?s about FBI employment and internship programs

[beachbum16]

hey everyone,
this post is directed towards 1811, but if anyone else can help, itd be greatly appreciated.
(hey rambo, im using paragraphs this time, lol)

ok, in case you guys forgot, im going to Nothwestern University's engineering school this fall, and im most likely gonna major in computer science and engineering, or electrical engineering(although that might change once i get to college).

the more i read into it, the more appealing a job in the FBI becomes to me. while looking on www.fbi.gov, (http://www.fbi.gov,) i found out about their honors internship program for college juniors. i downloaded an application for the program so i could see what kinda things they look for, so i know what types of things i need to do in college to be able to make myself a competitive applicant when and if i decide to apply. this led to some questions...

is participation in the honors internship program a BIG plus when applying for an actual job within the bureau(assuming i wouldnt break anything or screw things up badly while there http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/wink.gif )? is there any way i could get a non-official internship type thing, or job at the FBI's chicago office during my first 2yrs of college? is it worth it to continue learning spanish in college(puedo hablar, leer, y entender espanol ahora, pero no soy fluyente)? would it help to get a letter of reccommendation from my uncle, the assistant director of the Secret Service? i know that 3yrs of work experience is required, but does the bureau prefer one type of job over another? do they prefer for an applicant to have 1 job for 3yrs or several jobs over the 3yrs?

thanks for the help everyone, ill be around later when i come up with some more questions.

-beachbum

[WS-G]

Originally posted by beachbum16:
...but does the bureau prefer one type of job over another? do they prefer for an applicant to have 1 job for 3yrs or several jobs over the 3yrs?

With the vast majority of agencies, the ideal employment background seems to be that of having stayed with as few employers as possible for as long as possible.

With this in mind, I can tell you from personal experience to avoid "temporary/seasonal" positions like the plague, and avoid all occupations where "seasonal/temporary" status is the norm (e.g.: construction). I say this because, apart from juggling all the TDY's I could get through the reserve components over the years, I worked in construction myself.

In that field, no-one below management-level is a permanent employee. Under that type of system, one will end up working from one project to the next, rarely for the same company, almost never for more than a few days/weeks at a time, and will spend loads of time between "real" projects either looking for the next big project and/or scrounging odd-jobs. This last item especially looks very bad in the eyes of the pencil-pushers.

If a civilian job is merely to be a source of money with which to fund any self-sponsored training programs for which all-expense-paid scholarships don't exist (flight training in my case), then you will likely have no option other than to grab forms of employment in which the conditions are "seasonal/temporary" and the hiring procedure one of "no questions asked".

BEWARE: If the paragraph above applies to you, you will be a "marked" individual, no matter how diligent, capable and consciencious a worker you are! The white-collar bureaucrats who do the preliminary screening of Personal History Statements before launching into the "real" background investigation absolutely shit golden bricks when they see a PHS from someone who's had 20 or 30 different employers and has clearly done his hardscrabble "between-jobs" odd-jobs "off-the-books" (never mind that what little you made wasn't enough to be taxable!). Unfortunately, the functionaries who screen the PHS's tend to be extremely anal-retentive about these matters.

Fortunately for you, this does not appear to be the case in your particular circumstances. If you can possibly do so, it always looks better to the swivel-chair occupants if you've worked for one employer for all three years (preferably in the same department, ideally in the same position — promoted into a "progressively responsible" slot looks even better) than to have worked for three employers for one year each.

Another caution: those who use the "formula" approach to quantifying a person's employment history will treat each and every job where you didn't stay for at least a year as a "red flag". Even if you've never been fired from a single job in your life, this will get you rubberstamped "unstable employment history" and dropped from further consideration like a hot rock.

[SSMV]

Si, estudias mucho espanol. If you can, take as much Spanish as possible because if you can speak it fluently by the time you actually apply to the Bureau the 3 years experience can be waived. Also, the USSS has a program geared for college students where you can work 16-24 hours/week with them. I think this is the best program that the Fed LE has, which is aimed at college students.

BTW, I would take a couple of accounting classes, which might be electives but will help you out tremendously. Good luck!

And the Honors internship, it will help but is not a "big" plus. It is like other schools or training looks good on there but will not get you in by itself.

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"Americans are the greatest dreamers in the world, and we aren't afraid to admit it. We struggle and perserve in the face of any kind of adversity to realize our dreams. Perhaps that's because we can - in this country we have the wonderful opportunity to speak out and fight for any cause we believe in."

[Gunpoint]

Actually, I would concentrate on any language OTHER than Spanish. We have a boatload of Spanish speakers in the FBI. What we really need, in my opinion, are Chinese, Russian, and Arabic/Farsi speakers. We also need computer engineers/programmers and a new database system so we don't lose documents anymore!

[WBRCRT]

Hey 1811....I thought y'all knew where the documents were ..but didnt think they were important enough to put in the files..
Can you answer my only question....Ive been away from the media for a few days (thats where the real tuff decisions are made) Does this turd have a chance in hell at some type of reprieve or anything because of this "incident"?
Please say what you can through this medium??????

[Gunpoint]

Your guess is as good as mine. I have no idea.