| Topic Name: |
CIA Recruitment Process |
| Message Name: |
Engineer? |
| Date Posted: |
02/05/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
I have seen a lot of posts about the whole application process, so I thought I would write a general response that might be helpful.
I have gone through the entire process and am currently waiting for my security clearance to come through, which is the very last step before you start working.
First of all, I would encourage anyone to apply, and apply early! I applied online on a whim last October, thinking I had no chance. But sure enough, after about a month the CIA called me asking for more information. A little about me: I have no military experience and no pertinent language ability (I am quasi-fluent in German and have a working knowledge of Spanish), and I have not spent excessive amounts of time abroad. I do have an engineering degree from a top 3 private university, so I??m sure that helped quite a bit.
The general process for me is as follows:
I applied online in October, but this can be done through a recruiter at a career fair as well (contrary to another post I read on here, the CIA does recruit at career fairs at schools. I have seen them multiple times at my particular school).
Around December, the CIA called me to have me fill out a pre-employment form and to submit writing samples.
Around January of the next year, they asked me to perform an online writing test and told me that I would be scheduling an interview if I passed this part of the process.
Mid-January, the CIA called me to schedule an interview with recruiters that were flying out to my area. The interview occurred in mid-February.
Mid-March, I received my Conditional Offer of Employment. Basically, this means you have the job, pending your security clearance.
Mid-May, I flew to Washington, D.C. for various processing (i.e., polygraph, medical, psych, etc.)
In the interim, a background investigation was performed on me.
Presently everything is done and I am simply waiting for the yea or nay on my security clearance.
So as you can see, the whole process takes a long time. So start early! And also note that there is considerable attrition during the security process: something like 30 percent of people who have conditional offers of employment do not ultimately receive a security clearance, so don??t necessarily think the Conditional Offer of Employment is the endpoint.
Anyway, I hope all this helps.
And a question from me to others: Is there anyone out there who ultimately was denied a security clearance? If so, what do you think happened and did they provide any feedback beyond the ultimate denial?
Thanks!
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| Message: |
Were you hired as an engineer?
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