knew nothing about me, it quickly went downhill after that but I remember most of the questions they asked me if you want me to tell you. I had a chance to talk to one other person in the 5 minutes before they called me in and we was interviewing for an Imagery Analyst position and had a background in Political Science. It seems kind of arbitrary how they determine which position you'll interview for and they'll tell you that if you get the invitation. If you are filling out an application and there are multiple choice questions or KSAs, pick they best option regardless and try and think of any experience in your life that could possibly be relevant to that. Be creative and think outside the box. If you answer honestly about your experience you will never make it past the initial stage. Half of the time, a posting on USA is already filled and they have an internal candidate but are required by law to make a job posting.
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Jul 5, 2010 17:42
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Are you guys applying to multiple Passport locations? Would it hurt to apply to a couple locations with essentially the same letter? It's hard enough to come up with substantial and interesting content as to why I am interested in being a Passport Specialist as it is, let alone writing a unique on for each location. Also, is it even worth bothering to apply as a Foreign Affairs Specialist without an MA or above? I did have a govt. scholarship and I do speak Arabic but I have no relevant work experience or anything above a BA.
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Jul 17, 2010 03:43
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Passed the TSA exam this afternoon, had a contingent offer waiting in my Gmail inbox when I got home Fellow Boren scholar here who starts working for TSA next Monday. I too had the contingent offer waiting in my inbox before I got home from the exam, when I initially applied in October 2009. It took a loving year to get hired. So I would suggest finding something else since they take loving forever to hire. Have you tried Geospatial Intelligence Agency? They are the only other ones that ever offered me an interview which didn't go too well since I failed to bring a copy of my resume and for some reason they had zero information on me going into the interview. I know people with less qualifications than me, no language ability whatsoever who have been hired DIA so that's a possibility too. I talked to someone who was associated with my internship and that had had a Boren Fellowship. He got a job through State just by cold calling/contacting people and telling them he had Schedule A clearance and would like an informational interview, but it actually got him a real interview and has since been hired. That's what I plan on doing after I finish grad school applications. Although he had a Masters degree so perhaps that was the key to his success, but I know I speak better Arabic than him.
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Nov 3, 2010 00:28
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Awww, crap. Can you tell me a bit more about the airport interview phase of the process? Do they give you a chance to talk with the TSA people at the airport before you schedule the interview? It'd be a hell of an investment/risk to fly out there (for a part-time job no less) just for an interview, but if they can guarantee enough hours per week and there isn't a big pool of other applicants, I might consider it if everything else looks grim. Although a year, gently caress. From what I'd seen it looked like 6-8 months, a year for a part-time xray dude job seems unworkable for me. Would probably just join the Army or something at that point. My process may have been longer because I initially applied for Dulles when I wanted Reagan, but I was told I could switch to Reagan no problem while in the process. I only saw the Dulles opening initially. They gave me the choice between morning shift which is only 20 hours or the afternoon shift which is 25 hours, approx. 12-6 which is what I chose. If you got a Boren, I assume you are a halfway intelligent human being and can pass the interview. It's basic stuff, I didn't do any preparation and I'm generally terrible at interviews and they thought I was brilliant. You can talk with a HR person before hand but if you are really desperate and they can give you a quick time frame for being hired, I'd fly out. To be honest there will be a massive time gap between when you fill out the e86, do the medical and then actually have the interview. I would just go along with the process and if something better comes along, take it, but in the mean time, you have this. The interview involves a color vision test, finger printing and paperwork, then the interview. It's basic stuff like, have you ever had a problem at a previous job with a coworker and how did you resolve it. That's absurd you didn't get invited to their hiring fair at CENTCOM. This girl got hired, worse GPA than me. No Boren, 3 months of Arabic abroad and not very much work experience. I don't understand how she got in but I had asked her and basically this is what she said, "The way I got the DIA gig was through hiring events they had across the nation. I had applied to 2 hiring events in different places and got turned down for both of them. I heard about a 3rd hiring event here in Tampa over the local radio station actually. I guess what they say is true: the third time is a charm. The interview was like a bad day of speed dating. The event was huge. There were like 30-40 tables of interviewers and interviewees and an entire room of people waiting their turn. I was sure I didn't have a chance, but they hired me based on the interview. Case and point, no I sure as hell didn't have connections. And you're gonna get turned down. The idea is keep perfecting your approach and keep applying to everything you can get your hands on, even if you think you have no chance. If you know a lot of Arabic, then you have a better shot than you think. Good luck Rachel P.S. Hire a staffing agency. They'll do they'll do a lot of the leg-work for you." Geospatial: Maybe my Arabic skills are what got me through the door most likely but they didn't seem to care too much about that once I was interviewing with them. Mostly they were interested in GIS stuff, which they train you for anways, so I kept emphasizing my ability to learn but I'm sure the lack of a resume thing is what did me in initially. I had to fly out to St. Louis for it so I don't think location has anything to do with it either. I showed up early for my interview and was talking to this guy who went to UDC, no language skills, for a couple of minutes before they called me in and he was fresh out of college. I would just keep applying. Have you thought about Secret Service? I applied for Uniformed Division, the test was a joke, but my vision is poo poo and I didn't want to get LASIK for a job I have zero interest in. But if your vision is good, apply for both Uniformed and Special Agent. You have to take a test for Special Agent as well which is probably harder but the Uniformed one was a joke if you were evenly mildly sentient. Have you taken the FSOT? I passed the Written and am doing my Personal Narratives now. We'll see how that goes, not holding my breath, but it's worth a shot. I did zero studying for the Written and passed it, it's not really difficult. If you do take it, pick the highest possible thing for all the biographical questions and I assume you can do well on the English section, essay and non management general knowledge questions. Anyways, Good Luck. I had a hell of a time my year abroad but I often doubt whether I should have taken this scholarship or not had I known it was going to be this difficult. I've even applied for the Arabic Flagship twice, I get in to the school but I can't get the funding. Then I meet people who have gotten the funding at the alumni events and get depressed when I hear how awful their language skills are despite the fact they are well into the program. Both of them were ex-military so maybe that was the key.
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Nov 3, 2010 03:16
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Pompous Rhombus posted:That's awesome news, from the timeline on the TSA dashboard thing it made it look like the interview would be the next step and I'd have to make the decision soon. If I've got a few months like you said then waiting it out while applying for other stuff sounds good. From level of the SAB I feel pretty good about my chances of passing the interview as well, but the flight is $1700 so it's not something I want to do unless things look really good (and really bad with everything else). My biggest concern is the color vision test because I am a little bit color blind. It's not major AFAIK, but getting to do that part before the interview would be nice. You have to pay for the physical out of pocket, don't you? They do the credit check and verify all the information for the credit check then you are invited to the interview which, like I said, takes several months. How bad is your color blindness? The color test takes place the same day as the interview, but it's one of the first things they do. They give you these little black cylindrical pieces that have a different color on the top of each of them. So you start off with a dark blue one and then you are supposed to put the next closest color from the pile next to the previous one until you have a long row of these black pieces that go across the color spectrum. They pay for the physical, they give you a list of affiliated medical places and you just set up an appointment with the nearest one. Physical is super easy, they just make you lift up a heavy crate and flex around with it a bit in addition to piss test and the other routine things. Which airport are you applying for by the way? Another benefit, you do get a Secret security clearance so hopefully I can start applying for jobs where you need one of those. I know they have whole websites devoted for jobs that people are security cleared. quote:I'll definitely give Geospatial a go, I don't have any experience with that software or anything, but geography has always been my strongest subject, and I've done some work on a maps-based education project at my current job. When my boss gets back in to the office I'm going to ask him for some help in playing that aspect of it up in my cover letter. They claim you don't need any GIS experience but anything you can claim that is even remotely similar could be beneficial in the interview. You go through extensive training period where they teach you all this anyways. They don't seem heavily dependent on language ability but you should know about current events/world affairs, they asked me in the interview to mention the three most important events of the past year and explain one in depth. quote:Like you I really have zero interest in the Secret Service, but I'll give applying for them a go. My vision isn't perfect, but it sounds like I'd probably be okay (I don't wear glasses/contacts unless I'm driving, and even then I really only feel like I need them at night). Most of what they do is anti-counterfeiting, isn't it? I think you need uncorrected 20/80 vision or something around that. Uniformed Division is essentially a glorified security guard, they stand around the embassies, vice president, and White House. It's really uninteresting but it pays quite well straight off of the bat. I don't know much about Special Agents but after I had passed the exam and was doing a short interview about my past history, when the Agent found out I had a Bachelors, he told me to not waste my time with Uniformed and just apply for Special Agent. quote:This. If any of you are considering the Boren scholarship, keep in mind you're going to have to put your life on semi-hold while you look for one of these government jobs. Expect to wait months to hear if they've even looked over your application, not to get interviews, and no help from Schedule A really unless you know somebody or have some exceptional, in-demand skill. I can't say that I regret doing it 100%, but it's not the clear win-win that I originally made it out to be. Yea, so much for the Boren being a golden ticket into a decent job out of college. At least I hope it looks good on my grad applications.
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Nov 4, 2010 05:54
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Pompous Rhombus posted:
Apply for the hiring event. You go there and it's just the interview so it's not like a normal job fair where you are milling around a crowded-rear end event and may not even get an interview out of it. Boren sent out an email about the New Mexico one and said you could do a Skype interview. Wish I had known that before I flew out to St. Louis for the one I went to.
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Nov 6, 2010 18:36
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Could a letter to my congressman bite me in the rear end as a general "constituent needs to find a fed job before Uncle Sam makes him repay Don't bother with that TSA position. Since they only hire part time, I'll have to work a year and a half to pay back the scholarship. I've done three weeks so far and I don't know how much longer I can take it. I only can hope that since I'm a Federal Employee and I can transfer somewhere else.
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Jan 20, 2011 05:07
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Yeah, since they were going to make me fly all the way out there ($1700!) for the tests I decided not to bother. I just saw that a position opened up nearby though, I'm thinking about applying for it. With my Boren thing I don't count towards a hiring/personnel quota or whatever, so maybe I can get FT? Worth a shot, especially if my test results are still good. They have a strict policy of not hiring anyone full time straight off the bat because then it's hard to fire that person. However, depending on the airport, I know people who get full time just from volunteering to work extra hours so you could easily get the extra five hours so you can get the thirty hours required to be considered full time. This is just what I heard from talking to other Boren alumni at an event so take it with a grain of salt, but as long as you applied to at least 20 jobs, then you are fine and you will not have to pay back the scholarship. Also, I studied Arabic for my Boren and no Federal Agency really gives a poo poo. NSA: Oh, we're not looking for Arabic speakers at the moment. Joshie Please tell us about nepotism in the USG. My father works for DHS at the ICE Headquarters and he has been absolutely worthless about helping me get my foot in the door. Who does he need to suck up to? HR?
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Jan 21, 2011 17:59
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Ah, that makes sense (sucks though). How are you holding up? I can sort of see the rationale behind saying that you would have to repay it if you went overseas to work, but what is the difference between living in Bozeman, Montana and working a non-Fed job while applying to jobs on USAjobs all the time vs. being in Japan and applying to Fed-jobs if the success rate through USAjobs is basically zero. Even if you do get accepted for a job while in Japan, you could always come back to start the process. TSA is awful, I don't see myself lasting too much longer, I would prefer working back at the Supermarket or another unpaid internship. At least with those jobs it's not embarrassing to tell people where you work. However, I have a couple of leads for Arabic jobs. Some passenger overheard me talking about my interview for an Arabic linguist position today, gave me his business card (Qatari Airways) and told me to send him his resume. So, inshallah. It seems like languages are a terrible investment but then tomorrow, I guarantee, I can open the newspaper and find an article about how not enough Americans know foreign languages. The Boren scholarship should be more of a commitment. It should involve multiple years of language study, like continuing on with the Flagship program. I just don't understand the point of spending millions of dollars to help Americans only partly learn a language and then do nothing about utilizing them. Especially since the few Boren scholars that actually do get a job to fulfill their requirement don't even use the language they study.
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Jan 22, 2011 09:17
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